Vaginal Discharge: Check Your Mucus (and Learn When Ovulation Occurs) in 4 Easy Steps
Clear, jelly-like discharge often occurs during a woman’s menstrual cycle. This discharge isn’t a cause for concern, and with it, you can predict fertility. Cervical mucus changes throughout a woman’s cycle and these changes are used as an indicator of ovulation.
Your reproductive system stays healthy because of your vaginal discharge.
The discharge works to remove the bacterium. If you pay close attention to your reproductive cycle, you’ll find that the discharge changes throughout the month. These changes occur in phases.
What Does Jelly Discharge Look Like?
If you’re experiencing discharge, it may resemble a clear, gel-like mucus. This is described as jelly-like vaginal discharge. Vaginal discharge is thicker while you ovulate, and this thickness causes a jelly-like appearance.
In terms of color, it’s often clear and white or a very light yellow color.
An excellent example of what this jelly-like discharge looks like is an egg white. If you’ve ever cracked an egg open before, you’ll know that the yolk (yellow) and the egg whites (jelly-like in appearance).
Throughout your menstrual cycle, especially just before your period, the thickness of the mucus will increase.
Causes of Vaginal Discharge
Cervical mucus that isn’t tinged with blood or red is often normal. You’ll want to be concerned if the discharge is constant. If you have had a new sex partner and other symptoms are present, you may want to contact your health care provider and get tested for a sexually transmitted infection.
Odors or smells that are emitted from the discharge may be a sign of bacteria or an infection.
While many sexually transmitted infections can result in discharge, jelly-like mucus happens naturally to help with reproduction and keep the reproductive system clean and healthy.
Cervical mucus is filled with dead cells and bacteria.
Consistency varies throughout a woman’s menstrual cycle. Frequently, the cervical mucus is thick and sticky. At that point, germs are carried out via the fluid of the vagina. Throughout the month, the discharge will become watery too.
Here are all the consistencies cervical mucus goes through:
- Dryness
- Thick discharge
- Creamy fluid
- Jelly like blob discharge (clear or white)
- Thick discharge
The final thick discharge occurs before a period. Estrogen is the key deciding factor in discharge changes. Hormones hit their peak in the middle of ovulation and begin to decline soon after.
An abundance of this clear, jelly-like discharge is present when a woman is ovulating.
This is because the jelly makes it easier for sperm to travel through the canals. When the discharge is thick, it makes it difficult to traverse and enter the vaginal canal. But, when the discharge has a jelly-like texture, better lubrication, and a higher probability of fertilization.
If you are not on birth control and are trying for pregnancy, checking the fluid in your vagina is a good way of detecting when you are ovulating and knowing when to have sex for the best result.
Estrogen is responsible for an increase in cervical mucus. The mucus has two main jobs to fill:
- Prevent foreign substances from entering the uterus
- Nourish and transport sperm into the uterus
Stretchy and viscous, the discharge helps the sperm survive in the cervix and swim deeper into the uterus in an attempt to fertilize the egg.
It’s a very consistent and precise function, and if you want to determine ovulation, you need to know how to check your discharge.
Also, during pregnancy, the estrogen levels ramp up blood flow to your pelvic area. These changes stimulate your cervical mucus membranes, and your mucus increases. Some women during pregnancy may mistake this for a yeast infection, but this isn’t something to worry about. It is only a process in which your body works to protect the fetus.
The jelly-like discharge will eventually form a mucus plug. This process is vital to your baby, as the mucus plug stands between your uterus and the external surrounding protecting it from bacterial or yeast infections.
How to Check Discharge to Determine Ovulation
Women can boost their chances of pregnancy through “reading” their discharge. The vaginal discharge will give information on all the internal, chemical changes in the body that allow sperm to have an advantage when entering the cervix.
These are consistencies a discharge goes through:
- Dry and sticky (after a period)
- Lotion-like or creamy
- Watery and wet
- Egg white consistency
- Dry and sticky
It’s harder to get pregnant during the 1st, 2nd, and 5th stages mentioned above. The ideal time to try for pregnancy is during the 3rd and 4th stages, or when the discharge becomes watery and wet or egg-like.
If you want to check your discharge, you’ll want to follow these four steps:
- Wash your hands – and dry them well.
- Enter a position that allows for easy insertion:
- Sit on a toilet
- Squat
- Lay on your back and lift one leg
- Stand with one leg on a step or a seat
- Insert your middle or index finger into the vagina.
- Remove and examine the mucus.
This allows you to view and examine the mucus properly. If you don’t wash your hands, you risk bacteria entering the cervix, and you risk changing the consistency or color of the discharge.
Use these hints to determine what’s happening in your body:
- Sticky or scant mucus means you’re not ovulating.
- Creamy mucus means you’re close to ovulating, but you’re not there yet.
- Watery, wet, and even a little stretchy mucus means it’s time to have a lot of sex to try and conceive – ovulation is on the way.
- Jelly-like discharge that stretches between your fingers for an inch means you’re very fertile. This is when ovulation is coming, and increased intercourse will allow for a higher chance of getting pregnant.
Discharge plays a powerful role in a woman’s body, and reading your discharge will pay off if you’re trying to get pregnant. Just remember that every woman has a different chemical makeup, and some women will chart their discharge to know when changes occur.
Good advice is to:
- Use a journal to chart your discharge and mucus changes.
- Examine your discharge the moment your period ends, and write down your findings.
- Use the method above for examining your discharge, and remember to write down your findings in detail daily.
- Continue until your period begins.
This gives you a personal discharge reference based on your cycle. If you find that the discharge from your vagina gets watery around day 8, you know to increase your intercourse around that day next month to get pregnant.
If you don’t feel comfortable examining your vagina and the cervix mucus like this, you can visit your ob-gyn and get a specific kind of ovulation test done. Based on the results, they will advise when is the right time to try for pregnancy and how to increase your chances.
Checking Ovulation for Pregnancy
Ovulation occurs 12 – 14 days before a woman’s period starts.
Some women don’t have a standard 28-day cycle, so this will skew your results. Women with a 30-day cycle will have it 16 – 18 days into their cycles.
The problem is that women start counting their cycles after their period, and this isn’t right. The first day of your period is the first day of your cycle.
Clear jelly-like discharge can be used for pregnancy purposes. This is the body’s estrogen working to produce a highly fertile environment so that you can conceive a child. If you properly track and monitor your discharge, you can use this to enhance your chances of getting pregnant.
If you have jelly-like discharge all month long, you’ll want to consult with your health care provider for more information on your health. Usually, the discharge can change consistency and even color. As such, it may be a sign of a medical issue.
Another sign of a health issue may be a consistent discharge during pregnancy which has odor. This may be a symptom of an underlying health problem with you or the baby, so it is crucial to check. Constant discharge during pregnancy may mean bacterial infection like trichomoniasis that might even cause a miscarriage. This is not to be mistaken with the mucus plug that is there to protect your baby’s health.
We hope this article has given you the needed health information on vaginal discharge and advice on how to track it. Always seek a second opinion from your healthcare provider, as they can give you the right advice on your specific condition.