Difference between watery CM and semen??

Just wondering if anyone can give me some help working out the difference between watery CM and semen?? DH and I tend to DTD daily in the week before ovulation, and I can tell the difference between EWCM and semen, but not watery CM and semen. Not sure if the 'wet' feeling and the slipperiness around vulva is due to watery CM or semen, so I get very confused where in the cycle I might be until I see some (not much) EWCM.

Is there a diference between EWCM and natural lubrication during BD'ing??

Also, before TTC I was on the pill for 5 yrs. Before taking the pill I had a very, very noticeable CM pattern - about one week of very noticeable watery CM and EWCM. That was in my early to mid 20s. Since stopping the pill, the pattern is now much less obvious - not many days of watery CM or EWCM and it's much less noticeable. Could this be due to age (now 31yo) or can frequent BD while TTC 'dry up' CM to some extent??

Thanks for your help, :)

Soulmate

TTC#1 since Feb 07- missed MC of twins early Jun 07 at 10.5 wks, chemical pregnancy early Oct 07

Hi Soulmate

I dont know how to tell the diff between semen and CM, but I just wanted to let you know that someone is reading this ;)

CM does change as you age, and changed for me after coming off implanon, so both coming off the pill and getting older can explain the change in your CM.

I've never heard of having sooo much bd that your CM dries up.... how much bd is too much? hahaha...

Hope it's not tmi, but maybe the smell would tell you more?? Semen has a distinct smell....

I'm glad you said that, I thought I was the only one!!! It smells funny... like a dishrag... ewwww

Hi Soul Mate, imagine my surpise to see this- i was just thinking the exact same thing myself today!!!
Dh and I DTD in the morning and later that day i had a little blob (i would say TMI- but i think we are passed that!! LOL) of cm and i started to panick (sort of) thinking it was the semen falling out (even though i had done the lift my legs over my head and hung there like an idiot for about 2 minutes after DTD to keep them in!!)

But yeah then i started to wonder which one it could be.... i am only 27- but like you i was on the pill for about 5 years before starting to ttc- so maybe it is just our natural cycle- and if its natural cm- they say thats the best time to DTD to get preggers!!

Sorry for your losses Soul mate... i really hope this is your body gearing up for the good stuff and that by xmas you will be celebrating a BFP!!

Good luck!!

StarBright

Oh i didnt think to smell it!!!

Speaking from someone who has had numerous losses and also some success stories, I'd just say : If you're lubed, do it again. Sorry if it sounds coarse, but it's the best course of action. Odds are on your side and at least it's fun, right??? Sends you off to work with a smile! Yes, semen has a particular smell, but how do you tell if it's the night before or not? Just my two cents worth.

Just thought I'd mention that the experts recommend you only DTD every second day when TTCing, due to the time it takes for sperm to regenerate. If you do it every day you are not giving the sperm enough time to get to peak and you could have an inferior batch swimming it's way on up to your egg on ovulation day.

Other than sniffing it, I can't suggest anything else to tell the difference.

My CM is way different to how it was before years on the pill. I very rarely got any EWCM snce coming off it. For this pregnancy I saw just one glob of EWCM immediately before DTD and hey presto I got pregnant as I O'd the next day. I had a temp dip on 6 & 7 DPO and I just new that small amount of EWCM did the job.... and I was right. I wasn't actively trying at the time of conception, was just being a bit daring and had given up all my TTC rules like avoiding coffee (in fact was drinking it by the bucket load as was hugely stressed at the time) and lying in bed for ages after BDing, had stopped taking Vitex for a couple of months, you name it everything was against me, but it still happened.

If you are having trouble with getting enough EWCM you can try taking evening primrose oil - I took 3 times the recommended daily dosage and got EWCM on the first month I tried it and fell pregnant on that cycle but miscarried, don't think it had anything to do with the EPO though.

Oh this is going to sound a bit silly but if you can get enough (cm that is) and drop it into a glass of water the sperm is supposed to float and the cm is supposed to sink. I have never tried this myself but hey obviously someone out there has!!

Also the smell, but i think sperm has a bit of a different texture anyway, cant really explain it but it's not quite as "thin" as watery cm.

I take evening primrose oil too to help create a bit more cm - it doesnt actually make you produce more, it just thins it out so it goes a bit further, anyway only take it until you have o'ed, not afterwards as it can be harmful if you are pregnant

Good luck

i agree with MrsB do the water thing, it is meant to be effective! havent tried it myself personally but yeah I have read that it is correct.

Hi Ladies, thanks so much for your replies - I really appreciate it :grouphug:

MrsB26 - I've also read the idea about testing for EWCM in a glass of water. Hate to admit it, but I actually tried it for the first time this month - DH gave me the strangest look :redface:. Never mind, he's gotten used to a lot of strange things lately :p Whatever I had - whether EWCM or natural lubrication after BD'ing (not sure??, I'm still confused what it was), it sank to the bottom in a glob and the semen floated on the surface (sorry, TMI again).

Just wondering if anyone can give me some ideas on what might be happening to me this month. My cycles since stopping the pill have been 28-31 days with a 13 or 14 day LP. Usually I get a positive opk somewhere between CD14 to 17.

This month, on CD12, after BD'ing that morning, I noticed quite a lot of very stetchy CM (sorry- tmi). I noticed it again about 1 hr later - it wasn't just escaping semen, but was very definitely strecthy and there was a fair bit of it(that's when I did the water test :redface:). I got quite dark OPK lines on CD12 and CD13, but not as dark as the control line, so I thought maybe they'd get darker on CD14 (am a veteran opk user, so I test twice a day after reduced fluid intake etc). Instead, what's happened between CD14 and CD17 (today) is that even though I feel like my CM has been slightly increasing each day, the opk's have been getting fainter and fainter each day. If I took the darkish opk's from CDs12 and 13 as positives, that would give me a 26 or 27 day cycle which is short for me (only ever had one 26 day cycle, and that was the one after stopping the pill). Strange thing is that I go to the toilet about an hour ago today and see another small amount of stretchy CM, which would make sense according to my normal cycle length, but the opks are giving me only very faint lines which shows I'm nowhere near ovulation. My body seems out of whack with the opks. Any ideas??? :doh:

Satya, I've heard different ideas on how often you should BD - whether once a day or every second day. Some people say every second day not to deplete the sperm supply, others say that every day is fine as long as DH has a normal sperm count. DH has never been tested but most months we try to BD every day for roughly 5-7 days before O, just to make sure we get a couple of good days in before O - have done that both months I've gotten pregnant. However, it is rather tiring towards the end, so maybe every day and a half is a good compromise?

Thanks again ladies. Hoping we all get BFPs soon. :pray:

Soulmate XXXX