It's so frustrating and upsetting to think you are and then get about 5 slaps in the face with a BFN. Having support makes it all so much easier and helps me stay hopeful.
I, honestly, have no idea how to track my ovulation. It's not as easy for me to go to the doctor and have them test and a lot of the ovulation kits are really expensive. Do you have any advice on how I can do it myself at home?
And, also, I saw that you are TTC. If you don't mind me asking, how is that going? Good I'm hoping!
So here's exactly what I would do to start taking charge of TTC!
Buy a basal body thermometer. I bought mine for $8 at Walgreens. It's pink. It's specifically for BBT, and it shows an extra decimal when reading my temperature, which is important because your temperature really only changes minimally and not enough to read on a normal thermometer.
Then download Fertility Friend to your phone, or get an account online. It's free.
Pick a time that you will get up every morning and temp. It needs to be the same time. You can go back to sleep afterwards, I do
. Take your temp orally or vaginally, vaginally is more accurate and better if you snore or breathe through your mouth or talk in your sleep. Take your temp before you move or get out of bed. Try to always get at least three hours of sleep before you temp. Preferably more like eight. Keep track of this temp. It will go up and down and fluctuate throughout your cycle. But... when it goes up about a half degree and stays up afterwards than that means you have ovulated. Fertility Friend will tell you that you have ovulated after three days of sustained higher temps.
Now temping only tells you after you ovulated. Which will be helpful in the future as we typically ovulate on the same day of each cycle, or very close to it. So after once cycle of temping you'll have a general time frame for when you ovulate.
Now to know before you are ovulating you can check your cervix/vagina for mucus. The most fertile of mucus is EWCM, or otherwise known as egg white cervical mucus. It gets its name from it's cleary, stretchy appearance. Feel till you get a little on your fingers then check to see if it stretches a couple of inches between your fingers. Some girls would never do this. It honestly does not bug me. Also if you have like a really watery cervical mucus, that's alright. What you don't want is none or a thicky lotiony mucus, that stuff is not fertile.
You can also use OPKs. But as you already said they can get spendy. I buy bulk packs of like fifty to a hundred for $30 or so on Amazon, they are Wondfo brand. (Bonus, sometimes they come with pregnancy tests, or little packets of Conceive Plus, which a sperm friendly lube that can help you conceive faster.) I buy them like that because I test every day for five days before my suspected ovulation day, and usually lots of times on my ovulation day, as well as the next couple days after until I get that raised temp to confirm I ovulated. You're looking for lines very close in darkness to the control line. Once you get that, typically you'll ovulate 12 to 72 hours later, but probably within the next 24 hours, that's average.
There are about five prime days to conceive. Three days before ovulation. Ovulation day. And the day after. Aim for at least one of the days before ovulation, the actual day of ovulation and the day after. The days before are more important. Unless a Dr. has specifically said your husband has an issue with his sperm than it will not hurt to have more sex.
TTC is going alright for my husband and I! He's good to go. I have PCOS and I don't have cycles on my own so I take Provera to start my cycle and now starting this cycle I also take Clomid to help me ovulate.
Good luck!! Keep me updated on how things go!!!
It's hard when you want that BFP and you get it but it turns out to be faulty somehow.
