Does Cervical Mucus Change After Ovulation?

Okay here’s a question; what does your cervical mucus look/feel like after you ovulate? To answer that, we need to look at what changes your cervical mucus in the first place… and it’s all due to the wonderful hormone estrogen.⁣⁣⁣

Estrogen rises during the first part of your cycle and peaks right before you expect your OPK to become positive. It’s a sign that your eggs are growing.⁣⁣⁣

This rise in estrogen is what turns your cervical mucus into the slippery/egg-white looking discharge that you see right before ovulation.⁣⁣⁣

But after you’ve ovulated, progesterone dominates and your cervical mucus changes pretty much immediately. The consistency changes from watery to thick and the quantity changes from a LOT to barely anything. It can still be sticky, but the stretchiness is gone. The abrupt change is a good indicator that you’ve ovulated and the fertile window has passed.

Many women get a day or so of more watery CM a few days before they get their period, which is thought to be due to a shift in hormones.⁣⁣

So in addition to other ways of confirming you’ve ovulated (like tracking your basal body temperature), your cervical mucus going from watery to dry is a pretty good indicator that you’ve actually ovulated.