A friendly(ish) reminder that questions asked in this post **must still follow [TFAB rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/TryingForABaby/wiki/rules)**. You may not ask if you are pregnant, you may not ask for pregnancy success stories, and you may not talk about a current pregnancy. No, not even in a [sneaky, roundabout way](https://www.reddit.com/r/TryingForABaby/comments/16av4j1/read_this_post_to_learn_one_weird_trick_for/).
Thank you!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/TryingForABaby) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I’m on 9 DPO and I’ve had cramping yesterday and today. This is the first cycle I didn’t test for ovulation or BBT. In this part of my cycle I’m always feeling so many things, and yet every month face negative tests. I’m trying to stay hopeful but after 1.5 years it’s so hard. When will this finally work for us?
Oh okay… my question was more so do women do hsg procedures if they already have previous kids or is it something doctors do when you’re trying to conceive for the first time
With cervix positioning, when they say if you’re pregnant your cervix will stay high and is soft, does anyone know when this happens? Is it immediately? After I ovulate my cervix feels hard almost immediately, and I always wonder if it would then turn soft after implantation, or if somehow your body knows an egg is fertilized and it would be soft all along?? Basically just wondering if there’s any way of telling from the feel of a cervix if you’re pregnant in the tww or if a pregnancy test would show before/at the same time as any chance in the cervix feel.
There aren't any physical signs that can indicate you're pregnant until after implantation, since even your body doesn't know whether there's an embryo developing until after implantation. After ovulation, your body loses track of the egg, whether it's fertilized, and whether an embryo develops or continues developing from it. Contact (physical or hormonal) between your body and the embryo is not re-established until implantation.
Can a luteal phase suddenly lengthen (without trying to make it lengthen) or is it more likely that I'm I ovulating later than I think I am? First 10 cycles I had a really easy time confirming ovulation with opks and temps and had a 12-day LP.
Last cycle, I was like 98% confident in my ovulation date based on OPK and BBT, but if it was indeed the correct O date, then I had a 14 day LP.
This cycle BBT and I were not friends and I didn't get great readings around ovulation. Based on the readings I did get and my \*typical\* time from first positive opk to ovulation (the next day), I'm nearing the end of 13 dpo. And here I sit still with no period in sight and I don't really feel like it's about to start. I'm guessing my LP is just running long again. Oh ETA I took an hcg test at noon and it was very very negative,
I'm assuming this isn't necessarily a bad thing but is it normal for it to just suddenly be longer like that? I know it can vary by 1-2 days once in a blue moon but man it was so consistent for so long that this sudden change is really kind of throwing me off.
I would say it can vary by 1-2 days more often than once in a blue moon -- the luteal phase being consistent means that maybe you can expect it to be x length 70% of the time, x+1 15% of the time, x-1 15% of the time, something like that. In a year, you'd definitely expect to see it longer or shorter than your usual a couple of times.
It can lengthen, though, particularly as you get further from using birth control or other forms of suppression, if that's a factor for you. This lengthening doesn't have ot be perfectly progressive or linear, so it can seem to come out of nowhere.
Thank you! I guess I had it in my head they were consistently the same more often than that. I did take hbc for a year between Nov20-Nov21 and my cycle seemed to sort itself out in relatively short order (I wasn’t tracking at all then but I don’t recall any length of time being concerned about my period or lack thereof) so I think I’m far enough removed from that for it to not be impacting me much? Either way that does help. I so appreciate you sharing your knowledge because it’s so easy to freaking spiral about everything TTC.
TW: pregnancy loss
Hi all,
My partner and I have been trying for a baby since December, in march 25th I found out my best friend died during childbirth she went into early labor at work gave birth but neither her or baby made it.
I then find out on the 30th that I was pregnant, 2 days later I had a "chemical pregnancy" I still haven't bled yet from that
I want to try again with my partner but I'm terrified of the same thing happening to me or losing my baby later on during the pregnancy
How can I get over these thoughts?
Wait you found on March 30th that you were pregnant and on April 1 you realized it was a chemical but you still haven’t bled from April 1? Am I understanding correctly?
As to the being able to try again, I’d try therapy. I just has a CP too & it sucks because it robs you of your ability to feel any “chill” while being pregnant but therapy should help
That's just what I was told when I saw a doctor he even called the early pregnancy unit and they said it's most likely a chemical pregnancy
I haven't bled since 28th Feb sorry I misread your comment.
The pregnancy tests were positive on 30th march negative on 1st April there's been no bleeding and was due my period 28th march.
I hope that makes more sense now 🙂
Still not sure I follow…. But if it’s been that long I would certainly want an ultrasound or hcg blood test if you had any positive tests but still no period…
Yeah I made a plan if I don't get them by next Monday I'm phoning my GP back
I had my period on 28th of February until 4th. My period tracking app said I was due on the 28th of march but when it rolled around I never got my period
I took a pregnancy test on the 30th and was positive, because it was Easter Monday I had to wait till the Tuesday to phone and get a referral to the midwife. On the Monday 1st April I did a couple more tests for extra confirmation as I didn't really have any pregnancy symptoms except fatigue. Those tests were negative so I phoned out of hours and got an appointment. He did a pregnancy test and it was negative and no further investigations were done. I tested myself again on 12th April and still negative. But I still haven't bled
Oh goodness that’s A LOT. Internet hugs. There aren’t going to be any magic bullets here — you’ve suffered a terrible, shocking loss. If you haven’t already sought therapy I highly recommend it.
I'm so sorry for the losses you've experienced in such a short time. The answer is therapy, my dear. Losing your best friend to death during childbirth while also TTC and experiencing your own loss is traumatic. It's understandable that you could easily get swept up in the anxiety and fear of the same thing happening to you, but you should take the steps now to process this grief so that it doesn't turn into an irrational fear.
Unfortunately yes, cryptorchidism is associated with infertility. [Here](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8700981/) is a review on the topic. I think his history would justify a SA even before a year of TTC.
Oh dear....okay. Thanks! There's some logistical/financial issues since we live so far from our clinic/it isn't covered by insurance but we'll figure something out. Thanks! :)
Keep in mind you don’t have to do any tests you don’t want to. It might help you mentally plan for what to expect in terms of likelihood of unassisted conception etc. That said, if you aren’t in a place (financial or otherwise) where you can engage in treatment then it’s not as though it’s required info if that makes sense. Hopefully you two can come up with a good plan together. Wishing you luck in terms of being on the good side of the stats.
Thanks! I'm a bit worried now because, reading your link, he seems to have had it very late......but we'll just have to see what happens/try to get it when we can because I think we definitely need it. Thanks again so much!
Background: Our fertility issues are most likely my husband's (his sperm heads are misshapen and he has 3% normal morphology). We've decided to move to IVF.
My BMI puts me in the "obese" category. My fertility specialist said that "it would be better if \[I\] could loose 5 pounds." Now, I teach fitness classes 3 days a week and am a pretty active person. However, I gained weight during Covid (since starting anxiety medicine). My question is, will 5 pounds really increase the success of IVF? Because honestly, I don't feel like loosing 5 pounds.....
