How do I check my cervix for signs of ovulation?

During the course of your menstrual cycle you can track changes in your cervix by how it feels to the touch. Your cervix is the neck of your uterus (womb), and you can feel it within your vagina.

As you approach ovulation, your cervix becomes soft, high, open and wet (SHOW). After ovulation, these signs reverse, and your cervix becomes firm, low, closed and dry. It may sound easy to monitor, but you're probably not used to touching your cervix, or knowing what a soft cervix feels like.

You may want to combine checking your cervix with monitoring other signs of ovulation, such as changes in your cervical mucus. In the days leading up to ovulation you'll notice increasing amounts of clear and slippery mucus, which is very hospitable to sperm. The mucus looks and feels a bit like raw egg white when you're fertile.

Become more familiar with the feel of your cervix by checking its position once your cervical mucus becomes wet and slippery. Insert your clean middle finger into your vagina up to at least your middle knuckle, or even further. See how it feels, and then continue checking it for about five days.

Just before you ovulate you should feel an abrupt change, when your cervix will feel the same as when you touch your lips. After ovulation, your cervix will feel harder, like the tip of your nose.

Checking your cervix alone is not a very accurate way to predict ovulation. You could monitor your cervical mucus and also chart your basal body temperature (BBT). Charting your BBT involves recording your waking temperature at the same time every day, or after at least three hours of uninterrupted sleep.

If you combine BBT with looking for changes in cervical mucus throughout your cycle, it will take two to three months before you can predict ovulation.

Ovulation predictor kits may be an easier, quicker and more accurate way of predicting ovulation than charting every day. But OPKs may not work as well if you have an irregular cycle.

You're most likely to conceive if you have sex in the five days leading up to ovulation or the day of ovulation itself. But timing intercourse so exactly isn't necessarily the best approach. Most experts advise that you should try to have regular sex throughout your cycle to increase your chances of conception.