The truth about getting pregnant on cycle day 14

You do not need to ovulate on day 14 to get pregnant.

Only 10% of the population of women with a 28-day cycle even ovulate on day 14, this means a 21-day progesterone blood sample is likely to be misleading for many of us.

If you are ovulating you are likely doing so 10-14 days before the end of your cycle when your next period would start. That means if you have a 40-day cycle length, ovulation is most likely to occur between days 26 -30. If you have a 60-day cycle then it would be days 46 – 50. If you average 35 days, then you are likely to ovulate from day 21-25. See my blog on ‘Ovulation is what makes progesterone’.

I have seen plenty of women conceive when they ovulated late into a long cycle. If you have been told you don’t ovulate because your cycle is longer, then you were told something based on incomplete data. If you were told you don’t ovulate because they drew progesterone levels on day 21 of a longer cycle, the same thing applies.

So how can you tell if you are ovulating?

Many women move straight to ovulation predictor kits – also known as OPKs. This isn’t recommended for a few reasons, but especially for PCOS, where you can see a lot of false positives. I recommend instead learning what cervical mucus is and investing in a basal body temperature thermometer. Starting to collect data on the mucus your body makes and when your temps go up and down can literally tell us not only “if” you are ovulating, but also “when”.

You can ovulate with PCOS. Many of us can do so with a simple diet, lifestyle, and supplement tweaks. Many of us, it’s that simple to go from “infertile” to “fertile”, just getting us to ovulate. Then there are other things to learn, like how to time intercourse, how to support progesterone levels, and so on. But, be assured, you can get pregnant at different points in your cycle. Remember, it is possible to be a mum even if you have PCOS – I’m living proof and would love to support you on your journey.