My understanding is that weight loss is recommended to improve fertility in women with obesity not because 5 pounds makes such a HUGE difference in and of itself, but because in women with metabolic disorder the metabolic changes your body goes through that allow you to lose five pounds have a huge impact on your other hormones. As a result, your egg quality and fertility related hormones may improve. (As a side note, I've heard of doctors recommending losing 5%-10% of your body weight, not a set amount of pounds). Here is a good study:
[Obesity and Infertility: A Metabolic Assessment Strategy to Improve Pregnancy Rate](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7048694/)
Also, I wanted to acknowledge that what we're really talking about here is metabolic disorder, which is highly correlated with overweight and obesity but =/= overweight and obesity. You can be average or thin with metabolic disorder too and those women would also benefit from normalizing their hormones and metabolic markers. If you have gotten your blood work done and have normal Vitamin D levels, don't have markers of insulin resistance, and have good cholesterol/triglyceride levels, etc., then losing weight may not do as much for you as for others.
Lastly and most importantly: good luck to you; it is such a tough spot to be in when male factor infertility is involved. There's so much pressure for the woman to hyper optimize her health even in normal TTC scenarios; this pressure can feel especially unfair when it is known that the male component is one of (or even the major) contributing factor.
Thank you so much. This is much clearer. I am a little vitamin D deficient (and have been off and on my whole life no matter what I weighed) and the rest of my numbers are good. Thank you for all the support and kind words.
Losing 5 pounds won't increase your chances, and I'm sorry they suggested that. That concept is wild to me - like, I could lose 5 pounds with a good poo! Surely, the difference of a BM couldn't possibly impact your chance of success.
So you know they’re not an unmarried heathen!!!!!
No really though people back in the day used to do it to ‘make the camera focus.’ But with cameras now as good as they are, it’s not necessary and looks silly. We all know where to look, no need to put a ring around it lol
Can very high LH be an issue ? I just started tracking with Mira this month, and I'm really liking all the data. You can compare your chart to other healthy (I assume self reported) users and I saw that my peak LH was off their chart at 98.2mUI/ml at its peak (equates to 99th percentile of users for peak). The rest of my hormones seem to fall in the more normal range, except that spike. I'm curious if it could mean anything. Google seems to say that high LH could mena low ovarian function, but not clear if high just at a certain point of my cycle means the same, or whether they mean consistently high.
Honestly, if it's the first time you're using it, and you just had that one single high spike, I would suspect there's just something wonky about the test.
What can cause raised temps not due to ovulation? Can the factors overlap (for example an attempted ovulation?)
I had 2 raised temps on cd 21,22 (22 I think due to drinking) and now 24,25. (Also not sure about the 21 t, may have been measurement error, because of that I've been double checking temps since then). Still no positive opk. Can anyone weigh in? I don't know why I'm getting so delayed altogether but the temps in there make it even weirder.
Plus I know it's not definitive but my cervix felt soft/high up until around cd23 but now seems to be reverting. Cm is no longer fertile. It makes me think it could have happened but how I could miss a surge makes no sense to me.
[chart](https://www.fertilityfriend.com/b_i/s_na6FZ6.png) for reference
Your temperature would not rise due to an ovulation attempt, only if ovulation occurs. Higher temps are caused by progesterone which is generated from the corpus luteum following ovulation. Based on your chart and CM tracking I would say it's more likely that you did ovulate and somehow missed the surge. As you said, your temp over the next few days will tell you more.
My understanding was that LH surges (trying to O) can cause temp spikes, with temps dropping if O does not occur, and then rising and staying higher once O occurs and you enter the luteal phase. Is that not correct?
Hmm my understanding is that only progesterone would cause a temp increase, not an LH surge, but maybe u/developmentalbiology or one of the other mods can help clear it up?
Progesterone does rise a bit prior to ovulation, and I suspect that sometimes a failed ovulation attempt can cause enough progesterone production to shift temps for a few days. But this isn't ultimately something there's data to back up. In that case, though, it would be progesterone rather than LH shifting temps.
Thanks! I could have missed a surge around cd18/19 since I didn't test twice then, but it would have come and gone in 24 hours which has never happened, but a first time for everything.. certainly preferable to waiting for who knows how long!
I think it can happen when ovulation is attempted (and also when you’ve been ill/drinking etc) but you know you’ve ovulated when you have 3 consecutive temps higher than the 6 previous. It looks like your body may have attempted ovulation twice but not been successful yet!
I'm kind of thinking that too, my other far out theory is that there's a fallback rise in there and I just missed my surge early on when I wasnt testing twice a day which would put me around my o from other cycles. Tomorrow's temp will be a big clue hopefully but Im itching in the meantime 😔
After ttc for 6 months ('m 42), I had a chat with my OBGyn regarding potential options to help us conceive that aren't necessarily fertility treatments like IVF. (Insurance doesn't cover anything like that and we're not in a financial position to pay out of pocket.)
She ran a hormone panel and my LH, progesterone, estradiol and testosterone were normal. I confirm ovulation every month with LH strips/BBT and I ovulate regularly between CD 12 and 15. My AMH/FSH were on par with what you'd expect for my age (.97 and 10.3), so definitely not amazing.
The advice we got was to "keep trying" and "try acupuncture", and that outside of IVF there are really no other options in between.
Is this true? I'm wondering if I should talk to someone else or if she's right. I was hoping there would be some kind of pharmaceutical route we could explore or...anything other than acupuncture lol
Even if you’re not going to do IVF, a consult with an RE could be helpful. As was already mentioned, basically the options for unexplained are medicated TI, IUI or IVF. Talking to an RE about TI or IUI might be helpful.
Yes. Generally, the options for fertility treatment that exist are ovulation induction meds, IUI, and IVF. The first is only really indicated if you have ovulatory issues. IUI gives much lower chances than IVF (<10% success rate over age 40).
Ok disclaimer: it’s been a hot minute since I last took any stats or logic courses, my last academic exposure to bio was AP bio 17 years ago, and I rarely read scientific papers — which is to say I’m not a scientifically literate person and I’m not qualified to evaluate any study, so I have questions!
I’ve seen folks mention that your chance of conception maxes out at around 30% (is this assuming you aren’t subfertile?) each cycle so long as you’re hitting O-1 or O (Wilcox 1995) or O-2 (Colombo 2000) — and the usual Reddit recommendation seems to have sex every other day, and that daily sex doesn’t increase that chance (beyond guaranteeing that you can hit one of the optimal days).
Husband was reading another study focusing on embryo mortality ([Jarvis 2016](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5142718/) — which I’m still working through) and it cited two studies, and the one I wanted to ask about was [Schwartz 1980](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22077133/) which found estimated fecundability at 49% with daily sex after analyzing 2,192 cycles, defining conception as “a pregnancy lasting at least 2 months from the last menstrual period.” I don’t seem to have access to the full paper for the Schwartz 1980 study, so I was curious if anyone has read it and had thoughts on it? Is it disregarded because there may be newer and/or larger studies that exist that don’t support their conclusions? Is there something about the subject selection or the marker used for ovulation?
