Conceiving with a Short Cycle (23-24 Days)

[second.time]

Hello everyone! A little backstory: I had my first son in 2012. I was 27 when he was conceived on the first try (I know, I got lucky). Back then, I had cycles that averaged out to 25, with plenty of 26/27 /28 day cycles in the mix.

Now I'm 32 and finally ready to start trying for a second baby, but I'm anxious about my changing cycle length. I got my period back very soon after giving birth, and it's now shortened. My cycle tracking app says the average is 24 days, but when I averaged out my periods over the past year, it's only 23 days.

The good news is that I have a predictable cycle going on: period lasts five days, EWCM starts very soon afterwards and lasts for maybe a week, then I get increasingly crampy/moody for the next 10-12 days until I have my next period. And I had some blood work done earlier in the year on day 20 of my cycle and noticed that my progesterone, luteinizing hormone, etc., were all at normal ranges for an ovulation woman in her luteal phase.

My question is: do you have any success stories or words of advice about conceiving with a short cycle? I'm assuming I just need to start trying much earlier in my cycle. Thanks, and good luck to all of you!

 

[maryanne1987]

With short cycles it's really best to temp to find out what day you ovulate and and how long your LP is. I have always had short cycles, 25 days. My LP is 12 days which my fertility clinic considers the lowest they like it to be, so if your LP is less than that is suggest taking some B6 as it can give you a couple of extra days. When ttc this little man it lengthened my LP by 2 days and extended my cycle. If your tests were normal though it could just be that you ovulate really early, But yea temping will give you a great idea what's going on and when. Good luck!

 

[second.time]

Thank you! I noticed that the pregnancy multivitamin I've been taking has B6 in it ... so maybe that will help out a bit if I do have a short luteal phase? I remember when I had my son, we only tried on days 5 through 11, which is pretty early in the cycle, and it worked. So my instinct is that I just ovulate early and have an average luteal phase. But this is all guesswork on my end, and I'll take your advice to temp and see if I can get more clarity.

Congratulations on your pregnancy, by the way! I have a November baby too.

 

[maryanne1987]

Awww thank you! hope to see you in the pregnancy forums very soon