Thinking of having a baby? You may consider a home ovulation test kit. These kits can be a useful tool to pinpoint the best time to conceive a child.

A woman's most fertile time is about two weeks before her period. This is when her pituitary gland steps up production of luteinising hormone (LH). Within a day or two, her ovary releases an egg and ovulation begins. Having sex at this time greatly increases the chances of getting pregnant. But

women still need to know when they're about to ovulate.

So how's this done? Home test kits detect the surge of LH before ovulation by measuring the LH contained in urine. Collect a urine sample in a cup, put a test strip in the cup, and wait an hour. Then compare the colour of the test stick against the chart in the kit. If it stays white, there's very little LH in your urine. This means that you're not about to ovulate and have less chance of getting pregnant. If the test strip turns blue, your urine contains a greater amount of LH. The darker the blue, the more LH there is.

It's important to do the test every day in the 10 days around ovulation. The day you start testing depends on the normal length of your menstrual cycle. If your cycle typically runs 28 days, start testing on day 10 and keep testing until day 20. Your test sticks should become a gradually darker blue until they match up with an indicator provided in the kit. This means that LH production has begun and ovulation will start within the next two days.

You should test every day at the same time to get the best results. No one time is better than another. You may get a false positive reading showing high levels of LH, even though you don't go on to ovulate. This usually happens because of medications you might be taking, or because of health problems (like ovarian cysts). If you see no sign of LH, or get odd results, talk to your doctor about it.