Charting To Avoid February 2009 Thread - Page 2

[nichole]

yay my opk was negative.

[MovingMomma]

Originally Posted by MarineWife

In order to be absolutely safe, I really think you shouldn't confirm O until you have had at least 3 consecutive high temps.

:

[MarineWife]

Originally Posted by nichole

I think we are okay b/c Wed was four days ago.

If you've had 4 dry days in a row without any CF at all, I think you could consider yourself relatively safe. If you have any CF at all, though, I wouldn't risk it. I've never been able to determine the difference between plain vag secretions and CF. Anyone have any insight into that?

[akaisha]

7 DPO over here. expect AF in 5-6 days. i really hope i don't O on CD 13 again next cycle, i'm getting kind of sick of this. :

[MarineWife]

Originally Posted by akaisha

7 DPO over here. expect AF in 5-6 days. i really hope i don't O on CD 13 again next cycle, i'm getting kind of sick of this. :

Sick of what, nice, short, predictable cycles?

[heather719]

I just have to say.... you guys are a wealth of info!!!!!

I am just soaking it all in, picking up pieces here and there. I would like to know if there is a difference/if so what is it, between fertile CF and secretions? TCOYF (the most recent edition) has really nice color pics of the different types of CF. This has been really helpful for me as I am a newbie, but is there something else I should know about? I am on CD11 and "expect" to O around CD16 but have had CF for the last 5 days. Could I just start with CF really early? Could this be "secretions"? Or is it just possible I am going to O earlier than I have in the past several cycles? Ok, I think thats it for the questions.... lol

P.S. I did adjust my temp on my late BBT day. Today it was back down to 97.1

[DucetteMama21842]

Thank you so much MarineWife for answering all my questions! I just set my ff to FAM and it says cd22 so I will go with that. I just swore I remembered her saying that ewcf is the kind of cervical fluid for O. Don't worry.. I got my third temp above the previous 6 and won't be dtd until dh gets back from his business trip.

[ReikiMommy07]

Originally Posted by MarineWife

If you've had 4 dry days in a row without any CF at all, I think you could consider yourself relatively safe. If you have any CF at all, though, I wouldn't risk it. I've never been able to determine the difference between plain vag secretions and CF. Anyone have any insight into that?

Insight... No. All I can say is that you really have to pay attention to it and record exactly what you see or feel every day and/or every time you check, with no interpretations. The more experience you have, the more you'll be able to tell. But it does take time, and certainly practice.

[akaisha]

Originally Posted by MarineWife

Sick of what, nice, short, predictable cycles?

Oing early, . but i know i have it easy so i'm not actually complaining.

[MarineWife]

heather ~ I'm not quite sure what you are confused about. What you are describing sounds normal to me. There are 4 different types of CF; sticky, creamy, watery and eggwhite. Not every woman will have all 4 kinds or all 4 kinds every cycle. Some women don't have dry days and go straight from AF to sticky. Those women can consider sticky their BIP if they are sure they never have any dry days or if they have long cycles (such as with breastfeeding) and have had unchanging dry/sticky cf for at least 2 weeks. I'm not sure if there's any day requirement to that. Someone else might know.

The description in TCOYF of plain vag secretions is that they dry quickly on your finger. It's been a while since I read it but I think it says to get some on your fingers and, without looking at it, feel it between your fingers and wave your fingers around a little to see if it dries up and disappears quickly. If it does dry up quickly, you can consider that normal vag secretions rather than CF and so a dry day. I assume it is clear but I don't really know that. I also assume that anything that has any color to it is CF although CF can also be clear. I have never been able to recognize this with myself but that may be because I don't have truly dry days.

Originally Posted by DucetteMama21842

I just swore I remembered her saying that ewcf is the kind of cervical fluid for O.

