Читать книгу Zita West’s Guide to Getting Pregnant - Zita WEST, Zita West - Страница 39

Your secretions are your fertility. It is my hope that all women trying for a baby get to know and focus on this. If you take only one thing from this chapter, take this: recognizing the range of and changes to your secretions is key to understanding your fertility, because they are so closely linked to oestrogen levels.

Cervical secretions are produced continuously by the glands lining the cervix, and provide a slightly acidic barrier during the infertile phase of your menstrual cycle, protecting against any bacteria or germs that can enter the body via the vagina.

These secretions are influenced by the changing hormones of your cycle, as we have seen, and provide the most useful indicator of hormonal activity. Highly fertile secretions, which tend to resemble raw egg white, are stimulated by peak oestrogen levels, and not only indicate that ovulation is imminent, but also provide channels for the sperm to swim along and an optimum environment for sperm. Influenced by oestrogen, the secretions at this time are also more alkaline, protecting the sperm from the normal acidity of the vagina.

For women who have spent a long time on the Pill, cervical secretions and the way they change during a cycle can be something of a mystery. Coming up to ovulation, cervical secretions become more obvious, but only by looking at and feeling them can a woman be really sure of what stage in her cycle she is at.