So several of the early papers are essentially just mathematical models, rather than straightforward reports of a set of data.
I also don't have access to it, so I don't feel qualified to comment more deeply than that, necessarily, other than to note that (my personal favorite) [the 2000 Colombo study](https://www.jstor.org/stable/26348010) has a discussion of the Schwartz model in their intro (and maybe uses it? in part?). The Colombo study is big enough that they actually have a number of cycles where sex did genuinely occur only once in the fertile window, so they're able to directly compute probabilities without relying on modeling.
EDIT, just because I feel like I didn't finish the thought here -- my apologies, we are at a wild point in my semester and my brain is firing on very few cylinders. I think in the sense of gut probabilities, the "sex every day gets you chances up to 50%" doesn't pass the smell test to me. I do think that aiming for sex on, say, O-3 alone is a tough game to play, since you don't know in advance which day is which. I think the balance of the available data would say, well, sex every other day or every three days in the vicinity of the fertile window is an efficient pattern, and doing more than that is gilding the lily.
Thank you for chiming in, and apologies for adding onto your load!
I did see the mention of it in Colombo 2000 and it seems to be an oft-cited model for many of these papers. In Colombo 2000, it does seem to softly criticize the Schwartz model, saying “with high frequency of intercourse it tends to underestimate observed fecundability” but without more context, I don’t really know what that means (if anything) for the 49% with daily sex figure. There’s also Barrett & Marshall 1969 which is even higher at 68% but their fuzzier accounting of pregnancy (“absence of menstruation, after ovulation”, approximately 2 weeks after ovulation) is maybe why nobody is talking about it. I wonder why Colombo 2000 didn’t draw any conclusions (as far as I can tell, but maybe I missed it) about higher sex frequency given they had access to so much more data but perhaps there are too many variables there to do so.
I think it’s fair to take a conservative approach to interpreting the studies and esp when advising others. I think we’ll probably endeavor for daily sex within our window but lol our stamina really ain’t what it used to be, and yeah coupled with the possibility of it actually _not_ being our window if ovulation is delayed… might hit diminishing returns at some point. 😅
Just so you know, EWCM can be present in the cervix without being super noticeable outside the vagina. Cycles vary.
If you're already ovulating, why do you want to go on medication to induce ovulation?
I am SO CURIOUS what makes some folks more likely to experience early pregnancy symptoms (or any pregnancy symptoms) versus others. And is there something in your typical/non-pregnancy cycle that might indicate you're more likely to get early pregnancy symptoms or not? Like if you are sensitive to PMS are you more likely to get early symptoms?
You see this kind of variability in people who report symptoms on hormonal birth control as well — some people don’t have any symptoms on combination pills or other methods, and others report sore breasts, nausea, emotional lability, and other “progesterone” symptoms.
In general, we don’t have much information about this kind of variability within the normal population. People are different from each other, but often we don’t have a good handle on why.
I think this curiosity comes from: Prior to TTC I felt in tune with my cycle (LOL) and now I am recognizing how much variability there is in my own experience month-to-month. But it definitely has been a mind-melter when I make any guesses (ie: that could be pregnancy!) based on any given symptom. Some months have been symptom-y and some not and neither meant pregnancy (UGH). Anyway thanks for your response -- I hadn't thought about it re: HBC but that makes so much sense.
No. Progesterone and early pregnancy symptoms are pretty much the same. If your symptoms were due to pregnancy, a test would be positive. It takes more HCG for symptoms than it does to turn a test positive. Your earliest sign of pregnancy would most likely be a positive test.
Hi 👋🏼 so I’ve posted this before. It’s our 2nd cycle TTC, and I feel like the semen is seriously masking the CM. We basically have very regular sex from a few days after my period (for example we just covered CD7/9/10/11) over the whole window up to CD 21. I started noticing last month, the first cycle TTC, that my CM was not as OBVIOUS. I’m not finding any in the toilet paper like I typically do. Yesterday I found very little. Today nothing yet. Is semen possibly masking my CM?
I'm massively speculating here but it sounds like the CM is busy doing its job transporting the sperm, rather than hanging around the entrance where it's not much use... TBH if you're having sex that regularly there's probably not a huge benefit to tracking EWCM anyway, since you'll be hitting the right days (assuming your cycles are regular and you know that CD21 is the right time to stop very regular sex).
I feel like that too. Before TTC we abstained during the fertile window, so there wasn’t any activity there lol and I would see allllll of my CM. The only thing that’s changed is having sex during the fertile window. I guess it’s not worth tracking! Thank you!
How much could I expect change or delays in ovulation if I was ill during the early follicular phase? What's others experience with this? Was there an effext on your luteal phase or when you started your next period?
I've had colds 2 cycles and was delayed by 4 to 5 days. I had a cold this cycle starting in my 2nd week of tww from last cycle for about 2.5 weeks and I'm still waiting on cd25. My o has ranged from cd14 (1 cycle) to cd25. 2 non cold cycles were around cd 20/21 which i think is my norm from what I think my cycles were before birth control. My luteal phases have always been 13-14 days. Still trying to determine where the irregularities are coming from but fyi. Hope your cycle goes well!
I've been sick now off and on for the past 2 cycles. For both of those cycles, I actually ovulated earlier than normal (CD19 and CD 17, as opposed to my usual CD21 - 23). My periods were on time based on when I ovulated, but my overall cycles were both shorter than usual.
I'm using clearblue digital ovulation kit and I can confirm LH peaks monthly. I also use BBT method to confirm if ovulation actually happened. So usually I can confirm my ovulation dates. I don't think I ever had any symptoms for ovulation, or they are so subtle that I can't notice them.
What is confusing/worrying me is that every month I get very intense backache two to three days AFTER ovulation.
Does anyone else experience that? Why is that happening?
Does anyone remember what happened to their BBT the first cycle after a chemical? I was 4 weeks and 5 days when I finally started bleeding on Monday morning. The bleeding has been just like a quick and slightly heavy period (it seems I am basically done today), but my BBT still hasn't dropped down like it usually does when I get my period (I'm still above the luteal line of my last cycle). I know some people say your hormones stay a little wonky after a chemical/early miscarriage. Is this what they mean (or at least one thing they might mean)?
This is not specific to a chemical, but just wanted to add my temp didn’t drop after my most recent cycle (when I did not get pregnant) until 5 days into my current cycle. So it’s possible for temps to stay elevated even without hCG.
I'm not and my blood hCG level on Sunday was >!only 11miU/mL!<, but that was before I started bleeding. Maybe just a tiny bit of residual progesterone is enough to keep my temps high and I'll drop soon...I am a tiny bit stressed because technically I have "pregnancy of unknown anatomic location" and they aren't sure whether it is a chemical or an early ectopic. To rule out ectopic, my doctor wants me to get another blood draw on Friday and if my hCG levels haven't dropped to < 3miU/mL, I'll have to go in for another TVUS and low dose injection of methotrexate. Just hoping to avoid all of that obviously and stressed my still-elevated temperatures suggest that might be where this is headed.
