Tracking and charting fertility signs is one of the most important things you can do in order to understand your cycle and increase the odds of conception. Years ago when I was beginning my first bout with infertility, I had no idea what ovulation prediction kits were, and no one had smartphones and home testing availability was minimal. Now? We are being introduced to so many new technologies and it’s making it easier than ever to track our cycles. I’ve recently had a chance to review the Mira Fertility Tracker and this may possibly be the game changer when it comes to ovulation testing.
*MiraCare sent me a fertility tracker to review on my website and social media. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
“Mira is more than just a hormone tracker – it’s an all-in-one fertility tracking system that automatically syncs, records, and explains your fertility hormone data in a way that is easy to understand.”
What does it track?
The Mira Fertility Tracker tests for Luteinizing Hormone (commonly known as LH). This hormone spike occurs shortly before ovulation, usually 24-48 hours beforehand. They say it gives accurate data, monitors your hormone patterns, and predicts ovulation.
(Their website also states “Mira isn’t just a fertility tracker. Mira is the next step in personal health tracking and analysis…” and options for tracking other fertility hormones, allergies, and influenza are shown. I’m excited to see where they go with this!)
Why testing LH is important
If you know when you’re going to ovulate, you can get pregnant faster!
Waiting until the day of ovulation to be intimate can reduce your chances of getting pregnant – you actually want to have sex a day or two before ovulation occurs. This way the sperm is already waiting to meet the newly released egg. (sperm can live up to 5 days after sex when fertile cervical fluid is present!)
How it works
The device is essentially two pieces, a digital analyzer, and the disposable urine test wands, plus an app to help track your cycle. The wands themselves look similar to a home pregnancy test, but contain a lot more technology, like a little digital chip on one end – the urine test strip on the other.
When you unwrap the wand, the end with the digital chip has a cap on it. You then collect a urine sample (pee on the stick or dip it into a urine specimen cup), swap the cap from one end of the wand to the other, and insert it into the analyzer. Within 15 minutes it evaluates the hormone levels and sends the information via bluetooth to the app on your phone (not just a line or positive-negative sign, but an actual number recording of your LH level).
The app
The app includes data entry for your period, when you have sex, your basal body temperature, cervical mucus, and cervical tracking. All of this information is then analyzed by Mira’s AI algorithms to learn your cycle and give you accurate predictions.
I’ve been using another app for a couple of years, so it’s taken me a little bit of time to get used to using something new (I hate entering info into two apps, so I simply switched to the Mira app while I was testing it out.
The Pros
I love the simplicity of this! I never used the cheap OPK strips because they can be so hard to decipher (is the line getting darker…is it dark enough…I mean, if you’re in any facebook fertility group, you see these posts daily!), and even the OPKs (ovulation prediction kits) that use a plus or minus sign can be unreliable and expensive to cont
It’s really pretty. I know that’s probably weird to say, but it’s nice enough to have sitting out on the bathroom counter.
The first thing I noticed while using the first test is the actual wand. On one end you have the urine collecting strip, on the other is the part with a digital chip that gets inserted into the machine. The cap that covers the digital end gets removed and placed over the urine collecting end. #smart
It worked every time. The app was easy to download and pair with my device (both on my iPhone7 and Galaxy S5). The analyzer battery seemed to last forever without needing to be charged, and I never had a problem with it reading one of the wands. I tested it during times I knew I wasn’t fertile at all and times I was – the readings matched what I know of my cycle.
The Cons
For women with super irregular cycles, it can be kind of tricky to know when to test for LH, but that’s not really the fault of the device itself. Personally, I found that testing LH along with tracking cervical fluid (I’d start testing when cervical fluid began increasing) gave me the best results even with a slightly irregular cycle.
The device itself I don’t think is expensive, $200 for such an amazing little machine isn’t out of the question. It comes with 10 fertility wands (which could potentially last 2-3 cycles depending on how regular you are and how well you know your cycle) but since they are disposable you have to continue to buy more. Depending on how many you purchase they are $2 – $2.50 each (sold in sets of 10 or 25). Compared to digital OPKs, they are only slightly more expensive per test, maybe fifty cents to a dollar more per test.
Would I recommend it?
You betcha!
If you are trying to accurately predict ovulation and desire actual hormones levels, this is the way to go.
Testing LH can be especially helpful when:
- a woman has minimal cervical fluid and can’t rely on it to predict ovulation OR has multiple times of what seems like fertile fluid during a cycle
- slightly irregular cycles that make it hard to know exactly when you ovulate
- the man has low testosterone issues that make it difficult to be intimate more than once or twice during the fertile window
Getting a positive LH test is the easiest way to make sure you don’t miss when you’re fertile!
Discount for you
When you purchase a Mira Fertility Tracker, simply enter the code: DONIELLE at checkout and you’ll get $25.00 off!
You can find out more about the fertility tracker at Mira Fertility Tracker
Donielle Baker
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