Does late ovulation mean poor egg quality?

[MyZymurgy]

I've heard this before. I finally got a positive OPK today - wah-hooo!! But that would make my O date (assuming I drop an egg) CD 19 or 20. I am just thrilled to possibility ovulating since I am nursing, so maybe I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

But... here I am. Already worried that if we were so blessed as to get a BFP this month that there would be an increased likelihood of miscarriage or something wrong with the baby due to late ovulation.

Although I have read about this bad egg theory online in several places, it has never really made sense to me. I mean... we are born with all the eggs we are ever going to have. How can they go bad based on the timing of our ovulation?? Can someone explain that? Or someone slap me and tell me the theory isn't true.

What have you heard? And what qualifies as a "late ovulation"?

[MaerynPearl]

Late ovulation in a cycle does not make a bad egg.

Late ovulation in LIFE is what you need to worry about (which is why women over a certain age are higher risk)


And checking FFs charts I see TONS of women with bfp after oing CD19+ (even some past CD30!)

[ShwarmaQueen]

I have never heard that.

I normally ovulate later (CD 19- CD 26) and haven't had any problems that I know of. I know the opposite can be true though- if eggs are forced out (assuming via medical ways) before they're mature they are more likely to have issues (pregnancy and baby-wise).

[RunnerDuck]

I have read late ovulation can mean poor egg quality. But a lot of women have late ovulations and healthy babies. My son was a day 46 or so ovulation.

By comparison I had 3 m/c with much more timly Os.

At any rate 19 or 20 - not late O. Late O would mean REALLY late, like 40 or more, I'd think. But even with a late O, there are lots of normal health babies born.

[Therese's Mommy]

I have a friend who always had long cycles and I think she said she would ovulate around day 28 consistently. She was pg 12 times with 10 full term babies and never had a problem getting pg. So, I would say her eggs were pretty good quality

[*Aimee*]

I hope not! this baby is from CD O of 22 or 23. I have been feeling very crampy and very anxious, so we'll see. But I'm remaining hopeful.

[theatermom]

Nope! I've always had long cycles, and 3 of my 4 babes were "late" O's. My first was conceived on day 101 or so. Yes, that says one hundred and one. He's now a healthy happy nearly 9 year old.

GL!

[MyZymurgy]

You guys are always a voice of reason. I love MDC mamas!

I am glad someone else has heard of this, so I sound a little less crazy. But I am glad that the consensus here is that the theory doesn't hold water.

[HippieChristianMum]

I have always had longer cycles (32 to 34 days). I have never heard that this affects the quality of the egg, but it does affect how long you are really pregnant compared to your due date (your due date is really too early). Due dates are calculated based on the first day of your last AF, and typically are set based on a 28 day cycle, with ovulation happening on day 14. I O'd (and conceived) on day 18 (which is actually pretty early for me, usually it's day 20), and when I entered my information on one of the "due date calculator" websites, it had me conceiving several days before I even ovulated. This means that when the due date wheel says I have been pregnant for 38 weeks, I have actually been pregnant for less than that (since due dates are calculated based on AF, when you conceive you are already considered 2 weeks along).

I think I'm starting to speak in circles, hopefully this makes sense. If it doesn't I will try again .

[enigo]

I've been trying to decide this for myself.
I generally O about cd 16-18, but this cycle I had some stress just before O and it seems to have delayed it. I'm on cd27 now and had decided not to continue to TTC this cycle for fear of another mc. Both those cycles I Oed about cd28.
What do you think?

[filiadeluna]

I wouldn't think so. I have always had fairly long, whacky cycles, and DD was conceived when I o'd on CD 15 (one of my EARLIEST ovulations). She was even born "late" (42 w 1d), and she is perfectly healthy.

[MaerynPearl]

Put it this way...

if a long time between AF and O caused bad eggs...

then women who spend months in between due to breastfeeding would NEVER get pregnant and have children. But they do.

Even if they gear up to O several times before they O.... it still happens. They still have healthy babies.

[rhiandmoi]

It depends. If your body starts getting ready to ovulate, and begins maturing some follicles, but for whatever reason ovulation is delayed - Yes, this can cause a degradation of egg. But if your body doesn't start getting ready to ovulate until later in your cycle, that is usually fine.

There is an ideal time for fertilization to occur (at our just after metaphaseII), if the egg gets to this point before being released it is not good chances for a successful fertilization.

[Nanette56]

My RE said she doesn't like to see anything too far past CD18 for Ovulation, because the egg does typically tend to be more brittle if you get too much past that. It's not to say it is not possible to get pregnant, it happens ALL the time, it's just takes longer most of the time. I'm TTC #2, now for well over a year, and I ovulate consistently on CD19-23, with a typical 13 day LP. (I'm now on Femara and taking an Ovidrel shot this month to induce ovulation to fix the problem). Found this on medicinenet.com:

"Member: When is ovulation considered late?