EWCF is the most fertile CF because it is the most hospitable to sperm. It also signifies possible impending O because it reflects high estrogen levels. It does not, however, gaurantee that O has or will occur. Some women never get ew or even watery CF and have to consider creamy as their most fertile CF. They can and do get pregnant. That's why you can't consider creamy your BIP or safe if it happens for a day or two after your last day of watery or ewcf. You are still potentially fertile. I think TCOYF will even reset your peak day to the last day of creamy cf even if it occurs after a watery or ewcf day.

[quote=akaisha]Oing early,...but i know i have it easy so i'm not actually complaining.[quote]

No worries. I was just teasing you. Is O on cd13 early or just early for you? I'd love to O on cd13 every cycle, although I guess I might get annoyed at having AF every 26-28 days. At least it would be easier to determine when I'm fertile and when I'm not and not have to go for weeks and weeks being cautious or having no clue.

[MarineMommy]

Originally Posted by MarineWife

The only way to be sure of O with charting is temps. None of that other stuff definitively confirms O. It only tells you when you are potentially fertile or not. You don't even need to keep track of CF and CP in order to chart and confirm O. You can have all the signs of being fertile and not O. Yes, a dry day can be the actual day of O. I think TCOYF even says most of the time O day is the day after your peak day or at least a lot of the time. In order to be absolutely safe, I really think you shouldn't confirm O until you have had at least 3 consecutive high temps. Not only will that help ensure you don't dtd unprotected before you are truly safe, it also won't get you ahead of yourself about when you expect AF and then start worrying because she's late.



If you didn't have any CF on cd7 and 8, you should have been safe. The first 5 days rule is just there so that you don't have to worry about checking CF because you can't distinguish CF amongst AF, if that makes sense. Once you get past the first 5 days, you need to start paying attention to CF. If you were dry or only had a little spotting that was AF tapering off, I'd think you were safe.

Yeah, I was pretty confident about being safe. DH finally gave in and trusted me!!! It was so nice dtd without a stupid condom. After dtd he said "you're so pregnant!" I guess I really just want to show him how FAM does work and I kinda freaked out reading the rules again. Can't get pregnant now, he would never EVER trust me again when it comes to fertility!!! Thanks all!!

[MarineWife]

Originally Posted by MarineMommy

Yeah, I was pretty confident about being safe. DH finally gave in and trusted me!!! It was so nice dtd without a stupid condom. After dtd he said "you're so pregnant!" I guess I really just want to show him how FAM does work and I kinda freaked out reading the rules again. Can't get pregnant now, he would never EVER trust me again when it comes to fertility!!! Thanks all!!

That's wonderful that he trusted you! I know how you feel about proving him wrong. The last gyn I went to annoyed the heck out of me. She kept insisting I was going to get pregnant since I refused any bc she was offering even though I told her I was using FAM. : She sent me home with a year's prescription of prenatal vitamins and told me to get a mammogram now before I got pregnant again. Right after I left I swore I'd never go back there again. Now I can't wait for my next annual exam so I can go back to her and say, "Nanana, I'm still not pg. "

[BarefootScientist]

Happy February everyone. I can't believe it's Feb. already. It looks like my body is starting to gear up to O.

MarineMommy, that's awesome that you got your DH to DTD without a condom! I'll give you my thoughts about the first five days rule. I have longer periods too, usually six days so I modified it for me to be the first ten days rule. Lol. Admittedly you would not want to do this to be most conservative, but I figured, since I have never in my life had a cycle shorter than 30 days, and my LP is 12 days, O probably won't happen before CD 18, sperm can live for 5 days, add on a couple days to be safe...so even if I have some sticky CF or whatever, I get the first 10 days. Total abandonment of the rules.

BUT - I did just recently read another book about FAM (not TCOYF) in which they talk about the "21 Days Rule" which is almost exactly what I just described. I think it's subtract 21 days from the shortest of your last six cycles to get the beginning of your fertile phase. The book said this IS slightly more risky than the first five days rule but not much more risky, even though it does sort of sound to me as if it's creeping into Rhythm Method territory... I think a good compromise is to keep in mind when your fertile phase is likely to start, but also to keep an eye on your CF as best as you can through the AF or spotting.

