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Your Hormones and Your Fertility Signals

Each of the fertility signals that you observe when you chart your fertility corresponds to a hormonal process and the presence of hormones in your bloodstream. Estrogen and Progesterone are particularly important and both provide signals that you can easily observe. Estrogen dominates during your pre-ovulatory or follicular phase and progesterone takes over after ovulation, during your luteal phase and also during pregnancy should conception occur. Your cervical fluid and cervical position provide clues about estrogen, as do saliva micrscopes and fertility monitors, while your BBT, or Basal Body Temperature, tells you about your progesterone. Ovulation Prediction Kits and some types of fertility monitors tell you about the presence of LH (Luteinizing Hormone), the last hormone to peak before ovulation.

Estrogen and Your Fertility Signs

Estrogen actually refers to a group of hormones that stimulate growth and strengthen tissues. Estrogen is needed to build up the lining of the uterus so that it may nourish and sustain the fertilized egg. When we are talking about fertility, the kind of estrogen we are referring to is called estradial. This estrogen is produced by the developing ovarian follicles and later, in increasing amounts, by the dominant follicle before it is released at ovulation. The hormone estrogen has many roles:


Some signs of increased estrogen that you can easily observe on your own are the presence, quantity and consistency of cervical fluid and the position and texture of your cervix. These signs offer some of the best indicators of your fertility status. How to observe and record them so that you can best assess your fertility and time intercourse are discussed in greater detail in a later chapter.

Estrogen and Cervical Fluid


The easiest way to know about the presence and quantity of estrogen in your bloodstream (and hence gain clues about your fertility status) is to examine your cervical fluid throughout your cycle. Your cervical fluid observations offer a primary fertility sign. This small observation can tell you volumes about what is going on with your fertility.

Increased estrogen as your body prepares for ovulation causes the cervix to produce fluid which becomes increasingly wet and slippery as you approach ovulation. The fluid slides from the cervix into the vagina where it can be observed.

Your cervical fluid varies throughout your cycle. Its presence and quality is determined by the amount of estrogen in your bloodstream. Most of the time, the vagina is quite acidic and is even hostile to sperm. Around the time of ovulation, however, it becomes more alkaline and provides nourishment for the sperm and allows them to move. At this time, the cervical fluid resembles semen, or eggwhite, and allows the sperm to thrive for the few days around ovulation when a woman is most fertile.When this kind of cervical fluid is present, sperm can be nourished inside the cervix where they can wait for the egg to be released.

While your cervical fluid pattern may vary from cycle to cycle and it may vary from woman to woman, a typical cervical fluid pattern looks like this:

  1. Immediately following menstruation there is usually a dry vaginal sensation and there is little or no cervical fluid.
  2. After a few days of dryness, there is normally a cervical fluid that is best described as "sticky" or "pasty", but not wet. While this kind of cervical fluid is not conducive to sperm survival these days may be considered as "possibly fertile" if found before ovulation.
  3. Following these "sticky" days, women generally notice a cervical fluid that is best described as "creamy" and generally feels cold. It has the look and feel of lotion or cream. At this point the vagina may feel wet and this indicates possible increased fertility.
  4. The most fertile cervical fluid now follows. This most fertile fluid looks like raw eggwhite. It is slippery and may be stretched several inches. It is usually clear and may be very watery. The vagina feels wet and lubricated. These days are considered most fertile. This is the fluid that is the most friendly and receptive to sperm. It looks a lot like semen and like semen, can act as a transport for sperm.
  5. After ovulation, fertile fluid dries up very quickly and the vagina remains dry until the next cycle. Some women may notice small amounts of more fertile fluid after ovulation as the corpus luteum produces small amounts of estrogen, but you are not at all fertile after ovulation has been confirmed.

Estrogen and Cervical Position and Texture


Your cervical position offers an optional or secondary fertility sign. Like your cervical fluid, your cervix position also responds to the presence of estrogen. Early in your cycle, during and just after menstruation and prior to peak fertility when your estrogen level is low, your cervix is low, hard, firm and closed and easy to feel with your fingers. Your cervix lifts and straightens and becomes softer, higher and more open as your fertility (and the presence of estrogen) increases. These cervical changes make the cervix more receptive to sperm and allow them to enter and travel into the fallopian tubes where an egg may be fertilized. After ovulation, your cervix again becomes more closed and firm and lower. Though this fertility sign is considered optional, checking your cervical position can provide useful information about your state of fertility. The changes in the cervix can be used to double-check observations made through checking BBT and cervical fluid.