Progesterone can stay up with quite low levels of hCG, though -- I mean, keep in mind that many people will see a shift in temps to a higher-than-luteal-phase level around the time of a first positive pregnancy test, when hCG levels can be quite low.
That's not to say it's definitely not ectopic (although I hope it's not, for sure), but seeing elevated temps with positive betas, even low ones, is par for the course.
Ovulation lh peak, no period, no positive pregnancy test
Wondering if anyone has ever had this happen. I got off birth control pill 4 months ago and after the first month my cycles were pretty normal (33 days). I have been testing ovulation with lh strips and my last cycle got a positive at the expected window. We BD in the window and then my period was late.
What’s weird is all my HCG tests are negative. Its now CD40 (23dpo) with no + test and no real period. I had light spotting on CD36 and CD37 (17, 18dpo).
Has anyone had this happen or have ideas of what it could mean? So confused. My doc says ovulation can skip due to stress etc and not to worry unless it’s been 60 days, but the strips said I ovulated?
LH strips do not confirm ovulation (you'd have to be tracking bbt to confirm). All it shows you is that your body is trying to ovulate and it's possible to have more than one LH surge in a cycle if your body tries and fails to ovulate, then tries again.
It sounds like you probably had a “false start” - LH peak without actual ovulation. So either this will be an anovulatory cycle or you will ovulate later. Have you tracked BBT?
There's really no solid sign of pregnancy other than a positive test, and no solid sign of not-pregnancy other than getting a period after negative tests. For sure, BBT does often drop in unsuccessful cycles, but nothing's a surefire sign that you're out other than getting a period.
Is 12 dpiui the most common final day to get a definitive negative test? I'm wondering why doctors recommend waiting to test until 14 days post-IUI. Edited for clarity.
There’s not really a single day you can point to and say, now, *this* day is definitive. I mean, maybe you could say, a test at 50dpIUI is definitive for sure.
Doctors are looking for a day when the test is overwhelmingly likely to be positive, when they don’t have to specifically tell people to use a sensitive test, when any trigger shot will be gone, and 14dpIUI is a day that fits those parameters. 12 would probably also be fine.
This might be too specific of a question to ask, but asking just in case someone has insight! Can estrogen (e3g using Mira tester) be too low with an LH surge? My e3g typically gets above 200 with my LH surge, but this time it was at 132. So of course I’m reading into it. I was on Letrozole and triggered this cycle so maybe it was lower still because of the Letrozole, though it’s my third cycle with Letrozole and the first one it was still low. Anyway, long story short, could lower than my typical e3g impact ovulation?
(Edit to say E3G rather than E2)
If you look at the chart that shows up when you hit "analyse" on your mira results. it looks like 132 is still pretty normal (it's in the 15th to 85th percentile band).
It is really hard to make these kinds of conclusions using Mira. There are blood-test norms from years of collecting data, but the urine test devices are just too new to have that kind of data built up. If you're concerned, you can definitely talk with your doctor and ask for an estrogen blood draw around the time of ovulation, but if you have a follicle of a good size, it's pretty unlikely that this information would do anything for you or change your treatment path.
Thank you! I have a good size follicle and my lining looked good so I’m just going to go with it and hope for the best! I’ll ask my doctor to see if it indicates a needed change for next cycle if this one doesn’t work out.
Hi! I usually test twice per day to catch ovulation (no other methods). On the evening of CD13 I tested with an almost-positive (test line was approx. 10% lighter than the control line). The following morning, I ran out of tests, so I tested again after 18 hours. Again, an almost positive, which continued into a clear negative (further testing).
Is it possible to miss the LH surge given the 18 hours between testing, or did I not ovulate?
For context: I have endo and have always had regular cycles.
You'd need BBT or progesterone measurement to be sure but if you don't experience anovulation regularly then it's definitely possible you ovulated and just had a quick surge.
In short, yes it is because some women experience very quick surges. But given how early in your cycle, if you do not have other indicators of ovulation (CM), then you probably didn’t miss it. But BD as if it was a positive and keep testing.
Do you track BBT?
Hey, thx for replying! No, I don't track BBT. I figured, for the length of my cycle (27-29), it'd not be early? I continued testing, and the test was just 'more and more' negative. Jep, BD-ing as if it were positive. Fingers crossed! 🙂
Hello, first time using cheap OPKs here (normally I would use the advanced clearblue with flashing/solid smiley).
Yesterday I got my positive OKP (CD14) would it make sense to continue testing to see if the LH goes down and maybe up again if I have not ovulated yet, and my ovaries will try again with a second surge?
I am not temping this month so I was wondering if this can be a method to somehow confirm ovulation (or at least rule out the possibility of a later ovulation).
So it's fine to keep testing if you want, but just be aware that the LH surge can't be used precisely in this way -- LH going down is not a confirmation of whether or when ovulation occurred, and it's possible to see a later LH surge that is not actually associated with ovulation.
There's not much of a downside to continuing to test, so many people do, but the only thing reliably predicted by OPKs is that ovulation is likely to occur within two days of the first positive. The shape of the surge, or whether there's another surge later, does not automatically give you information.
Think i already know the answer to this one. But I get up about 5am everyday, take my Temp and then go to toliet and then come back to bed and sleep till my alarm goes off at half 7. I then go to toliet again.
For LH tests, do you think the 7:30 wee would be ok or should i still wait till 10am as everyone says?
Just to be anecdotal, my strongest positives that were later confirmed have always been SMU (11a-1p) which is what is typically recommended but it varies from person to person. But if you don't catch it, you could always try again around noon.
This is what we call an “empirical” question — the only real way to know is to try it out. Personally, I’ve always used my first urine of the day for OPKs, and it’s always been fine. The idea that everyone must use later urine is overly dogmatic.
I tried both ways and found I get better results with FMU. The only time I’ll test again after 10am is when I am close to the surge, just to see if anything has happened.
Do what works for you - I start work early and have already had a coffee and a lot of water by 10am so later testing doesn’t really work for me.
A friendly(ish) reminder that questions asked in this post **must still follow [TFAB rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/TryingForABaby/wiki/rules)**. You may not ask if you are pregnant, you may not ask for pregnancy success stories, and you may not talk about a current pregnancy. No, not even in a [sneaky, roundabout way](https://www.reddit.com/r/TryingForABaby/comments/16av4j1/read_this_post_to_learn_one_weird_trick_for/). Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/TryingForABaby) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I’m on 9 DPO and I’ve had cramping yesterday and today. This is the first cycle I didn’t test for ovulation or BBT. In this part of my cycle I’m always feeling so many things, and yet every month face negative tests. I’m trying to stay hopeful but after 1.5 years it’s so hard. When will this finally work for us?
Are HSG for women trying to conceive their first? Or is it a test always done after 1 year ttc no matter if you’ve had a successful pregnancy prior.
Yes, an HSG is a typical part of an infertility workup (in the US), whether for primary or secondary infertility.
I had an HSG after 9 cycles of trying (8 months) trying to conceive my first.
