Nishmat's Women’s Health and HalachaIn memory of Chaya Mirel bat R' Avraham

  • Hebrew
  • English
  • Espnaol
  • Francais
  • donate
Menu

Ovulation test

14 March, 2007
Question:

I got married a few months ago and am not on birth control so my doctor told me to take an ovulation test this month to make sure I wasn’t ovulating before I went to the mikvah. The day before I went to the mikvah I did a test and it came back negative. Then the day of the mikvah I did a test and it came back positive. Then the next day it came back negative. Can someone please explain to me since I am new at all this, does this mean I only ovulate for 1 day and if I basically, don’t get pregnant that night, I won’t get pregnant other nights? Can you get pregnant even if the test comes back negative? Thank you very much.


Answer:

Mazal tov!

Most women ovulate once per cycle, and the egg typically remains viable for twenty-four hours. Sperm remains viable for up to three days. Thus, relations anywhere from about three days before ovulation to a day afterwards could result in conception.

Ovulation predictor test sticks test for a rise in a hormone called LH. This hormone level rises 12-24 hours before ovulation and then goes back down. Therefore, it is normal for a negative test result to follow a positive one. When using the kits, there is no reason to continue to test in a given cycle after you’ve tested positive.

Your test results would be consistent with your having ovulated on or around mikveh night. In your case, relations on mikveh night or on the next night might have resulted in conception. However, even when relations are timed correctly, only about 20-25% of cycles result in a pregnancy.

It is common practice for women under age 35 to wait for one year of relations without contraception to take place before seeking fertility evaluation. Women age 35 and up or with a specific cause for concern typically consult with a physician after six months of trying to conceive.

Please get back to us and your physician with any more questions.

Updated August 2020.

This internet service does not preclude, override or replace the psak of any rabbinical authority. It is the responsibility of the questioner to inform us of any previous consultation or ruling. As even slight variation in circumstances may have Halachic consequences, views expressed concerning one case may not be applied to other, seemingly similar cases. All health and health-related information contained within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is intended to be general in nature and should not be used as a substitute for consulting with your health care professional. The advice is intended to offer a basis for individuals to discuss their medical condition with their health care provider but not individual advice. Although every effort is made to ensure that the material within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is accurate and timely, it is provided for the convenience of the Web site user but should not be considered official. Advice for actual medical practice should be obtained from a licensed health care professional. For further questions or comments:  The Nishmat Women's Health and Halacha Site is a public service of Nishmat, The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women. This project and others like it are made possible by contributions from people like you. If you have benefited from the service, and wish to enable us to help others, click here to donate.
Users of Internet filtering services: This site discusses sensitive subjects that some services filter without visual indication. A page that appears 100% complete might actually be missing critical Jewish-law or medical information. To ensure that you view the pages accurately, ask the filtering service to whitelist all pages under yoatzot.org.

Accessibility Toolbar