Anyway, if he's pulling out you have some protection there too. Good luck with the continual birth-control trust issues.

[MarineWife]

Originally Posted by BarefootScientist

BUT - I did just recently read another book about FAM (not TCOYF) in which they talk about the "21 Days Rule" which is almost exactly what I just described. I think it's subtract 21 days from the shortest of your last six cycles to get the beginning of your fertile phase. The book said this IS slightly more risky than the first five days rule but not much more risky, even though it does sort of sound to me as if it's creeping into Rhythm Method territory... I think a good compromise is to keep in mind when your fertile phase is likely to start, but also to keep an eye on your CF as best as you can through the AF or spotting.

I think I sort of do a version of this. I have TCOYF to discount the dry day rule if day counting shows I'm probably not fertile based on my shortest cycle. In other words, if I have CF more fertile than my BIP (which is set at dry/dry) but it's early in my cycle, TCOYF keeps me in the low fertility phase.

[akaisha]

Originally Posted by MarineWife

No worries. I was just teasing you. Is O on cd13 early or just early for you? I'd love to O on cd13 every cycle, although I guess I might get annoyed at having AF every 26-28 days. At least it would be easier to determine when I'm fertile and when I'm not and not have to go for weeks and weeks being cautious or having no clue.

oh i know you were . it's early for me. well, it was early for me anyway. i've been charting since last april and up till 3 cycles ago i had O'd on CD 13 once and on CD 18 once, but usually O'd on day 14, 15 or 16. 3 cycles ago i O'd on CD 18 again and both cycles since then i've O'd on CD 13. combine that with an 11-12 day LP (13 days twice) and i'm lucky if i get to 27 days, usually more like 25 or 26, and that really really irritates me. i hit 30 days once and i was sooooo happy. it's great for TTC, but annoying any other time. since i'm Oing so frequently i have to be so much more careful, and since i have a short LP i have so many fewer safe days. that and i'm sick of having AF so often. i'm lucky that i really only have 1-2 day periods that are light otherwise i'd be

women on my mom's side have what i call hyper-fertility. they walk past a guy and they're pregnant, every single one of them. a couple with irish twin pregnancies even when they were BFing on demand. my aunt was pg with her son less than a month after birthing her daughter (who was breastfed). i also had a textbook cycle my first one off BCPs (was on them 4.5 years). that cycle i O'd within two weeks of being off them and have been perfectly typical since then. so, all in all, i can't say i'm really surprised that i cycle this often. i'm hoping it will calm down with age (almost 23 now). i'm also really hoping i don't end up having a baby in a few years and getting AF back after like 6 months even with EBFing, but knowing my family i'm sure that's exactly what will happen. sigh.

so all this means i've been charting for 9 months and am almost done cycle 11.

i need to find a way to lengthen my LP, especially since i'll be TTC in a few years--11-12 days worries me.

[MarineMommy]

Originally Posted by MarineWife

That's wonderful that he trusted you! I know how you feel about proving him wrong. The last gyn I went to annoyed the heck out of me. She kept insisting I was going to get pregnant since I refused any bc she was offering even though I told her I was using FAM. : She sent me home with a year's prescription of prenatal vitamins and told me to get a mammogram now before I got pregnant again. Right after I left I swore I'd never go back there again. Now I can't wait for my next annual exam so I can go back to her and say, "Nanana, I'm still not pg. "

Cool huh, It was a really good weekend for us Since he's only home on the weekends until May we'll probably only get to do that 1 weekend a month But it is something to look forward to!
That's really funny about your dumb gyn!! I need to go in for my annual pap (it's been 2 years now, OOPS) not sure how I'll get treated. Can't wait to hear how your gyn takes the news!!

[MarineMommy]

Originally Posted by BarefootScientist

Happy February everyone. I can't believe it's Feb. already. It looks like my body is starting to gear up to O.

