Fertility

[5402]

how many days after my first day of my period am I fertile?

[annalaura]

Even if you have irregular cycles, like me, you can still get a pretty good idea of when you're likely to ovulate. And, more importantly for those trying to conceive, if you watch fertility signs carefully over a few months, you can figure out when you ovulate as it happens. It's worth doing some homework if you really want to get pregnant and/or are getting discouraged if it's not happening. I plug Toni Weschler's book Taking Charge of Your Fertility all the time ---pick it up if you want to learn more.

[AnnieBrooke]

A woman can ovulate pretty much any time in her cycle, though ovulating earlier than day 4 or 5 would be pretty unusual.  It all depends on the length and regularity of your cycles.  A woman with a clockwork 28-day cycle would be at her most fertile on day 14, but sperm can live 5 or 6 days in her system, so she would need to be careful from day 8 onward until about day 16.  But there is really no predicting ovulation.  Women with irregular cycles could ovulate whenever.  Don't use trying to predict ovulation for birth control.  If you are *trying* to get pregnant, begin having sex at the last day of bleeding of your period, and then have sex every second or third day until you begin bleeding with your next period or get a positive pregnancy test.