Hi all,

Sorry in advance for the life story! Just hoping you may read on and see if you can help...

Well I came off the pill back in August and haven't had any luck since

My periods took a while to regulate - my cycle varied every month from 28 to 38 days. However I noticed that the last two months were closer together, February being 33 days and March being 34 days. So I was hoping that this month we had a higher chance of concieving.

My last AF started on the 6th March. So I worked out it would be due again tomorrow. I also worked out roughly that I would ovulate around the 20th. I dtd two days before the 20th and then everyday after that up until Wednesday just gone.

Normally when AF arrives I know about it because the pain wakes me up in tears on the first morning. It is also extremely heavy. This has always been the way for me so I was very confused when I woke up Thursday morning, went to the toilet and found that I was spotting.

Sorry for the TMI - it was a slight brown colour but since then it has changed from brown to pink to brown again. It is really light, I only need to use a tiny panyliner whereas usually a tampon isn't enough, although now most of the blood is there when I wipe.

I have had NO pain whatsoever which has never happened before. I did experience some very light cramping and backache, but I wouldn't have even called what I felt "pains" this has gone now. I'm still slightly spotting. I did a HPT yesterday morning and BFN.

I was hoping for some advice really, has anyone else been through this before? Also, if what I have experienced is implantation, would the bleed occur this close to my period? How long do you recommend I wait before doing a test?

I'm feeling really emotional, this will be my first baby and I've never wanted anything more in my life than to be a mum. Any help would be sooo appreciated, I don't know what's going on that's the hardest thing to cope with xxx

It's possible it was ovulation spotting. My cycles went up and down for the first 9 months post BCP. I kept thinking they'd stabilised then would get a crazy one. They still vary by +\- 4 days.

It's very difficult to determine O with irregular cycles and without knowing how long the second phase (luteal phase) of the cycle is. 14 days is average but it could be shorter or longer than this.

Are you monitoring fertile signs or using OPKs to try and predict O? Or temping can be useful to confirm O but not predict it. Once you know if you have O'd you can roughly predict when you should get AF or an accurate pregnancy test result.

There is a book called taking charge of your fertility which I highly recommend. Fertility friend is also good as is the Amanda Bears website.

Good luck.

Thank you Bean, that's really helpful. I'm not too sure when to tell if I am ovulating, as I don't know what the signs are or how the temperature thing works. :/ xxx

Look at the Amanda bears site and google fertility signs. Basically your cm becomes watery and/or like raw egg whites - clear and stretchy. Sometimes it's easy to miss the EWCM without checking internally. Your cervix should become Soft, High, Open and Wet - SHOW.

Check out fertility friend (FF) for temping. Basically you temp your temp as soon as you wake up, ideally at roughly the same time every day and chart it. After you O the follicle becomes a corpus luteum and produces progesterone, this increases basal temperature (bbt) and can be seen if you chart it. You can't use it to predict O/ time bding only confirm O. Over a few months it's good for identifying patterns.

OPKs are also good for predicting O. Though it's doesn't confirm O has occurred. Ive had positive OPKs and not O'd.