Estrogen and Devices


Several devices have been developed to monitor your fertility throughout your cycle. Many of these devices, such as saliva microscopes and some fertility monitors also measure the presence of estrogen in your body. Saliva microscopes show increased "ferning" patterns as estrogen increases. Devices that measure hormones in your urine will tell you that your fertility is high when high levels of estrogen are detected. These devices have been developed to indicate your proximity to ovulation by measuring the quantity and presence of estrogen (and in some cases other hormones as well). While they are not essential if you are able to observe your cervical fluid pattern, they can complement your own observations. The fertility signals offered by such devices are secondary fertility signals and can be useful to cross-check and confirm the signals from your primary fertility signs.

Observations and devices that show increased estrogen are not able to confirm ovulation. They tell you that ovulation is approaching and that you may be in a fertile phase. These signs are very helpful for timing intercourse. To know that you have ovulated though, you need to also track your temperature, the sign that indicates increased progesterone.

Progesterone and Your Fertility Signs


While estrogen dominates the first phase of your cycle, progesterone dominates your second or luteal phase of your cycle. Before ovulation, progesterone is present only in small amounts. After ovulation, progesterone, produced by the corpus luteum, is present in higher amounts. Progesterone plays the following roles:


Basal Body Temperature (BBT) and Progesterone


Your BBT, or basal body temperature, is your body temperature at rest as measured in the morning after at least three hours of sleep and before you get up, with a special BBT thermometer that you can buy at your drugstore. (When you buy it, make sure it is labeled specifically as a BBT, Basal, or Fertility thermometer).

Before ovulation, basal temperatures are relatively low. After ovulation, your basal body temperature rises sufficiently that you can see the difference between your pre-ovulation and post-ovulation temperatures when they are plotted on a graph. A graph that shows ovulation as detected by BBT will have a biphasic pattern. That means it will show lower temperatures before ovulation, a rise, and then higher temperatures after ovulation.

Ovulation usually occurs on the last day of lower temperatures.



Your BBT is your fertility sign that relates to the hormone progesterone. This is the only sign that can confirm that ovulation actually happened, while all the other signs (except some that may be done in your doctor's office) only tell you that ovulation may be approaching. This is also the sign that will best help you to pinpoint the day that ovulation occurred since progesterone and hence your temperature increase quite dramatically just after ovulation has taken place.

Before ovulation, there is only a small amount of progesterone present in your body and your basal body temperatures (your resting temperatures) are in the lower range. After ovulation, when there is increased progesterone secreted from the corpus luteum, temperatures become elevated. The temperature elevation that occurs after ovulation is sufficient to be measured with a BBT thermometer and viewed on a BBT graph when a few simple conditions are met (how-to observe your signs is discussed later).

The rise in temperature is usually about 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit or 0.2 degrees Celsius, but the rise may be as slight as 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit or 0.1 degrees Celsius or even less in some cases. The actual temperatures are less important than noting a biphasic pattern showing two levels of temperatures.

If there is no pregnancy, then your temperature will stay elevated for 10-16 days, until the corpus luteum regresses. At this time, progesterone levels drop dramatically and you get your period. Your temperature normally drops at this time as well, though it is not unusual to have erratic or high temperatures during your period.

While measuring your BBT can help to pinpoint or confirm ovulation, it is important to observe this sign in conjuction with other signs as well, particularly your cervical fluid. Observing multiple signs allows for cross-checking in the case that one sign is ambiguous or affected by other factors.

Luteinizing Hormone (LH) and Your Fertility Signs

Ovulation Prediction Kits (OPK)


Luteinizing hormone (LH) is the last hormone to peak before ovulation and is the hormone responsible for triggering the rupture of the ovarian sac that releases the egg for ovulation. This hormone can be measured by ovulation prediction kits (OPKs) that use chemicals to identify its presence in your urine.

The presence of increased amounts of LH in your urine, as detected by OPKs, usually means that you will ovulate within 12-24 hours but this can vary slightly depending on your own hormonal profile. LH is not released all at once, but rather it rises and falls for about 24-48 hours. The LH rise usually begins in the early morning while you are sleeping and it takes 4-6 hours for it to appear in your urine after that. For this reason, first morning urine may not give the best result. Testing mid-day is usually recommended. It is important to follow the instructions of your OPK for maximum results.

Luteinizing hormone is the last hormone to peak before ovulation. For this reason, many women like ovulation prediction kits, though they are not able to confirm or pinpoint ovulation precisely. Because you may already be fertile before your OPK turns positive, it is important not to rely exclusively on OPKs for timing intercourse and identifying your most fertile time. You may like to use them, however, to cross-check your other fertility signs and to offer additional clues about impending ovulation. They may be especially useful if you have ambiguous charts, irregular cycles or multiple patches of fertile cervical fluid before ovulation.


You now know the role the hormones play in governing the events of your fertility cycle. When you observe your fertility signs, you will have a greater awareness of what they mean to your fertility status. Read on to learn how to best observe and record your fertility signs.

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