Does Every Woman Ovulate on Day 14 of Her Cycle?

Even if your cycle length is 28 days, that does not mean you will ovulate on cycle day 14 because your luteal phase may not be 14 days long. Your luteal phase is the number of days between ovulation day and when your period starts again. The luteal phase length hardly changes. A normal luteal phase can be anywhere between 10 and 16 days. It must be at least 10 days in order to sustain a pregnancy (if you find that your luteal phase is less than 10 days, than you may need progesterone therapy.) Therefore, if you had a 28 day cycle, with a 10 day luteal phase, that means you ovulate on day 18! Or if you had a 28 day cycle with a 15 day luteal phase, that means that you ovulate on day 13. This is why you cannot rely on the calendar method and why so many that do, fail to get pregnant. Their cycle is not the "standard" 28 day cycle with a 14 day luteal phase.

You must check your basal body temperatures to determine the length of your luteal phase.  The fertility awareness method discusses how to check this and other fertility signals.  To learn how to check your luteal phase and discover when you are most fertile, sign up for our email club.  Get your free fertility e-report here.