It’s Saturday morning. I am (sort of) chilling with a nice cup of tea. Reminds me of the good old days in Finland when I had tea with my besties everyday till midnight, chatting all the way. Oh, the good old days.

Can’t you believe it? It has been more than a month since my surgery! And now, I have recovered well enough to walk (I mean, go shopping!), bounce on my bed (which I couldn’t 2 weeks back) and slam myself on my side when I tuck myself to bed. Talk about freedom!

And it’s truly exciting that I’ve been busy finalizing our plans to Italy. We will be flying off in mid-June and I am getting so excited as I am going through our room bookings and itinerary. Yes, it’s my self-made itinerary! We dislike tours. We avoid them.

I’m sure by now, you have read about my trip to the gynae and the surgery to remove the horrible fibroid and my few weeks of suffering as I hibernate in my room to recover. Obviously, I went through all that for the sake of trying for a baby.

Trying for a baby? Oooo. It feels sort of fun and exciting. Frankly, I wasn’t really ready for a baby. I mean, it’s a whole new commitment and the new life that I am responsible to take care of. But I suppose, no one will every be ready.

So of course, since we are planning to try for a baby, there’s no better time to try than in our trip to Italy. Weeee! I am hoping for our beautiful ‘made in Italy’ if we do strike lottery then!

But you know what? As I am so excited to try during Italy, I started checking and counting the days and time of my menstrual cycle to know more about when will be my next ovulation. Embarrassing but I have to admit, I know nothing about ovulation. I read online and realized that there is this 7 days of opportunity a month. 7 days, sounds like a pretty high probability.

Then my husband asked me, “Can you check how long your egg will survive?” Hmm… I have no idea. I feel sorry for my biology teacher, but I suppose I didn’t take my studies seriously.

I said, “I think it should be about seven days.” Well, 7 days of opportunity, right? *blush*

Then, I went online to read about it. What? Only one egg is released a month and that egg only last for 12-24 hours! Speaking of probability! And the sperm only live 3-4 days or more. That sounds challenging! So if you got pregnant with random sex, you are truly lucky! You actually did it on the dot! You should be awarded a medal!

So the next information I will need is to find out when is my window of opportunity. In other words, when will I ovulate? What time of the month? How will I know? So this is what I found out:

1. Count your days

If your menstrual has a consistent cycle (28-32 days), just count the days. We asked Dr. Wong and he shared that the best timing to try would be the 11th day, 13th day and the 15th day after the 1st day of your menstrual. Just try these 3 days and you should get a baby in no time (Yes, I am being positive here). There is no need to try everyday of your window of opportunity. The sperm can last up to 3 days. Trying everyday will make the sperm count drop. So alternate days would be a better option.

But if your menstrual is not consistent or you don’t count your days (Like me. I never counted. I never did! I keep forgetting and loosing count. Oh, woe to me!), then I am not sure that trying on the suggested days will work. I mean, I could be ovulating much later.

2. Ovulation Kit

So maybe I should get an ovulation kit. But it sounds so troublesome! Can only be checked through a person’s urine. And there are so many terms. Best not to do it early in the morning. Best to fast water for 2 hours before. I will be traveling in Italy. I wouldn’t be able to do that. Fast water? Find a toilet to check in the middle of my travel? Er…. *Hesitating*

3. Check your temperature

Ahh… I can actually try to check my body temperature. During ovulation, the temperature should increase. But you know what? I have to be doing that for the past months to be sure of my timing. Sounds troublesome but doable. Okay, maybe I can do that in Italy.

4. Check your discharge (cervical mucus)

And then, as I was surfing online, I come across this method that no one has ever shared or informed me! Maybe cause it’s embarrassing? Maybe cause it may not work? Maybe cause it is very private? Oh come on. It’s natural! And you know what? I have been doing that all this years to know when my menstrual is coming. It is quite consistent. After menstrual, it comes for a week or so, Then it stops. And after a week of dryness, the menstrual comes.

So, the time of ovulation is when the cervical mucus is most slippery of all! In fact, I read that it is the time when women feels most sexy and have a higher sex drive. Interesting, right? How God works. Slippery also means it’s easiest to try! Bingo!

I am not sure if it will work but I will do this in Italy. Cause it’s free. Cause I don’t need to carry anything. I don’t need to look at numbers. I just check, er.. myself. Here is a table that I refer online, showing the number of days and the changes of the cervical mucus:

Day/Cervical Mucus:

(Fertility window in red)

1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Flow(Period)	Flow	Flow	Flow	Dry	Dry	Tacky (white)
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Tacky	Cloudy (more)	Cloudy	Wet	Slippery Ovulation!	Slippery	Slippery
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
Cloudy	Cloudy	Cloudy	Tacky	Tacky	Tacky	Dry
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
Dry	Dry	Dry	Dry	Dry	Flow	Flow

There you go! And of course, you can notice the window of opportunity between Cloudy to Slippery days. Infertile days is when it’s probably tacky and dry. So to be safe, just try when the mucus is discharged! And make it a MUST TRY when it gets wet and slippery. But since the sperm last 3-4 days, try when it’s cloudy, right before it gets wet and slippery.

Aiya. Just keep trying lah. (faints)

Pray for us! A beautiful, healthy baby to come soon! I shall leave that in God’s hands and still believing with great faith and hope! Our made in Italy! 😀 😀 😀

For couples that are trying, er… I am still discovering but these tips could be helpful. Any advice out there? Did I get anything wrong?

Cheers with love,

Mary