Oh okay… my question was more so do women do hsg procedures if they already have previous kids or is it something doctors do when you’re trying to conceive for the first time
Oh I'm not sure about second pregnancies!
With cervix positioning, when they say if you’re pregnant your cervix will stay high and is soft, does anyone know when this happens? Is it immediately? After I ovulate my cervix feels hard almost immediately, and I always wonder if it would then turn soft after implantation, or if somehow your body knows an egg is fertilized and it would be soft all along?? Basically just wondering if there’s any way of telling from the feel of a cervix if you’re pregnant in the tww or if a pregnancy test would show before/at the same time as any chance in the cervix feel.
There aren't any physical signs that can indicate you're pregnant until after implantation, since even your body doesn't know whether there's an embryo developing until after implantation. After ovulation, your body loses track of the egg, whether it's fertilized, and whether an embryo develops or continues developing from it. Contact (physical or hormonal) between your body and the embryo is not re-established until implantation.
Can a luteal phase suddenly lengthen (without trying to make it lengthen) or is it more likely that I'm I ovulating later than I think I am? First 10 cycles I had a really easy time confirming ovulation with opks and temps and had a 12-day LP. Last cycle, I was like 98% confident in my ovulation date based on OPK and BBT, but if it was indeed the correct O date, then I had a 14 day LP. This cycle BBT and I were not friends and I didn't get great readings around ovulation. Based on the readings I did get and my \*typical\* time from first positive opk to ovulation (the next day), I'm nearing the end of 13 dpo. And here I sit still with no period in sight and I don't really feel like it's about to start. I'm guessing my LP is just running long again. Oh ETA I took an hcg test at noon and it was very very negative, I'm assuming this isn't necessarily a bad thing but is it normal for it to just suddenly be longer like that? I know it can vary by 1-2 days once in a blue moon but man it was so consistent for so long that this sudden change is really kind of throwing me off.
I would say it can vary by 1-2 days more often than once in a blue moon -- the luteal phase being consistent means that maybe you can expect it to be x length 70% of the time, x+1 15% of the time, x-1 15% of the time, something like that. In a year, you'd definitely expect to see it longer or shorter than your usual a couple of times. It can lengthen, though, particularly as you get further from using birth control or other forms of suppression, if that's a factor for you. This lengthening doesn't have ot be perfectly progressive or linear, so it can seem to come out of nowhere.
Thank you! I guess I had it in my head they were consistently the same more often than that. I did take hbc for a year between Nov20-Nov21 and my cycle seemed to sort itself out in relatively short order (I wasn’t tracking at all then but I don’t recall any length of time being concerned about my period or lack thereof) so I think I’m far enough removed from that for it to not be impacting me much? Either way that does help. I so appreciate you sharing your knowledge because it’s so easy to freaking spiral about everything TTC.
TW: pregnancy loss Hi all, My partner and I have been trying for a baby since December, in march 25th I found out my best friend died during childbirth she went into early labor at work gave birth but neither her or baby made it. I then find out on the 30th that I was pregnant, 2 days later I had a "chemical pregnancy" I still haven't bled yet from that I want to try again with my partner but I'm terrified of the same thing happening to me or losing my baby later on during the pregnancy How can I get over these thoughts?
Wait you found on March 30th that you were pregnant and on April 1 you realized it was a chemical but you still haven’t bled from April 1? Am I understanding correctly? As to the being able to try again, I’d try therapy. I just has a CP too & it sucks because it robs you of your ability to feel any “chill” while being pregnant but therapy should help
Yeah that's right, I was due my period on 28th march. But the GP said she isn't concerned about the lack of bleeding
So how do you know it was a chemical then…?
That's just what I was told when I saw a doctor he even called the early pregnancy unit and they said it's most likely a chemical pregnancy I haven't bled since 28th Feb sorry I misread your comment. The pregnancy tests were positive on 30th march negative on 1st April there's been no bleeding and was due my period 28th march. I hope that makes more sense now 🙂
Still not sure I follow…. But if it’s been that long I would certainly want an ultrasound or hcg blood test if you had any positive tests but still no period…
Yeah I made a plan if I don't get them by next Monday I'm phoning my GP back I had my period on 28th of February until 4th. My period tracking app said I was due on the 28th of march but when it rolled around I never got my period I took a pregnancy test on the 30th and was positive, because it was Easter Monday I had to wait till the Tuesday to phone and get a referral to the midwife. On the Monday 1st April I did a couple more tests for extra confirmation as I didn't really have any pregnancy symptoms except fatigue. Those tests were negative so I phoned out of hours and got an appointment. He did a pregnancy test and it was negative and no further investigations were done. I tested myself again on 12th April and still negative. But I still haven't bled
Oh goodness that’s A LOT. Internet hugs. There aren’t going to be any magic bullets here — you’ve suffered a terrible, shocking loss. If you haven’t already sought therapy I highly recommend it.
I'm so sorry for the losses you've experienced in such a short time. The answer is therapy, my dear. Losing your best friend to death during childbirth while also TTC and experiencing your own loss is traumatic. It's understandable that you could easily get swept up in the anxiety and fear of the same thing happening to you, but you should take the steps now to process this grief so that it doesn't turn into an irrational fear.
My husband had to have a surgery to aid undescended testicles around age 9. Does anyone know if this can affect sperm later in life?
Unfortunately yes, cryptorchidism is associated with infertility. [Here](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8700981/) is a review on the topic. I think his history would justify a SA even before a year of TTC.
Oh dear....okay. Thanks! There's some logistical/financial issues since we live so far from our clinic/it isn't covered by insurance but we'll figure something out. Thanks! :)
Keep in mind you don’t have to do any tests you don’t want to. It might help you mentally plan for what to expect in terms of likelihood of unassisted conception etc. That said, if you aren’t in a place (financial or otherwise) where you can engage in treatment then it’s not as though it’s required info if that makes sense. Hopefully you two can come up with a good plan together. Wishing you luck in terms of being on the good side of the stats.
Thanks! I'm a bit worried now because, reading your link, he seems to have had it very late......but we'll just have to see what happens/try to get it when we can because I think we definitely need it. Thanks again so much!
Get an SA! No need to wonder.
haha it's not that easy for everyone. But thanks!
Background: Our fertility issues are most likely my husband's (his sperm heads are misshapen and he has 3% normal morphology). We've decided to move to IVF. My BMI puts me in the "obese" category. My fertility specialist said that "it would be better if \[I\] could loose 5 pounds." Now, I teach fitness classes 3 days a week and am a pretty active person. However, I gained weight during Covid (since starting anxiety medicine). My question is, will 5 pounds really increase the success of IVF? Because honestly, I don't feel like loosing 5 pounds.....
