Help - suggestions/advice needed.

[thedolphin]

hubby and i have been TTC for 4 months now. having absolutely no idea when i ovulate this month i have decieded to chart using FF and am also using OPK's.

my cycle ranges from 24-28 days.

with FF i am mainly going by my temps as i have trouble with CM. ive started to try internal examinations, but i guess i need time to get used to it all. my temp seems to fluctuate quite a bit although i am taking my temp at the same time each morning without getting up and doing stuff.

as per the ovonow instructions i have began testing on CD7. i am doing this in the afternoon. on cd12 i recieved a line in the test area that was almost as dark as the control area, but not exactly the same as. apparently this is a negative (as per instructions), but since then i have not recieved any other line, faint or otherwise. as some of my cylces are quite short im thinking that perhaps that was my positive as my window for ovulation must surely almost be over???

i have been drinking grapefruit juice (eeewwww) in the hopes that will increase my CM. i heard that somewhere along the lines.

im just wondering if anyone would like to take a look at my chart and offer some helpful suggestions or advice as to pinpointing ovulation and timing BD.

[butterfly_warrior]

Hi... there are some women where a line ALMOST as dark as the control line is a positive... I appear to be one of them!

Something to be mindful of... once the line is darkening, that would probably be time to start getting in lots and lots of BD practice...

BW

[thedolphin]

yeah hubby and i watched the results to see if it would get any darker - but it didnt.

we decieded to just BD anyway.

i didnt seem to have any EWCM though, and im not sure really wheather my chart coincides with cd12 being O. however, as i said i am just getting used to all of this and dont have any other charts to compare with.

im still doing the OPK's just incase i O cd16 or later, but i doubt it.

[butterfly_warrior]

Charting does take a lot to get used to! I've been charting since mid-January and I'm still not used to it!

I know that after a few cycles with nothing happening you are probably feeling pretty frustrated, but everything is probably still normal for you. I'm in a different situation with PCOS and I'm only on my 4th cycle for the whole year, which is damned frustrating, but I'm pretty sure I had my first ovulation EVER yesterday! So I can only encourage you to hang in there and keep trying. If your charts do start indicating that something is wrong, seek help sooner rather than later.

BW

[thedolphin]

ohh congrats on your first o. you must be very excited about that!

yeah its hard to be patient and not stress. im trying really hard.

[Celsie]

I have to agree with BW...

I'm one of those women who get lines almost as dark, but not quite there... and it's definately a positive. So, good luck and come jump into the 1 - 6 month thread for a chat!!!

Celsie. xoxox

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

Good luck, thedolphin, and just to let you know that you can O without EWCM: I had none at all this cycle (can I still say this cycle?).

Also, BW, yay for ovulating!

[*Rae*]

i read in another thread that green tea is another good drink to increase CM. Best wishes with it all

[*Jessica*]

Hi thedolphin, had a quick peak at your chart. Did you know you can enter in your + OPK? That will assist FF in determining your O date. So it very may well have been CD12. Let me know if you have any probs with it.

[thedolphin]

Hi thedolphin, had a quick peak at your chart. Did you know you can enter in your + OPK? That will assist FF in determining your O date. So it very may well have been CD12. Let me know if you have any probs with it.

yeah i just wasnt sure wheather to put it in as a + or not.

now on CD17 and thats the closest thing we got...do you think i should, that it was definately the +???

[Sal]

Hi there, you know a lot of women never notice they have EWCM but they obviously do because they fall pg. I wouldn't worry too much about that, although do keep trying to chart it, eventually you will notice a pattern, even if you never see full-on EWCM (you can look on the net and see pics of women's EWCM, they have SOOOOOO much it is amazing - I am not one of those women LOL).

Re the 'almost as dark' line on the OPK: your LH spike (the hormone that says 'ok time to ovulate now') only lasts a few hours, so it is easy to miss it, some women test more than once a day. As the other ladies have said, if you get a line like that, you know that it is time to BD soon! If in doubt, BD for a few more days afterwards, that way you will have covered all possibilities.

If your cycle is regular, you could always BD every second day, starting from CD10 and going through to CD16, then you will have a good chance regardless of when you actually o.

[Inanna]

Hi the dolphin,
I have only once got a true positive on an opk. I have been having regular cd21 testing since last May (apart from when I was pregnant of course!) and last year when I was ovulating very well I still didn't get a true positive.

I would definitely take the line you got as a positive - though if you can I would keep testing daily at the same time each day just in case you were 'gearing up' for ovulation and it didn't happen. It's good that you made use of the time to do the baby dance with your partner. As for ewcm. I don't get a lot of noticeable EWCM either. It isn't just seeing the mucous but noticing how your body feels. Do you feel wetter, is it more slippery when you wipe? These are good indicators of fertility also. Have you read "the Billings Method". It's a really good read for women to get to know their bodies and their rythums.
I wish you lots of luck on your journey...

[Violet Star]

iHi TheDolphin, Glad you followed some advice and moved to the thread, loads of great girls in there, includng me but im only an intruder these days! LOL
I would Record it as a + and in your notes section on FF record that it was lighter, AFter a while you will start to notice what results you get. You might find you only ever get lighter. Dont worry about those instructions, if i went by them i would never O. Last cycle was the first time I ever got a line darker than the control one on ovunow and i double checked by using fortel as well.

Sal- i dont know if im up to googling EWCM yet!