I’m tracking my ovulation—but not because I want to get pregnant

When my husband and I decided to have a baby 10 years ago, I got pregnant in a millisecond. I know how lucky we were, especially after seeing so many friends struggle, and turn to various fertility-boosting treatments ranging from acupuncture and Klomid to all-out IVF. I never had to deal with tracking my ovulation by taking my temperature or peeing on sticks either—and despite a few weeks of bedrest and a baby who eventually had to get kicked out of my “hotel womb” via inducement, the end result was a healthy eight-and-a-half-pound boy.

So here I am a decade later trying to figure out my “cycle.” I have an IUD so I don’t get an actual period, and I’ve always been irregular. I’m doing this because I get an annual breast MRI (I’m gene-negative but high-risk), and apparently my last scan wasn’t timed well and they didn’t get the best reading. So, I have until June to get a better idea of the length of my cycle so I can schedule my MRI 10 days after I would get my period—and it hasn’t been easy.

Then I got a PR email from a company called KNOWHEN, and let’s just say ovulation prediction technology has come a long, long way from when it was a constant discussion amongst me and my friends. Rather than peeing on sticks and charting temperature, all you have to do is put one drop of saliva on a little glass lens first thing in the morning, let it dry and then see what kind of pattern there is. If it looks like a bunch of ferns, BOOM, you’re ovulating (and most likely to get pregnant), if you see dots and a few small ferns you’re either approaching or finishing ovulating, and if you see nada, well, nothing is going on.

One of the biggest upsides of KNOWHEN is that you can use this kit over and over again—and track your cycle month after month with an app. I’m super-confident that I’ll have a solid idea of my cycle’s length after using this simple device for a few months, and in turn, be able to schedule my MRI for the ideal time this year. Aside from my unique reason for using it, this is truly a game-changer for those who want to know when they have the best chance of getting pregnant (or not)!