Getting pregnant successfully depends greatly on having intercourse on the days closest to ovulation.  A woman ovulates only once per menstrual cycle, typically 14 days after the start of her period.  The human egg will only live for about 24 to 72 hours before it deteriorates, so timing is extremely important if the sperm and egg are to meet.  Another thing to be considered is that many women have shorter or longer menstrual cycles than the usual 28 days, so it is sometimes difficult for them to tell when they are ovulating.

In order to take a good deal of the guesswork out of conceiving a child, many women use ovulation predictor kits for a reliable way to know when they are ovulating.  These kits work in a variety of ways, and some might be more effective for a particular woman than others, so finding out how ovulation predictor kits work will help you decide which one to use.  When using one of these kits, you should keep in mind that tracking your ovulation over a period of several months will give you a better idea of how your cycle works, and will help you to more accurately pinpoint ovulation.

Probably the best known ovulation predictor kit is the one that uses urine.  A kit of this kind usually consists of test sticks coated with a sensitive material that will detect the presence of luteinizing hormone, the hormone that is released just as ovulation is starting to occur.  The amount of luteinizing hormone in your urine will go up, and spike, just before you ovulate.  This will allow you to time intercourse for the best result.  The sticks can either be urinated upon, or you can urinate in a sterile jar and dip the stick in that.  These kits can cost between $15.00 to $70.00 per month, depending on which brand you choose.  The accuracy of these kits is approximately 99%.

Besides using urine in an ovulation predictor kit, it is also possible to use your saliva.  The way in which this ovulation predictor kit works is that you spit onto a glass slide.  This actually indirectly measures the amount of estrogen in your system, which rises when you are getting ready to ovulate.  This ovulation predictor kit measures the amount of salt in your saliva – the level of salt in your body goes up when your estrogen does, so this is a good way to test for the presence of estrogen.  After the saliva has dried, you observe it through a small microscope.  When you are getting ready to ovulate, a ‘ferning' pattern will appear.  This looks something like the frost flowers that appear on windows during cold winters.  When ferning shows up, it means you will ovulate in anywhere between one to three days.  These kits generally cost between $20.00 and $30.00 and are considered to be 98% accurate.

Finally, there is an ovulation predictor kit that ‘reads' your sweat while you sleep.  This is a watch that senses the presence of chloride (salt) in your perspiration.  Just as the above kit measures salt in the saliva, this watch does the same job with the perspiration on your skin.  Instead of the normal watch face, this watch will let you know when you are fertile.  It will say "Fertile Day 1", etc, giving you five or six days to plan intercourse for the best chance of conception.  These watches are highly accurate, 98%, and cost approximately $100.00

The success rates of ovulation predictor kits is very high, as can be seen, and they can greatly increase your chances of detecting exactly when you are ovulating.  Once you understand how narrow the window is wherein you can actually get pregnant, you will appreciate the ability these ovulation predictor kits give you in determining when you ovulate, so that you can time intercourse for the best possible results.