As you get close to ovulation, your cervical mucus will become copious, clear and slippery—like egg whites. It stretches between your fingers. Once your discharge becomes scant and sticky again, ovulation is over.
Type 4 cervical mucus is indicative of the most fertile time of the cycle. Intercourse during this period will likely increase your chances of pregnancy. Multiple studies have suggested that the best chance of pregnancy is when intercourse occurs on a day which is near ovulation and Type 4 cervical mucus is present.
Dryness is common in the three to four days after your period ends. After that, you may experience three to five days of white, cloudy, or sticky discharge. This is called the follicular phase, when an egg is developing. Lots of clear and stretchy, or clear and watery, discharge is common around the time of ovulation.
Usually, fertile cervical mucus—a watery to raw egg-white like vaginal discharge—will precede ovulation. If you're charting your basal body temperature, and ovulation occurred, you'd expect to see a sustained temperature rise within a few days of seeing your most fertile cervical mucus.
Can You Ovulate Without Detecting Cervical Fluid? Ovulation can take place even if you do not notice the “stretchy egg-white†fluid that we assume accompanies ovulation. Every woman can experience her own type of cervical fluid. Ovulation is assumed to take place on the day a woman has the most amount of wet fluid.
Some women do notice signs and symptoms that implantation has occurred. Signs may include light bleeding, cramping, nausea, bloating, sore breasts, headaches, mood swings, and possibly a change in basal body temperature.
If the egg released during ovulation is fertilized, it's an early step toward becoming pregnant. If the egg was fertilized by a sperm cell when you ovulated, the fertilized egg will transform into a zygote. Eventually, the zygote will travel down the fallopian tubes, making its way to becoming a morula or a blastocyst.
Ovulation pain, sometimes called mittelschmerz, can feel like a sharp, or like a dull cramp, and happens on the side of the abdomen where the ovary is releasing an egg (1–3). It generally happens 10-16 days before the start of your period, is not dangerous, and is usually mild.
Creamy white discharge after ovulationDuring ovulation, it's normal to experience clear, stretchy, mucus discharge that's similar to egg whites. This discharge is meant to help sperm reach the viable egg in your uterine tube. Once ovulation is over, vaginal discharge usually changes again.
But most pregnant women will secrete sticky, white, or pale-yellow mucus early on in the first trimester and throughout their pregnancy. Increased hormones and vaginal blood flow cause the discharge. It increases during pregnancy to prevent infections as your cervix and vaginal walls soften.
On average, a woman with a regular 28-day cycle ovulates on about the 14th day of each cycle. If a woman's cycle is longer or shorter than 28 days, the predicted ovulation date is changed accordingly. For example, during a 24-day cycle (4 days shorter than the average), ovulation takes place on about the 10th day.
Some weird early signs of pregnancy include:
- Nosebleeds. Nosebleeds are quite common in pregnancy due to the hormonal changes that happen in the body.
- Mood swings.
- Headaches.
- Dizziness.
- Acne.
- Stronger sense of smell.
- Strange taste in the mouth.
- Discharge.
You may notice an increase in white creamy discharge early in pregnancy, due to higher levels of estrogen. White vaginal discharge (called leucorrhea) is nothing to worry about: This early pregnancy discharge is normal and can be clear to milky white, thin or thick, and mild-smelling or odorless.
It usually means you're ovulatingOvulation refers to the point in the middle of your cycle when your body releases an egg for potential fertilization. As you approach this point in your cycle, cervical mucus production increases. This results in more abundant discharge that's clear and stretchy.
A woman who has conceived during her cycle may notice cervical mucus increasing instead of drying up after ovulation. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, light bleeding or spotting may occur around the time of implantation, which is generally 1–2 weeks after conception.
Further Signs of Successful Implantation
- Sensitive breasts. After implantation, you might find that breasts appear swollen or feel sore.
- Mood swings. You might feel emotional compared to your usual self, which is also due to changes in your hormone levels.
- Bloating.
- Changing tastes.
- Blocked nose.
- Constipation.
The mucus that you do see after ovulation, whether on your underwear or on your fingers, may look cloudy and feel sticky. If you're not pregnant at this stage of your cycle, then you will soon notice the return of drier cervical mucus — meaning you may see no mucus at all.
