Kudos! You are thinking about family building and are looking for more information than the proverbial “the birds and the bees “. Here are three starting tips:

• Take a daily prenatal vitamin.
• Have regular intercourse, usually two to three times a week.
• Track your ovulation (release of an ovum, or human egg).

The first two items make sense, so you start to research ovulation trackers and find a dizzying array of choices: Period tracking apps, basal body temperature, cervical mucus tracking and ovulation predictor kits (OPKs). 

Your further research finds that OPKs are especially popular. Why? Folks who incorporate fertility awareness and timed intercourse conceive faster and more successfully. 

So, what are OPKs?

What is an Ovulation Test?

First, if you are having regular menstrual cycles, then you are ovulating regularly! A monthly surge in luteinizing hormone (LH) from the pituitary gland in the brain precedes ovulation. The LH surge is so powerful that LH levels are detected in your urine. This nifty fact makes ovulation tests, or urinary LH kits an attractive method for home testing. If you are planning to use ovulation tests, then you have to get comfortable with peeing/urinating on a stick. 

The urinary LH test is a visual antibody/antigen test or in fancier terms, a rapid chromatographic immunoassay for qualitative urinary LH detection. The antibody/antigen test is a lock and key mechanism. The LH antibody is the lock, and your urinary LH is the antigen or key. The test is loaded with LH antibody and if your urine has a high enough level of LH, your LH binds to the antibody and changes the color of the test to show a colored line. If this sounds quite similar to a home hCG/pregnancy test, that is because it is!

Tips to using Ovulation Tests

• Evaluate the same time every day preferably,  mid-day.  Avoid first morning urination.
• Mid-stream urine is preferred.
• Avoid drinking a lot of fluids for two hours before testing
• These tests are not always accurate so seek the guidance of your reproductive endocrinologist or OB/GYN physician if you have questions.