A Q&A Roundup from Ovry’s Free Find Your Fertile Window Course.
Inside our free Find Your Fertile Window course, we teach you how to confidently track your cycle using:
✨ Basal body temperature
✨ Ovulation tests
✨ Cervical fluid
No algorithms. No confusing charts. No information overload.
It’s taught by Ovry’s Women’s Health Nutritionist + Fertility Awareness Method Educator (Vanessa Oly), and by the end, you’ll know exactly when you’re fertile, how ovulation works, and what your hormones are up to behind the scenes.
Here’s what you get when you sign up:
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Self-paced video lessons
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A downloadable cycle tracking workbook
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Replays + lifetime access
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An exclusive Ovry discount code (20% off everything)
And because we love real-life questions, we pulled together some of the most common cycle tracking questions from the course so far. Let’s dive in!
Is cervical fluid still normal when you’re on hormonal birth control?
Short answer: sometimes, but it’s not telling you the same story.
Hormonal birth control works by suppressing ovulation and thickening cervical mucus to block sperm. That means:
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You typically aren’t ovulating
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Any fluid you notice isn’t true fertile cervical fluid
You might still see discharge (totally normal!), but it won’t follow the classic fertile patterns (like slippery, stretchy “egg-white” fluid). Once you come off hormonal birth control, it can take a few cycles for your cervical fluid to reflect real ovulation again.
What cycle day should I start ovulation testing? Right after my period?
This depends on your cycle length and how new you are to tracking. We recommend you start testing day 7 if your cycle (day 1 is the first day of your period) and test every day until you get a positive. If you're comfortable identifying the start of your fertile window (the first day of fertile cervical fluid, which you'll learn inside the free course) then you can start ovulation testing on that day.
If you’re new to testing, it’s better to start early rather than miss your surge. Ovulation tests detect your LH rise (which usually happens 12–36 hours before ovulation) so catching it matters.
Same question… but what if I have PCOS?
Yes, PCOS changes things.
With PCOS, LH can run higher at baseline, which means ovulation tests may show multiple positives or feel confusing.
If you have PCOS, we recommend:
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Still starting ovulation testing on cycle day 7
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Using cervical fluid + basal body temperature alongside your tests
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Watching for patterns over time (not just single results)
This is why we teach symptom + hormone tracking together, no single tool tells the full story, especially with PCOS.
Does cervical fluid only show up on ovulation day?
Nope! Fertile cervical fluid usually shows up over several days, not just one.
Think of it like your body warming up:
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Dry, crumbly or sticky → low fertility
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Creamy, lotion-like → fertility rising
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Slippery/stretchy/clear/egg-white → peak fertility
That fertile window often lasts 5-7 days, with ovulation typically happening toward the end of that stretch.
So if you see fertile fluid, your body is basically saying: hey, ovulation is coming!
I just stopped birth control after 8 years with no period, how long until my cycle comes back?
After stopping hormonal birth control, your body has to restart its own hormone production. What we look at first is what your cycles were like before hormonal birth control:
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If your cycles were regular before starting hormonal birth control, your period should come back within 3 months of stopping
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If your cycles were irregular before birth control your period should come back within 6 months of stopping (but sometimes it can be longer and 1:1 support is helpful here to make sure you're ovulating properly).
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If you don't remember what they were like, that's usually a good thing! So, give yourself 3 months and if no ovulation has shown up by then, seek some additional help.
What app do you recommend for tracking? And how do I remember to do all this?
Tracking can feel like a lot at first, but within a few cycles it will feel like second nature. I recommend the Read Your Body App because it doesn't predict or override your data with algorithms. It's also the most affordable and user-friendly app I've ever used (I've been using it for over 6 years!).
Helpful tips:
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Set daily reminders on your phone
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Keep your thermometer + ovulation tests beside your toothbrush
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Check cervical fluid every time you use the bathroom (before your pee)
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Log everything right away and check in before bed to see if you missed an anything.
Consistency beats perfection.
When’s the best time to start prenatals?
Ideally 3-6 months before trying to conceive.
This gives your body time to build nutrient stores (especially folate, iron, iodine, and choline), which are crucial for early pregnancy, often before you even know you’re pregnant.
Even if you’re just thinking about trying later this year, starting now super helpful. This is one of our favourite high quality prenatals (and the one our founder, Jackie used when TTC with her first baby!).
Still feeling unsure about your fertile window? In our completely free Find Your Fertile Window course, you’ll learn how to track ovulation using temperature, cervical fluid and ovulation tests so you can understand your cycle with confidence. Bonus: lifetime access + 20% off all Ovry products when you sign up.