Many couples, in an effort to improve their odds of conception, will purchase at home fertility monitors to help guide them as to the most productive days and times to have intercourse. Based on the idea that most conceptions take place within a week leading up to ovulation, these tests monitor your hormone levels to let the woman know when she is most fertile and has the best chance of conceiving.

Many women prefer using a home fertility testing kit over the common method of monitoring their basal body temperature. This method requires that, at the beginning of each day, they take and record their temperature. They do this for an entire menstrual cycle. Tests have shown that just prior to ovulation, a woman's body temperature will drop. Just after the egg is released, her body's temperature will rise. The theory is that after you've charted your complete cycle, you will be able to determine when you are most fertile by simply taking your morning temperature.

Although useful and inexpensive, many women find the basal body temperature charting process bothersome, inconvenient, and very easy to forget. For most women, using a home fertility kit will be more convenient and accurate. It will also, however, be more expensive.

The kit will usually consist of a quantity of test sticks along with a view monitor to track results. Normally, you would initially get enough test sticks to last you for about three months. The important thing to note is that sticks have expiration dates. If you are purchasing them in a drug store or online, make sure that they are not old sticks that have been sitting on the shelves for a while.

Depending on the test that you get, you will be measuring different things.

Some home fertility tests measure the levels of Luteinizing Hormone (LH) in your urine. LH is the hormone secreted by the pituitary gland. It acts in combination with the FSH hormone to stimulate the follicle to secret estrogen and stimulate the egg to grow. Just prior to ovulation, a woman will experience a surge where the LH level will rise to it's highest level of the cycle. Intercourse at this time gives a woman the best odds of conception. A home fertility kit that monitors the LH level will help to detect when the LH surge is taking place which will help you to predict when you will ovulate.

Another type of home fertility test measures the hormone estrone-3-glucuronide (E3G). Estrogen will eventually break down in your body. When it breaks down as you're ovulating, it produces E3G which accumulates in your urine and causes your cervical mucus to become thinner and more slippery than usual. This is thought to help the sperm by making it easier to swim to egg, thus increasing the odds that you will conceive.

Whichever type of test you use will normally involve you either urinating into a cup and dipping the test stick into the cup or holding the test stick in your urine stream while urinating. You then place the test stick in the monitor and wait for your results to print out. The entire testing process will usually take less than 10 minutes.

Although at home fertility tests are very accurate, just to be on the safe side, it's best to get confirmation from your medical doctor.