"TTC for Dummies" (cracking the code: CM, OPK, BBT, cycles, LP's and whatever else!)

[LearningLife]

Ladies,

I am active on other threads but thought I'd write in requesting a short "tcc for dummies." First time ttc this month for DH (28) and I (29) - was on bcps for two years, got off them Oct. 2010 (although continued to "prevent"). Began pre-natal vits. But since stopping bcps cycles have been irregular as they were prior to pills, between 25-37 days. We ttc'd this month in between travels and stuff and no AF between the 25-37 days. However, today I'm on CD39 - NO AF, but (BIG BUT) I have been spotting for at least 3.5 days. At first it was light smears, now I feel leaky & it's darker brown spotting (sorry TMI!) - sort of like what I usually get prior to AF every month...so I'm trying to hang in there but it's very difficult! I will test tomorrow, Wed, once I finally get back home from MIL's to our Amazon package of pg. test strips waiting for us...I don't bbt or chart anything, but have ordered some OPK in case this first month is a fail.....SO, please help describe/explain the following (the whats/whens/hows/whys in detail!). Would love to hear some success stories too & how charting OR not charting the above helped:-

- CM
- BBT
- OPK
- LP
- cycle days
- IB
- anything else?

THANK YOU!

Wishing you all

 

[DBZ34]

CM - Cervical mucus (creamy, sticky, watery and eggwhite aka EWCM) The most fertile CM is EWCM, but watery is also considered fertile. Fertile CM is a good sign that ovulation is about to occur and it would be a good time to have sex or get donations.

BD- Baby Dance= sex.

BBT- Basal Body Temperature - taken with a BBT thermometer which displays two decimal places instead of one.

OPK - Ovulation predictor kits

LP- Luteal Phase (days after ovulation) - less than 9 days before pd occurs means that you could have a luteal phase defect and it will be hard to become pg, but there are supplements to help increase it. Doctors may also prescribe clomid to help increase LP. 9-15 days is the normal range for an LP.

DPO - Days past ovulation

CD- cycle days - how long your monthly cycle lasts.

IB- Implantation Bleeding - not all women who conceive get IB, but some do in the middle of their LP (around 6-12 days past ovulation).

FF - Fertility Friend - for those who temp, it's a website that is helpful for keeping track of temperatures and will confirm ovulation at 3DPO. (Three consecutive days of temps .3 degrees above previously recorded temps).

 

[DBZ34]

Oh and charting has really helped me in my TTC journey. I was worried that I wasn't ovulating or that I was ovulating late and had a LP defect because I get multiple patches of EWCM during my cycle (always get it about 6 days before AF and thought that was when I was ovulating).

So I went out, bought myself a BBT thermometer and started temping. You have to temp at the same time every morning to keep it really accurate, but as long as you get at least 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep, you're fine to take a temp and there are websites that have BBT adjusters.

Anyway, I found out that I am ovulating, around when I should expect to ovulate, how long my LP is (12 days normally, so no LP defect), and when I should expect AF. (When temping, at the end of your cycle, if you're pg, your temps should stay elevated, but if AF is coming, they'll start to drop). It's really taken a lot of the stress out of TTC for me. But, that's just me. Some people hate temping, but I love that it takes all the guess work out of my cycle for me.

 

[MrsPete]

Here is a link to a list of common abbreviations. Good luck! https://www.babyandbump.com/forum-help-testing-area/730-babyandbump-lingo-abbreviations.html

 

[LearningLife]

Here is a link to a list of common abbreviations. Good luck! https://www.babyandbump.com/forum-help-testing-area/730-babyandbump-lingo-abbreviations.html

Thanks for the link to abbreviations MrsPete

 

[LearningLife]

Oh and charting has really helped me in my TTC journey. I was worried that I wasn't ovulating or that I was ovulating late and had a LP defect because I get multiple patches of EWCM during my cycle (always get it about 6 days before AF and thought that was when I was ovulating).

So I went out, bought myself a BBT thermometer and started temping. You have to temp at the same time every morning to keep it really accurate, but as long as you get at least 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep, you're fine to take a temp and there are websites that have BBT adjusters.

Anyway, I found out that I am ovulating, around when I should expect to ovulate, how long my LP is (12 days normally, so no LP defect), and when I should expect AF. (When temping, at the end of your cycle, if you're pg, your temps should stay elevated, but if AF is coming, they'll start to drop). It's really taken a lot of the stress out of TTC for me. But, that's just me. Some people hate temping, but I love that it takes all the guess work out of my cycle for me.

Thank you for taking the time to write DBZ34! My question was more, when do you bbt, opk, during the month?

When and exactly how do you use opk and find the length of LP?

I am very irregular so would love to take the guess work out of my cycle as well!

Do you know anything about IB?

Thanks!

 

[DBZ34]

Thank you for taking the time to write DBZ34! My question was more, when do you bbt, opk, during the month?

When and exactly how do you use opk and find the length of LP?

I am very irregular so would love to take the guess work out of my cycle as well!

Do you know anything about IB?

Thanks!

I BBT all cycle. So I start when my period starts and just keep going until she shows up again. I've only missed 2-3 days in the last few cycles. Temping is the only way to clearly confirm when you ovulate. OPKs tell you when you should, but there's no guarantee that you will when they suggest you do. Temping and opks together is probably the best. Your temp will rise at least .3 degrees for 3 consecutive days after you ovulate. Then you'll know exactly when you ovulated (unless your temps are really irregular) and you'll know the exact length of your LP (the day after you ovulate until the day of your period). Your LP length can change from one cycle to the next, but not more than a day or two, where as the length of time from your period until ovulation can change a lot from month to month.

