When you embark on the huge "project" of having a baby, a totally unknown world opens before you: you learn things about your body that you didn't know before, your mind suddenly surprises you with thoughts of what exactly that moment would be like that you are living with a child next to you and you are filled with questions and expectations that you never had before.
When some months pass and you see that the rule continues to make its triumphant appearance every month, doubts begin and you also begin to find "answers" as Ovulation tests, a homemade tool that helps you identify what your most fertile days are.
How do ovulation tests work?
These small devices measure, through the urine, the highest peak of the hormone LH (luteinizing hormone), which is secreted about 24 to 36 hours before ovulating. In this way, calculating that you are approaching those days, you start using them daily to identify the moment when in theory sexual relations are more likely to give way to conception.
The formats depend on each brand: they are very similar to pregnancy tests (such as Clearblue), until they reach strips that contain the element that serves as an indicator of the peak. According to each one, it will notify you by means of some colored line or, as in the photo, of a happy face.
It is advisable get tested every day at the same time and also have sex on the same day in which it is observed that the peak has been reached and the next day to increase the chances of success.
There is a very important point to keep in mind and that is that some women don't ovulate every month, since the case in which the ovule does not leave its corresponding follicle can occur. The endometrium will have been prepared beforehand (and like every cycle), to receive a fertilized egg, but if this is impossible, menstruation comes normally. This can happen normally at any time and in that case the test will not indicate any peak during that month.
My experience with ovulation tests
After a couple of months of trying to get pregnant naturally, I found information about these tests (I really didn't even know about their existence). I was researching on the multiple options and decided to try one called Unitest, which are a little cheaper than the pharmacy ones and bring more quantity of indicators (that is, to use more days), although the format is less sophisticated than the one in the first photo, since it is an indicator strip.
After doing the calculation of my fertile days, I decided to start using them some time in advance to have more security, since as I said before, this is an indicator not of the exact moment of ovulation but a prior warning of 24 to 48 hours of moment in which it will occur.
This indicator has a hairline that, according to the instructions, It gets a strong color when you reach the long awaited peak. However, when I used it, I never saw that color became as intense as it should theoretically be.
This was repeated during the months that I used them (which were 3), and although I could have tried another brand for greater security, I decided to abandon the technique: it was leading me to think only on that day when the time finally came ovulation and I was taking away all the naturalness of something that should be less programmed.
I do not know any other person who has tried them, although I have researched in forums and I have found several opinions: some have become pregnant quickly and of course they attribute it to the use of the tests, others have taken a long time and others have declined without success.
In my case and despite having got pregnant naturally, after the use of the tests I underwent some analysis to verify that everything "worked well" (I will tell you about them), since I wanted to rule out the fact that there were problems.
Today I look back and I think that in my case I was not mistaken: the mind is quite powerful in the process of conception (although you realize that later). The truth is that right now I neither defend nor reject its use, because as in all these issues, It is a very personal decision of every woman.
Did any of you try this type of test? What opinion do you deserve its use?
