Ovulation refers to the time during a woman’s monthly menstrual cycle when the ovary releases an egg. This is the time of a woman’s cycle that she is fertile, and it is the time surrounding ovulation during which sexual intercourse is most likely to lead to pregnancy. While the timing of ovulation can vary somewhat from one woman to the next, the details of what happens during ovulation are essentially the same.

Every month, an egg will mature inside one of a woman’s ovaries. Once that egg reaches a specific size, the ovary releases the egg. The egg then travels into the fallopian tubes. From there, the egg will then travel into the ovary. There is not a specific pattern to which ovary releases an egg from one month to the next. One ovary may release the egg for several months in a row, or the ovaries may rotate more regularly. Which ovary releases the egg will vary greatly from one woman to the next, or even from one period of time to the next for the same woman.

It is during ovulation, when the egg is in the fallopian tube, that pregnancy can occur. The sperm will travel into the fallopian tube and can there fertilize the egg. Pregnancy is most likely to occur if sexual intercourse occurs sometime around two days prior to ovulation, all the way through until the day after ovulation. Some studies suggest that, for couples without any known fertility issues, timing sexual intercourse around ovulation can almost guarantee that the couple will conceive sometime within one year of trying.

There are ways to try to pinpoint when exactly ovulation occurs. This might involve tracking changes in the woman’s cervical mucus, or tracking a woman’s basal body temperature (BBT). There are even kits, known as ovulation predictor kits or OPKs that couples have used in order to maximize their chances of conception. Knowing when ovulation occurs is also important for couples who practice the rhythm method of birth control.

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