Dr. Amos: Most doctors consider ovulation 'late' when it happens after CD 21. Many women do get pregnant with late ovulations, but chances of getting pregnant are decreased. For one, the egg is not as good when you ovulate later in the cycle. A 'not good' egg is less likely to be fertilized and become an embryo. In addition, the lining of the uterus, the endometrium, is where the fertilized egg, the blastocyst, has to attach and implant. If the endometrium is too old, it is less likely to provide sufficient nutrition for the blastocyst, so implantation is decreased. And finally, with 'late ovulation,' you ovulate less often than with earlier ovulation. "

Good luck!!

[enigo]

Originally Posted by Nanette56

My RE said she doesn't like to see anything too far past CD18 for Ovulation, because the egg does typically tend to be more brittle if you get too much past that. It's not to say it is not possible to get pregnant, it happens ALL the time, it's just takes longer most of the time. I'm TTC #2, now for well over a year, and I ovulate consistently on CD19-23, with a typical 13 day LP. (I'm now on Femara and taking an Ovidrel shot this month to induce ovulation to fix the problem). Found this on medicinenet.com:

"Member: When is ovulation considered late?

Dr. Amos: Most doctors consider ovulation 'late' when it happens after CD 21. Many women do get pregnant with late ovulations, but chances of getting pregnant are decreased. For one, the egg is not as good when you ovulate later in the cycle. A 'not good' egg is less likely to be fertilized and become an embryo. In addition, the lining of the uterus, the endometrium, is where the fertilized egg, the blastocyst, has to attach and implant. If the endometrium is too old, it is less likely to provide sufficient nutrition for the blastocyst, so implantation is decreased. And finally, with 'late ovulation,' you ovulate less often than with earlier ovulation. "

Good luck!!

This is what I read after some research and was the case in both mc's. (Gearing up to O and then having to go out of town and delaying O)
I still haven't Oed and it is cd27. At this point I just can't take the chance of a repeat mc. I may still have one, but if I had another after getting pregnant on a weird cycle I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. Plus I'd lose another 3-4 months. I've had great EWCM all week, very weird cycle, I was doing so well...

[TXmom2]

hmm...I don't know

I finally got pregnant after 3 years on a cycle when I O'd late (CD 23) so I'm thankful that that egg was a "good" one
Now this cyle I supposedly O'd on CD 64, so I'm guessing that this cycle's a "dud" and I'm just waiting for AF so we can move on...

[stellamia]

I think, since there isn't any proof (or anything even close to it) that late ovulation= "not good egg", that late ovulators shouldn't worry. There are plenty of women with long follicular phases who get "good eggs" and plenty who O on time and get "not good eggs". It's all anecdotal at this point and since we know that stress is definitely NOT good for anyone who's TTC, it's better to relax about it. Also, I think we all know that Dr's don't know everything and that THEY are always learning new info and can be misinformed.

[JessieBird]

I'm one who's hoping that's not true. I ovulated on cd 23 this cycle and got a nice visible BFP at 9 dpo. I'm now 14 dpo and the line is almost as dark as the control. When we were TTC DS, I had very short cycles with ovulation as early as cd11 sometimes and it took a year and a half to conceive. This time, it was only my 4th postpartum ovulation (max) and all cycles had ovulation at around cd20-24 with very short LPs and here I am, knocked up in record time. Only time will tell how healthy #2 is, but I'm pretty sure that it's sticking nicely. I hope this gives you some optimism!

[dinahx]

I guess this isn't offically 'late' but I am pregnant on a day 17 O and recently lost a baby conceived on a day 14 O.

[JustLooking_30]

This is a topic of interest to me so I'm resurrecting it. I've been charting my cycles for several months now, and have found that they reliably fall into one of two patterns.

n the first pattern, ovulation happens at day 15-16, I have less fertile egg white cervical mucous (ie less estrogen) and a short Luteal Phase of 12 days.

In the second pattern, ovulation happens at day 20, fertile cervical mucous is distinctly more abundant and is of a better quality (ie high estrogen), and my luteal phase increases to 14 days.

I had thought that since first pattern has lower estrogen and progesterone, eggs released in such cycles may not be my 'best' eggs. I didn't pay much heed to it though. I conceived on the first try in such a cycle, and things looked great for a while but I lost the baby at between 8 and 12 weeks.

I am now wondering if I should wait for a cycle of delayed ovulation at day 20, because these may be my better eggs. I can't bear the thought of another loss so this question is really important.

So what I'm looking for, is more stories like the ones above- ie , sucessful pregnancies with late ovulations.

I've also bought this up elsewhere, but this doctor also talks about the same thing

http://www.fertility.ca/2008/06/how-...r-egg-quality/