Have you decided to start trying for a baby? There are numerous ways to learn more about your fertility to increase your chances of making it happen as soon as possible! Fertility charting using basal body temperature (BBT) is a fantastic way of getting as much information as possible about your cycle. Observing your cervical mucus can also be a key part of fertility charting, because it can tell you exactly where in your cycle you currently are, if you know what to look for. Cervical mucus changes throughout your cycle. After a menstrual period has ended, the majority of women have very little or no cervical mucus. Your vagina will feel slightly dry, and you will notice no discharge. Then, as your ovulation approaches, your cervical mucus will increase in volume. When you are ovulation, the texture and acidity of your cervical mucus adjusts to accommodate sperm, and increase the chances that sperm can survive long enough to reach your waiting egg, as well as making the journey easier.

What does cervical mucus look like after ovulation has ended, then? How do you know that your luteal phase has commenced if studying only cervical mucus? The process of monitoring your cervical mucus sounds quite complicated and scientific, doesn’t it? But once you know what signals you are looking for, it really is not all that hard.

The difference between fertile cervical mucus, and mucus during your luteal phase, is very obvious. While cervical mucus is stretchy, transparent, and fluid during your ovulation, it is totally white, very thick, and high on volume after ovulation has ended. This type of cervical mucus does not allow semen to travel through to your uterus, and sperm is not able to survive in this vaginal environment either. You will notice thick, white, and non-stretchy mucus until the onset of your menstrual period, after which the whole cycle will start from scratch again.