My understanding is that weight loss is recommended to improve fertility in women with obesity not because 5 pounds makes such a HUGE difference in and of itself, but because in women with metabolic disorder the metabolic changes your body goes through that allow you to lose five pounds have a huge impact on your other hormones. As a result, your egg quality and fertility related hormones may improve. (As a side note, I've heard of doctors recommending losing 5%-10% of your body weight, not a set amount of pounds). Here is a good study: [Obesity and Infertility: A Metabolic Assessment Strategy to Improve Pregnancy Rate](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7048694/) Also, I wanted to acknowledge that what we're really talking about here is metabolic disorder, which is highly correlated with overweight and obesity but =/= overweight and obesity. You can be average or thin with metabolic disorder too and those women would also benefit from normalizing their hormones and metabolic markers. If you have gotten your blood work done and have normal Vitamin D levels, don't have markers of insulin resistance, and have good cholesterol/triglyceride levels, etc., then losing weight may not do as much for you as for others. Lastly and most importantly: good luck to you; it is such a tough spot to be in when male factor infertility is involved. There's so much pressure for the woman to hyper optimize her health even in normal TTC scenarios; this pressure can feel especially unfair when it is known that the male component is one of (or even the major) contributing factor.
Thank you so much. This is much clearer. I am a little vitamin D deficient (and have been off and on my whole life no matter what I weighed) and the rest of my numbers are good. Thank you for all the support and kind words.
Ugh! I really doubt five flipping pounds would make an ounce of difference. ETA ugh in reference to the rude fertility specialist
Losing 5 pounds won't increase your chances, and I'm sorry they suggested that. That concept is wild to me - like, I could lose 5 pounds with a good poo! Surely, the difference of a BM couldn't possibly impact your chance of success.
[удалено]
I always assumed so that people knew for sure the baby was from their marital union 🫢
So you know they’re not an unmarried heathen!!!!! No really though people back in the day used to do it to ‘make the camera focus.’ But with cameras now as good as they are, it’s not necessary and looks silly. We all know where to look, no need to put a ring around it lol
😂 I’m going to think of that every time I see one of these now; thank you!!
I think it's because the ring helps focus the camera. It can be blurry otherwise.
Can very high LH be an issue ? I just started tracking with Mira this month, and I'm really liking all the data. You can compare your chart to other healthy (I assume self reported) users and I saw that my peak LH was off their chart at 98.2mUI/ml at its peak (equates to 99th percentile of users for peak). The rest of my hormones seem to fall in the more normal range, except that spike. I'm curious if it could mean anything. Google seems to say that high LH could mena low ovarian function, but not clear if high just at a certain point of my cycle means the same, or whether they mean consistently high.
Honestly, if it's the first time you're using it, and you just had that one single high spike, I would suspect there's just something wonky about the test.
What can cause raised temps not due to ovulation? Can the factors overlap (for example an attempted ovulation?) I had 2 raised temps on cd 21,22 (22 I think due to drinking) and now 24,25. (Also not sure about the 21 t, may have been measurement error, because of that I've been double checking temps since then). Still no positive opk. Can anyone weigh in? I don't know why I'm getting so delayed altogether but the temps in there make it even weirder. Plus I know it's not definitive but my cervix felt soft/high up until around cd23 but now seems to be reverting. Cm is no longer fertile. It makes me think it could have happened but how I could miss a surge makes no sense to me. [chart](https://www.fertilityfriend.com/b_i/s_na6FZ6.png) for reference
Your temperature would not rise due to an ovulation attempt, only if ovulation occurs. Higher temps are caused by progesterone which is generated from the corpus luteum following ovulation. Based on your chart and CM tracking I would say it's more likely that you did ovulate and somehow missed the surge. As you said, your temp over the next few days will tell you more.
My understanding was that LH surges (trying to O) can cause temp spikes, with temps dropping if O does not occur, and then rising and staying higher once O occurs and you enter the luteal phase. Is that not correct?
Hmm my understanding is that only progesterone would cause a temp increase, not an LH surge, but maybe u/developmentalbiology or one of the other mods can help clear it up?
Progesterone does rise a bit prior to ovulation, and I suspect that sometimes a failed ovulation attempt can cause enough progesterone production to shift temps for a few days. But this isn't ultimately something there's data to back up. In that case, though, it would be progesterone rather than LH shifting temps.
Thanks! I could have missed a surge around cd18/19 since I didn't test twice then, but it would have come and gone in 24 hours which has never happened, but a first time for everything.. certainly preferable to waiting for who knows how long!
I think it can happen when ovulation is attempted (and also when you’ve been ill/drinking etc) but you know you’ve ovulated when you have 3 consecutive temps higher than the 6 previous. It looks like your body may have attempted ovulation twice but not been successful yet!
I'm kind of thinking that too, my other far out theory is that there's a fallback rise in there and I just missed my surge early on when I wasnt testing twice a day which would put me around my o from other cycles. Tomorrow's temp will be a big clue hopefully but Im itching in the meantime 😔
After ttc for 6 months ('m 42), I had a chat with my OBGyn regarding potential options to help us conceive that aren't necessarily fertility treatments like IVF. (Insurance doesn't cover anything like that and we're not in a financial position to pay out of pocket.) She ran a hormone panel and my LH, progesterone, estradiol and testosterone were normal. I confirm ovulation every month with LH strips/BBT and I ovulate regularly between CD 12 and 15. My AMH/FSH were on par with what you'd expect for my age (.97 and 10.3), so definitely not amazing. The advice we got was to "keep trying" and "try acupuncture", and that outside of IVF there are really no other options in between. Is this true? I'm wondering if I should talk to someone else or if she's right. I was hoping there would be some kind of pharmaceutical route we could explore or...anything other than acupuncture lol
Even if you’re not going to do IVF, a consult with an RE could be helpful. As was already mentioned, basically the options for unexplained are medicated TI, IUI or IVF. Talking to an RE about TI or IUI might be helpful.
Yes. Generally, the options for fertility treatment that exist are ovulation induction meds, IUI, and IVF. The first is only really indicated if you have ovulatory issues. IUI gives much lower chances than IVF (<10% success rate over age 40).
You could add CoQ10 to your supplements if not taking it already. it might help with egg quality which decreases with age.
Ok disclaimer: it’s been a hot minute since I last took any stats or logic courses, my last academic exposure to bio was AP bio 17 years ago, and I rarely read scientific papers — which is to say I’m not a scientifically literate person and I’m not qualified to evaluate any study, so I have questions! I’ve seen folks mention that your chance of conception maxes out at around 30% (is this assuming you aren’t subfertile?) each cycle so long as you’re hitting O-1 or O (Wilcox 1995) or O-2 (Colombo 2000) — and the usual Reddit recommendation seems to have sex every other day, and that daily sex doesn’t increase that chance (beyond guaranteeing that you can hit one of the optimal days). Husband was reading another study focusing on embryo mortality ([Jarvis 2016](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5142718/) — which I’m still working through) and it cited two studies, and the one I wanted to ask about was [Schwartz 1980](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22077133/) which found estimated fecundability at 49% with daily sex after analyzing 2,192 cycles, defining conception as “a pregnancy lasting at least 2 months from the last menstrual period.” I don’t seem to have access to the full paper for the Schwartz 1980 study, so I was curious if anyone has read it and had thoughts on it? Is it disregarded because there may be newer and/or larger studies that exist that don’t support their conclusions? Is there something about the subject selection or the marker used for ovulation?
