Persona Fertility Monitor
can help you get pregnant

I think Persona fertility monitor is a great tool because you can use it in two ways, a sort of "buy one, get one free".

Like other fertility monitors, Persona is a device designed to analyse some changes that take place during a woman's menstrual cycle in order to know with great accuracy when an ovulation is going to occur, to have the best chances of getting pregnant. See more on how to get pregnant.

Unlike most of them, which are intended for women who want to get pregnant, Persona is designed to be used for contraception purposes, but I think it can be equally effective as a way to find your best days to conceive.

Basically, it tells you when your most fertile days are going to be, then what you do on those days is your choice, depending on whether you want to get pregnant or not.

I think it can be even more effective than the fertility predictors that tell you only about 2 days when you could conceive. You'll see why when you read how it works.

To use persona though, you need to have a quite regular cycle, between 23 and 35 days. Having a regular cycle, helps conceiving, anyway. Read more on this and more fertility tips for her.

How it works

Persona fertility monitor follows a woman's cycle, suggesting on which days there is a possibility of falling pregnant. It does this by measuring the levels of two hormones in the woman's urine during her cycle. There is a monitor and test sticks: every month, on certain days it will ask you to do a test.

Used for contraception purposes, it warns you about all the days when there is a danger of falling pregnant, but if you are trying to have a baby, you will know that those are your most fertile days.

It warns you through a red light, for about 6-10 mid-cycle days, but every month it differs.

So if you use Persona as a contraceptive, you have to abstain from sex during those red-light days. But you can use Persona as a way to help you conceive: knowing your fertile period you should have sex during those red-light days.

A woman is most fertile around the middle of her cycle, when an egg is released (ovulation). So it is correct that you should know when these days are but there are also more days when there is a danger, or the opportunity, of falling pregnant. Let's see why.

You could get pregnant not only on the ovulation day

Let's say you have a 28 day cycle, so your most fertile days should be between the 13th and 15th. However, sperm can survive inside a woman's body for up to five or six days, so if you have an intercourse on the 11th or 12th day, your egg may not yet be mature but sperm stays within you and within one day or two may meet and fertilize the egg. Also the egg may be fertile up to a couple of days after the ovulation occurs.

So, for the best chances of getting pregnant you should have intercourses from a few days before the ovulation is supposed to occur to a couple of days after the ovulation. 

Persona fertility monitor shows a red light from day 6/8 to two days after the ovulation sign appears. Those are the best days to conceive.

• Day 1: green light (infertile day). Press a button in the morning to let the monitor know your cycle has started.
• Day 6: yellow test light. Start testing: wet a stick in your first urine of the morning and insert it in the device. After three minutes the light will turn red (fertile day) or green (infertile day), depending on your hormone levels. 
• Day 7-15: the monitor will show different colours every day, depending on your hormone levels. Yellow to requests you another test and the according to the results of its test. Around days 11 and following ones, it may show the ovulation symbol, indicating that the ovulation is likely to happen within 1-2 days.

If you don't see the ovulation symbol, it may be that that month you didn't ovulate, but it could also mean that you didn't ovulate during the testing days and may ovulate later. That's why if you don't see the ovulation symbol, the monitor may continue to show the red light for a few days after the testing.

Remember that Persona fertility monitor was designed to be used for contraception purposes, therefore the red-light days are the fertile days, the good ones for you if you are trying to have a baby. Also, being a contraceptive tool, for extra safety it will show the red light for two days after you see the ovulation symbol, because the egg may still get fertilized. In some cycles it may show many red days, depending on circumstances.

Ovulation on day 13 shown on Persona fertility monitor, with a red light

As the cycles always vary in length, it is possible to ovulate on different days. Here below are some real examples of the monitor showing that the ovulation occurred on different days. The pictures were from different cycles. During each cycle Persona fertility monitor shows you only two days with the ovulation symbol.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

The only negative aspect in my opinion is that I haven't seen in any shop, it is available only online in Europe, but maybe they ship it to other countries.

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