TTC questions, I feel so dumb!

[Boomerslady]

I’ve never posted in this section before and just need some simple advice from you ladies who know much more than me!

I luckily fell pg with my son very easily after missing a couple of my pill when I was in my early 20s. I’m now early 30’s and officially TTC for the first time!

I stopped taking my pill around 5 months ago, but have no idea about cycles, ovulation, I’ve thought about buying the sticks to see when I might be ovulating but have no idea what days to do it on!!

So for the first time ever I’ve tracked my periods and I think my cycle is around 30 days, im on for around 6, then off for 23-24 days then on again. So on what day should I be trying? Or using the sticks? I’m going to Need to learn all the new abbreviations for this board now, I know that’s not what they’re called!!

 

[Robynxo]

Hey there! We were all "dumb" at one point, so no worries! lol

I would definitely buy a basal body thermometer. That is the one thing that helps me know for sure whats going on. I wake up and take my temp at the same time every morning and log it into the app, Fertility Friend. The app should log your ovulation dates for you, but only afterwards. Before you ovulate, your temps should be on a lower end, and might be a little erratic. Ovulation day often has a dip in temperature, and then the day after, or 1 DPO, there is a spike in temp. For me, this has happened with a big spike (immediate large spike in temp), a slow rise (where it takes a few days to get to a higher temp), a fallback rise (where it spikes on 1 DPO, then drops on 2 DPO, then rises again for the remainder), and sometimes I have had no ovulation dip. There should be a definite change in temps after ovulation and they should be quite a bit higher than before you ovulated until your period starts again. Mine vary from 0.5 degrees higher than pre-ovulation temps, to over a degree higher than pre-ovulation temps.

I would start taking OPKs daily around the same time at CD 11 or so. I start around CD 15 with my 35 day cycles, then progress to taking one every 12 hours when I'm due to ovulate or I see a progression going on. Since OPKs require the line to be the same or DARKER than the control line, it would often look positive to someone who is inexperienced with them. Mine get SUPER crazy dark when they are positive for me, so there is no denying my positives. It is different for everyone.

If you don't have much fertile CM, or Cervical Mucus, I take evening primrose oil, and now I get EWCM, or egg-white cervical mucus, for 3 days until I ovulate. Again, that is different for everyone, but now I can use that as a way of telling I am going to ovulate soon without taking temps or OPKs. Some people get it for a longer or shorter period of time, so I would definitely recommend getting to know what a normal cycle is like for you before assuming.

You may get pregnant before even learning much there is to know, which would be great! However, I have the experience of trying cycle after cycle (blah!) so I get to know my not-pregnant body pretty well. lol.

Wishing the best for you!

 

[Dill]

Download the FertilityFriend app -- it includes a charting course that teaches you basically how to TTC, and includes tools to help you optimize when to do your OPKs, etc. And yes, do get a basal body thermometer for temping!