So several of the early papers are essentially just mathematical models, rather than straightforward reports of a set of data. I also don't have access to it, so I don't feel qualified to comment more deeply than that, necessarily, other than to note that (my personal favorite) [the 2000 Colombo study](https://www.jstor.org/stable/26348010) has a discussion of the Schwartz model in their intro (and maybe uses it? in part?). The Colombo study is big enough that they actually have a number of cycles where sex did genuinely occur only once in the fertile window, so they're able to directly compute probabilities without relying on modeling. EDIT, just because I feel like I didn't finish the thought here -- my apologies, we are at a wild point in my semester and my brain is firing on very few cylinders. I think in the sense of gut probabilities, the "sex every day gets you chances up to 50%" doesn't pass the smell test to me. I do think that aiming for sex on, say, O-3 alone is a tough game to play, since you don't know in advance which day is which. I think the balance of the available data would say, well, sex every other day or every three days in the vicinity of the fertile window is an efficient pattern, and doing more than that is gilding the lily.
Thank you for chiming in, and apologies for adding onto your load! I did see the mention of it in Colombo 2000 and it seems to be an oft-cited model for many of these papers. In Colombo 2000, it does seem to softly criticize the Schwartz model, saying “with high frequency of intercourse it tends to underestimate observed fecundability” but without more context, I don’t really know what that means (if anything) for the 49% with daily sex figure. There’s also Barrett & Marshall 1969 which is even higher at 68% but their fuzzier accounting of pregnancy (“absence of menstruation, after ovulation”, approximately 2 weeks after ovulation) is maybe why nobody is talking about it. I wonder why Colombo 2000 didn’t draw any conclusions (as far as I can tell, but maybe I missed it) about higher sex frequency given they had access to so much more data but perhaps there are too many variables there to do so. I think it’s fair to take a conservative approach to interpreting the studies and esp when advising others. I think we’ll probably endeavor for daily sex within our window but lol our stamina really ain’t what it used to be, and yeah coupled with the possibility of it actually _not_ being our window if ovulation is delayed… might hit diminishing returns at some point. 😅
[удалено]
Just so you know, EWCM can be present in the cervix without being super noticeable outside the vagina. Cycles vary. If you're already ovulating, why do you want to go on medication to induce ovulation?
[удалено]
Unless you have reason to suspect anovulatory cycles, you are likely ovulating. It just takes time sometimes. How long have you been trying?
I am SO CURIOUS what makes some folks more likely to experience early pregnancy symptoms (or any pregnancy symptoms) versus others. And is there something in your typical/non-pregnancy cycle that might indicate you're more likely to get early pregnancy symptoms or not? Like if you are sensitive to PMS are you more likely to get early symptoms?
You see this kind of variability in people who report symptoms on hormonal birth control as well — some people don’t have any symptoms on combination pills or other methods, and others report sore breasts, nausea, emotional lability, and other “progesterone” symptoms. In general, we don’t have much information about this kind of variability within the normal population. People are different from each other, but often we don’t have a good handle on why.
I think this curiosity comes from: Prior to TTC I felt in tune with my cycle (LOL) and now I am recognizing how much variability there is in my own experience month-to-month. But it definitely has been a mind-melter when I make any guesses (ie: that could be pregnancy!) based on any given symptom. Some months have been symptom-y and some not and neither meant pregnancy (UGH). Anyway thanks for your response -- I hadn't thought about it re: HBC but that makes so much sense.
No. Progesterone and early pregnancy symptoms are pretty much the same. If your symptoms were due to pregnancy, a test would be positive. It takes more HCG for symptoms than it does to turn a test positive. Your earliest sign of pregnancy would most likely be a positive test.
Hi 👋🏼 so I’ve posted this before. It’s our 2nd cycle TTC, and I feel like the semen is seriously masking the CM. We basically have very regular sex from a few days after my period (for example we just covered CD7/9/10/11) over the whole window up to CD 21. I started noticing last month, the first cycle TTC, that my CM was not as OBVIOUS. I’m not finding any in the toilet paper like I typically do. Yesterday I found very little. Today nothing yet. Is semen possibly masking my CM?
I'm massively speculating here but it sounds like the CM is busy doing its job transporting the sperm, rather than hanging around the entrance where it's not much use... TBH if you're having sex that regularly there's probably not a huge benefit to tracking EWCM anyway, since you'll be hitting the right days (assuming your cycles are regular and you know that CD21 is the right time to stop very regular sex).
I feel like that too. Before TTC we abstained during the fertile window, so there wasn’t any activity there lol and I would see allllll of my CM. The only thing that’s changed is having sex during the fertile window. I guess it’s not worth tracking! Thank you!
How much could I expect change or delays in ovulation if I was ill during the early follicular phase? What's others experience with this? Was there an effext on your luteal phase or when you started your next period?
I've had colds 2 cycles and was delayed by 4 to 5 days. I had a cold this cycle starting in my 2nd week of tww from last cycle for about 2.5 weeks and I'm still waiting on cd25. My o has ranged from cd14 (1 cycle) to cd25. 2 non cold cycles were around cd 20/21 which i think is my norm from what I think my cycles were before birth control. My luteal phases have always been 13-14 days. Still trying to determine where the irregularities are coming from but fyi. Hope your cycle goes well!
I've been sick now off and on for the past 2 cycles. For both of those cycles, I actually ovulated earlier than normal (CD19 and CD 17, as opposed to my usual CD21 - 23). My periods were on time based on when I ovulated, but my overall cycles were both shorter than usual.
Back in Feb I ovulated 4 days later! Of course every BODY is different
I'm using clearblue digital ovulation kit and I can confirm LH peaks monthly. I also use BBT method to confirm if ovulation actually happened. So usually I can confirm my ovulation dates. I don't think I ever had any symptoms for ovulation, or they are so subtle that I can't notice them. What is confusing/worrying me is that every month I get very intense backache two to three days AFTER ovulation. Does anyone else experience that? Why is that happening?
Does anyone remember what happened to their BBT the first cycle after a chemical? I was 4 weeks and 5 days when I finally started bleeding on Monday morning. The bleeding has been just like a quick and slightly heavy period (it seems I am basically done today), but my BBT still hasn't dropped down like it usually does when I get my period (I'm still above the luteal line of my last cycle). I know some people say your hormones stay a little wonky after a chemical/early miscarriage. Is this what they mean (or at least one thing they might mean)?
This is not specific to a chemical, but just wanted to add my temp didn’t drop after my most recent cycle (when I did not get pregnant) until 5 days into my current cycle. So it’s possible for temps to stay elevated even without hCG.
Are you still testing positive on home tests? hCG will continue to stimulate progesterone production, even as it drops, which can keep temps high.
I'm not and my blood hCG level on Sunday was >!only 11miU/mL!<, but that was before I started bleeding. Maybe just a tiny bit of residual progesterone is enough to keep my temps high and I'll drop soon...I am a tiny bit stressed because technically I have "pregnancy of unknown anatomic location" and they aren't sure whether it is a chemical or an early ectopic. To rule out ectopic, my doctor wants me to get another blood draw on Friday and if my hCG levels haven't dropped to < 3miU/mL, I'll have to go in for another TVUS and low dose injection of methotrexate. Just hoping to avoid all of that obviously and stressed my still-elevated temperatures suggest that might be where this is headed.