As for OPKs, I don't use them, but I have heard that most women start around CD8-10 and do them twice a day. Once in the morning and once in the evening (so they don't miss the surge) but that's with internet cheapie sticks. If you have a clear blue monitor, I'm sure it's different. Then they keep going until the test line is as dark as the control line. When that happens, you'll know that ovulation should occur within the next 12-24 hours. Some women keep using the opks until they turn negative again, so that they know that ovulation has happened for sure.

But some women never get a clear positive, so it's best to BD every other day, just to make sure you don't miss the egg. And then BD the two days after you get the positive opk. And if you don't want to temp, I would just go with the day after the positive opk as ovulation day and the day after that is 1DPO. Then just count the days until your period shows up as your LP.

And IB....well, some women get it and some don't. If you were to have IB, it would happen between 6-13DPO, after the egg implants. It will be spotting and brown blood, but can have a hint of pink. If spotting happens in the middle of your LP, it's more likely to be IB. If it happens at like 3DPO, it's more likely to be ovulation bleeding (bleeding that occurs when the egg ruptures the follicle).

 

[MrsPete]

I really enjoyed the book "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" by Terry Weschler. That's how I learned to chart. Fertility Friend also has a very good tutorial. Here's a quick overview but you'll need to learn more about it.
You take your temp every morning at the same time. Before you get out of bed or do anything that might wake your body up. You record those temperatures either on a paper chart or charting software like Fertility Friend or TCOYF.com. Over a cycle you should see a pattern. Usually your temps will be lower at the beginning of the month and then you will see a distinct overall temperature shift. The cover line will help you decide when the temp shift happened, the cover line is based on what was the highest of your past 6 temperatures... then you will see all of your temps above that previous highest temperature. When your temps rise above the cover line for 3 days in a row then you know you have ovulated. The time from ovulation to menses is the luteal phase; it should be more than 10 days.
Many women also chart cervical fluid and cervical position (I've stopped doing that because just temping seems to work for me). Your cervical fluid will change and increase in production and consistancy through your cycle. You are most fertile when you have egg white cervical mucous (EWCM), it is very much like the consistancy of egg whites and stretchy between your fingers. As you get closer to ovulation the position of the cervix also changes, softening, lowering, and opening.
Here is a link to several charts on FF so you can see some and learn more about them. FF has a very good tutorial, too. https://www.fertilityfriend.com/cg/index.php?cat=1
I use TCOYF but their website seems to be down right now so I'd hate to give you a link to a non-working site.
The difference between charting and OPKs is that charting tells you when you have already ovulated. OPKs will give you some advance warning. When you get a positive OPK you will ovulate in the next 12-48 hours. But it will not tell you anything about your LP.
There's a lot to learn about fertility. Again, I highly recommend the book I mentioned above; she goes through things step by step. If you have an irregular cycle you really do need to chart so that you can keep a record of what your body has been doing and find out for sure whether you are ovulating.

 

[DBZ34]

I really enjoyed the book "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" by Terry Weschler. That's how I learned to chart. Fertility Friend also has a very good tutorial. Here's a quick overview but you'll need to learn more about it.
You take your temp every morning at the same time. Before you get out of bed or do anything that might wake your body up. You record those temperatures either on a paper chart or charting software like Fertility Friend or TCOYF.com. Over a cycle you should see a pattern. Usually your temps will be lower at the beginning of the month and then you will see a distinct overall temperature shift. The cover line will help you decide when the temp shift happened, the cover line is based on what was the highest of your past 6 temperatures... then you will see all of your temps above that previous highest temperature. When your temps rise above the cover line for 3 days in a row then you know you have ovulated. The time from ovulation to menses is the luteal phase; it should be more than 10 days.
Many women also chart cervical fluid and cervical position (I've stopped doing that because just temping seems to work for me). Your cervical fluid will change and increase in production and consistancy through your cycle. You are most fertile when you have egg white cervical mucous (EWCM), it is very much like the consistancy of egg whites and stretchy between your fingers. As you get closer to ovulation the position of the cervix also changes, softening, lowering, and opening.
Here is a link to several charts on FF so you can see some and learn more about them. FF has a very good tutorial, too. https://www.fertilityfriend.com/cg/index.php?cat=1
I use TCOYF but their website seems to be down right now so I'd hate to give you a link to a non-working site.
The difference between charting and OPKs is that charting tells you when you have already ovulated. OPKs will give you some advance warning. When you get a positive OPK you will ovulate in the next 12-48 hours. But it will not tell you anything about your LP.
There's a lot to learn about fertility. Again, I highly recommend the book I mentioned above; she goes through things step by step. If you have an irregular cycle you really do need to chart so that you can keep a record of what your body has been doing and find out for sure whether you are ovulating.

I've heard really good things about Take Charge of Your Fertility. I'm planning on picking it up in Feb, if things don't work out this month.

 

[LearningLife]

Thank you both...on amtrak with erratic network so wanted to at least make sure you know that I've received and read the information you provided and that it is very helpful - clarifies some of it for me! Heard about the book "taking charge of your fertility" - believe I've ordered it last week on amazon but will have to check to make sure I get a copy, esp. if this month doesn't work out. There is so much to learn! Thanks so so much again!