You’ve been told your whole life how easy it is to get pregnant. It just takes one time, right? Well yes, technically. But in reality, making a baby is a miracle, where all the stars have to align to bring that little human earthside. And it starts with ovulation.

When trying to become pregnant, you likely come across a lot of advice, on the internet and otherwise. While there is a lot of information out there about how to conceive, research suggests home ovulation tests can possibly increase chances of getting pregnant. Knowing when you’re ovulating can help when trying to conceive, as it’s only around this timeframe you’re able to get pregnant. Dr. Tarun Jain, MD, reproductive endocrinologist at Northwestern Medicine Center for Fertility and Reproductive Medicine in Chicago, says that these tests can produce a false positive, which can be frustrating for women. Some women have LH surges and never release an egg, and others have multiple peaks before the actual surge (which is common in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome or PCOS). The following is my log from each cycle day. Be sure to note that some cycle days have AM and PM logs — some tests required first morning urine, while others called for afternoon urine, so I was testing twice a day. If the results were the same morning and evening, I just combined them into a single day. ACOG. 2019. Fertility awareness-based methods of family planning. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. https://www.acog.org/patient-resources/faqs/contraception/fertility-awareness-based-methods-of-family-planning Opens a new window [Accessed October 2021]

5 Best Ovulation Tests of 2023

Of these tests, Premom Semi-Quantitative LH Test strips were my favorite. They were cost-effective and the Premom app was great at reading them. Did you know there are 50+ different OPK brands on the market? That’s a lot to choose from! And they all do mostly the same thing: predict when you are most fertile, which is very important information when it comes to trying to conceive! This made me wonder if some OPKs work better than others. Are some more or less accurate? How do I choose the best brand for me and my journey?

Dr. Jain also recommends that women who regularly use ovulation tests and don’t get a positive test for two to three months should make an appointment with a fertility specialist rather than waiting a year or longer, as there may be a problem which could impede conception. So if you think you’re heading in that direction, having this record of what’s happening inside your body over a couple of months might be helpful for your doctor to try to narrow down what’s happening and how to help you. When should I take an ovulation test? However, this doesn’t necessarily mean ovulation was healthy. This is why it is so important to predict and confirm healthy ovulation with Proov! Some pregnancy tests need to be used the day after your missed period would have started. However, if you don’t want to wait that long, there are now pregnancy tests that can be used five or six days before your expected period, so you can have results much sooner. Quality Test: MomMed prioritizes reliability, ease of use, and speed of use in their product. The test strips offer an accuracy rate of over 99%, providing you with confidence in the results. Saliva test kits: These test kits come with a small microscope with glass slides. You put your saliva on a slide, let it dry, and then use the microscope to analyze the patterns it makes. Depending on where you are in your monthly cycle, you may see dots, circles, fern-like patterns, or a combination of all three. The fern pattern indicates the rise in estrogen levels that comes along with ovulation.Some research suggests that home ovulation tests are effective in increasing your chances of getting pregnant. A 2018 study in Obstetrics & Gynecology found that women using the ClearBlue Advanced digital ovulation tests to time intercourse (as well as keeping an intercourse diary and collecting daily urine samples) were able to effectively target intercourse to their fertile periods, leading to an increased pregnancy rate [1] Johnson S, Marriott, L, Zinaman M. Increased Likelihood of Pregnancy from Sex on the Two Days Before Ovulation [5B]. Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2018;131:20S. .