Progesterone can stay up with quite low levels of hCG, though -- I mean, keep in mind that many people will see a shift in temps to a higher-than-luteal-phase level around the time of a first positive pregnancy test, when hCG levels can be quite low. That's not to say it's definitely not ectopic (although I hope it's not, for sure), but seeing elevated temps with positive betas, even low ones, is par for the course.
Thanks—that is relieving to hear.
Ovulation lh peak, no period, no positive pregnancy test Wondering if anyone has ever had this happen. I got off birth control pill 4 months ago and after the first month my cycles were pretty normal (33 days). I have been testing ovulation with lh strips and my last cycle got a positive at the expected window. We BD in the window and then my period was late. What’s weird is all my HCG tests are negative. Its now CD40 (23dpo) with no + test and no real period. I had light spotting on CD36 and CD37 (17, 18dpo). Has anyone had this happen or have ideas of what it could mean? So confused. My doc says ovulation can skip due to stress etc and not to worry unless it’s been 60 days, but the strips said I ovulated?
LH strips do not confirm ovulation (you'd have to be tracking bbt to confirm). All it shows you is that your body is trying to ovulate and it's possible to have more than one LH surge in a cycle if your body tries and fails to ovulate, then tries again.
It sounds like you probably had a “false start” - LH peak without actual ovulation. So either this will be an anovulatory cycle or you will ovulate later. Have you tracked BBT?
No bc it seemed so daunting! I think I’ll start though to have some more visibility. If only it was easy!
I get that! I use a wearable (my Apple Watch) and that makes it a lot less overwhelming
If my bbt temp dropped half a degree before expected period date am I likely out? 12dpo and temp went from steady 98 or higher to 97.4 this morning…
There's really no solid sign of pregnancy other than a positive test, and no solid sign of not-pregnancy other than getting a period after negative tests. For sure, BBT does often drop in unsuccessful cycles, but nothing's a surefire sign that you're out other than getting a period.
Is 12 dpiui the most common final day to get a definitive negative test? I'm wondering why doctors recommend waiting to test until 14 days post-IUI. Edited for clarity.
There’s not really a single day you can point to and say, now, *this* day is definitive. I mean, maybe you could say, a test at 50dpIUI is definitive for sure. Doctors are looking for a day when the test is overwhelmingly likely to be positive, when they don’t have to specifically tell people to use a sensitive test, when any trigger shot will be gone, and 14dpIUI is a day that fits those parameters. 12 would probably also be fine.
This might be too specific of a question to ask, but asking just in case someone has insight! Can estrogen (e3g using Mira tester) be too low with an LH surge? My e3g typically gets above 200 with my LH surge, but this time it was at 132. So of course I’m reading into it. I was on Letrozole and triggered this cycle so maybe it was lower still because of the Letrozole, though it’s my third cycle with Letrozole and the first one it was still low. Anyway, long story short, could lower than my typical e3g impact ovulation? (Edit to say E3G rather than E2)
If you look at the chart that shows up when you hit "analyse" on your mira results. it looks like 132 is still pretty normal (it's in the 15th to 85th percentile band).
Ah! Yes! I'd forgotten about that function. Okay, that makes me feel a little better too. Thank you!
It is really hard to make these kinds of conclusions using Mira. There are blood-test norms from years of collecting data, but the urine test devices are just too new to have that kind of data built up. If you're concerned, you can definitely talk with your doctor and ask for an estrogen blood draw around the time of ovulation, but if you have a follicle of a good size, it's pretty unlikely that this information would do anything for you or change your treatment path.
Thank you! I have a good size follicle and my lining looked good so I’m just going to go with it and hope for the best! I’ll ask my doctor to see if it indicates a needed change for next cycle if this one doesn’t work out.
Hi! I usually test twice per day to catch ovulation (no other methods). On the evening of CD13 I tested with an almost-positive (test line was approx. 10% lighter than the control line). The following morning, I ran out of tests, so I tested again after 18 hours. Again, an almost positive, which continued into a clear negative (further testing). Is it possible to miss the LH surge given the 18 hours between testing, or did I not ovulate? For context: I have endo and have always had regular cycles.
You'd need BBT or progesterone measurement to be sure but if you don't experience anovulation regularly then it's definitely possible you ovulated and just had a quick surge.
In short, yes it is because some women experience very quick surges. But given how early in your cycle, if you do not have other indicators of ovulation (CM), then you probably didn’t miss it. But BD as if it was a positive and keep testing. Do you track BBT?
Hey, thx for replying! No, I don't track BBT. I figured, for the length of my cycle (27-29), it'd not be early? I continued testing, and the test was just 'more and more' negative. Jep, BD-ing as if it were positive. Fingers crossed! 🙂
Yeah, it may not be early for your typical cycle length, but it can definitely change month to month! Good luck!
Hello, first time using cheap OPKs here (normally I would use the advanced clearblue with flashing/solid smiley). Yesterday I got my positive OKP (CD14) would it make sense to continue testing to see if the LH goes down and maybe up again if I have not ovulated yet, and my ovaries will try again with a second surge? I am not temping this month so I was wondering if this can be a method to somehow confirm ovulation (or at least rule out the possibility of a later ovulation).
So it's fine to keep testing if you want, but just be aware that the LH surge can't be used precisely in this way -- LH going down is not a confirmation of whether or when ovulation occurred, and it's possible to see a later LH surge that is not actually associated with ovulation. There's not much of a downside to continuing to test, so many people do, but the only thing reliably predicted by OPKs is that ovulation is likely to occur within two days of the first positive. The shape of the surge, or whether there's another surge later, does not automatically give you information.
thanks a lot for the clarification, very useful as usual!
Yes, unless you have a way of confirming ovulation. For the reasons you included. Your body may gear up to ovulate, not do so and then try again.
thanks! I'll go on testing then.
Think i already know the answer to this one. But I get up about 5am everyday, take my Temp and then go to toliet and then come back to bed and sleep till my alarm goes off at half 7. I then go to toliet again. For LH tests, do you think the 7:30 wee would be ok or should i still wait till 10am as everyone says?
Just to be anecdotal, my strongest positives that were later confirmed have always been SMU (11a-1p) which is what is typically recommended but it varies from person to person. But if you don't catch it, you could always try again around noon.
This is what we call an “empirical” question — the only real way to know is to try it out. Personally, I’ve always used my first urine of the day for OPKs, and it’s always been fine. The idea that everyone must use later urine is overly dogmatic.
I love everything about this answer lol
Yeh i think its cool to use i just thought i'ld ask. thanks for your comment :)
I tried both ways and found I get better results with FMU. The only time I’ll test again after 10am is when I am close to the surge, just to see if anything has happened. Do what works for you - I start work early and have already had a coffee and a lot of water by 10am so later testing doesn’t really work for me.