MarineMommy, that's awesome that you got your DH to DTD without a condom! I'll give you my thoughts about the first five days rule. I have longer periods too, usually six days so I modified it for me to be the first ten days rule. Lol. Admittedly you would not want to do this to be most conservative, but I figured, since I have never in my life had a cycle shorter than 30 days, and my LP is 12 days, O probably won't happen before CD 18, sperm can live for 5 days, add on a couple days to be safe...so even if I have some sticky CF or whatever, I get the first 10 days. Total abandonment of the rules.

BUT - I did just recently read another book about FAM (not TCOYF) in which they talk about the "21 Days Rule" which is almost exactly what I just described. I think it's subtract 21 days from the shortest of your last six cycles to get the beginning of your fertile phase. The book said this IS slightly more risky than the first five days rule but not much more risky, even though it does sort of sound to me as if it's creeping into Rhythm Method territory... I think a good compromise is to keep in mind when your fertile phase is likely to start, but also to keep an eye on your CF as best as you can through the AF or spotting.

Anyway, if he's pulling out you have some protection there too. Good luck with the continual birth-control trust issues.

I am a total cf stalker. I always think I'm seeing ewcf!! After AF it's usually dry for a few days!! Since he is pulling out I feel more secure. I'm sure if I don't get pg this time, he will trust me even more!!

[MarineWife]

Originally Posted by akaisha

oh i know you were . it's early for me. well, it was early for me anyway. i've been charting since last april and up till 3 cycles ago i had O'd on CD 13 once and on CD 18 once, but usually O'd on day 14, 15 or 16. 3 cycles ago i O'd on CD 18 again and both cycles since then i've O'd on CD 13. combine that with an 11-12 day LP (13 days twice) and i'm lucky if i get to 27 days, usually more like 25 or 26, and that really really irritates me. i hit 30 days once and i was sooooo happy. it's great for TTC, but annoying any other time. since i'm Oing so frequently i have to be so much more careful, and since i have a short LP i have so many fewer safe days. that and i'm sick of having AF so often. i'm lucky that i really only have 1-2 day periods that are light otherwise i'd be

women on my mom's side have what i call hyper-fertility. they walk past a guy and they're pregnant, every single one of them. a couple with irish twin pregnancies even when they were BFing on demand. my aunt was pg with her son less than a month after birthing her daughter (who was breastfed). i also had a textbook cycle my first one off BCPs (was on them 4.5 years). that cycle i O'd within two weeks of being off them and have been perfectly typical since then. so, all in all, i can't say i'm really surprised that i cycle this often. i'm hoping it will calm down with age (almost 23 now). i'm also really hoping i don't end up having a baby in a few years and getting AF back after like 6 months even with EBFing, but knowing my family i'm sure that's exactly what will happen. sigh.

so all this means i've been charting for 9 months and am almost done cycle 11.

i need to find a way to lengthen my LP, especially since i'll be TTC in a few years--11-12 days worries me.

Wow! I can't imagine being that fertile. Charting for 9 months for me would mean maybe 7 cycles. You are young, though. I didn't have any idea how my body worked when I was in my 20s and I got pg by accident when I was 20. A doc told me I could go off the pill with no worries since I wasn't having AF. I never did have AF but I got pg 3 months later. Looking back with what I know now, I remember those times when I was wearing a bathing suit and so embarrassed about the wet spots thinking everyone could see them and wondering what was wrong with me that I was leaking stuff. Now I know it was probably fertile CF but back then I just thought it was gross.

[akaisha]

Originally Posted by MarineWife

Wow! I can't imagine being that fertile.

all of a sudden i just realized that i should probably be a lot more careful.

i feel like i shouldn't be annoyed with it especially with so many people having various issues, but right now i'm not trying to have a baby and does it ever make me :

stupid body, doing what it's supposed to do. how dare it?

[AnnieA]

Akaisha, I totally know how you feel! I have been charting for 13 months and I just started my 16th cycle! It feels like I am just getting over the trauma of my AF (I have super horrible terrible cramps) when it's time to O and then the countdown to the pain starts again.