Charting to Avoid, November 2009 - Page 16

[Blueone]

Hi, I've started charting recently and am not planning on having a baby at the moment. We have a 4 month old. My question is about fertile CF. For the past week I've been having that regularly. I might start the day without it, but in a few hours it will be back. I swear that I ovulated on either day 16 or 17 because my temps start getting higher again. I'm on day 19 and my cycle is 29 days.

It is entirely possible I haven't O'd yet, but I think I have. Is that sort of CF indicative of a coming O and if it ends that means I have O's right?

I'm not breastfeeding. I don't have a chart on FF, I chart on my own.

[RaraAvis]

Eek! Help, ladies

My Ovulation Chart

Seems all up and up, right? Until today when I had a teeny bit of spotting in my CM (internal check) -- is that normal?
Could I possibly not be completely infertile? It was the tiniest little streak of red, but I've never had that happen in my LP

[treegardner]

I am trying to figure out if charting would be worth my time. I have a 16 month old that I am still breastfeeding. I have not had a postpartum period yet. Should I start charting or wait until I get my period back?

[MarineWife]

Blueone ~ If you've had a clear and sustained thermal shift that coincides with CF dry up, you should be in the clear. However, if you cannot see that thermal shift, you need to treat any CF as potentially fertile. IMO, you cannot 100% confirm O from CF dry up without temps to back it up. Temps that show a clear and sustained thermal shift are the only thing that can definitively confirm O.

RaraAvis ~ I'm not sure what you're upset about. Your thermal shift looks clear to me. Mid-lp spotting can be caused by hormone fluctuations. Also, it's very possible you irritated your cervix by checking internally just enough to cause a little bleeding. The cervix has a gazillion blood vessels that can very easily be broken.

treegardner ~ I'd just chart CF until your first PP bleed. Then start temping. But you can start temping now if you want. I don't think it makes that much difference at this point.

[Smylingeyz]

CD3 for me, and AF is definitely noticeably lighter this month - it's such a relief. It's not actually LIGHT, but I don't feel like I'm bleeding to death. I wonder which change it was that I made that changed it. Maybe just a combo of everything. I suspect it was the dietary changes though

[BarefootScientist]

treegardner - I agree with MW. Or, you could just pay attention to your CF until you start seeing some EW and then start temping to catch the first shift.

Smyling - yay!

Rara - your chart looks like classic mid-luteal phase estrogen surge. I agree that your shift looks good so you should be in the clear as far as DTD. Spotting at this point in your cycle can sometimes be implantation spotting, but not always. I myself have had just a tiny bit like you describe a couple times about halfway through the luteal phase.

WWC, is your PM box full? I tried sending you a PM but it hasn't (seemed to have) worked. If you didn't get them, and your box isn't full, could you PM me your email address so I can just send it directly? Thanks.

[eirual]

Originally Posted by treegardner

I am trying to figure out if charting would be worth my time. I have a 16 month old that I am still breastfeeding. I have not had a postpartum period yet. Should I start charting or wait until I get my period back?

AF returned when DS was 15mos for me. I started charting a few months prior just to get in the habit and work out the logistics of it (where to keep the thermometre, the various places and times you could wake up, recalling the number, where to keep the chart- little things, but things you need to think of). The data was random, but when AF came I was ready!

It wouldn't harm, but don't expect clarity until AF's return. It's up to you if you feel it'd be worth it or not.

[HulaJenn]

So while I am iffy on the actual O date, do you think it is safe to DTD without protection? I am sure I O'd at some point. Very dry and another typical post O high temp. When I changed my setting to advanced, I didn't even need to discard the temp on cd9 - it gave me CHs on cd 12 anyway.
My Chart

[MarineWife]

Originally Posted by HulaJenn

So while I am iffy on the actual O date, do you think it is safe to DTD without protection? I am sure I O'd at some point. Very dry and another typical post O high temp. When I changed my setting to advanced, I didn't even need to discard the temp on cd9 - it gave me CHs on cd 12 anyway.
My Chart

I can't remember how the 4 day dry up rule works if you can't confirm O. I know that once O is confirmed, your last watery or ew day is considered your peak day and any creamy days after that are considered part of the dry up. I'm just not sure if that applies if your O day isn't clear. Since your cf has dried up for more than 4 days since that one watery day, you might be safe. However, that one creamy day is throwing me off. I'm not sure if you need to wait for 4 days of cf dry up after that day, which would mean one more day.

I still don't think your temps confirm O for either cd12 or cd14 yet. Explain to me again about the cd13 temp. Did you take it at a later than normal time or did you mark it as sleep-deprived since you have been woken an hour and a half before you took it? If it was taken later than usual and you can adjust it below 97.8, then I'd be 100% certain of O by cd14. If it's an open circle because you checked the sleep-deprived box, I think you need to leave it as is and consider it accurate.

Just because I think it's funny, I put in a fake sex day on my chart to see what the pg monitor says. It looks like my temps are going triphasic.

[wholewheatchick]

BFS: I just PM'd you, but yes, I got everything.

AFM: 6 days of EWCF as of yesterday...seriously???? This is sooooo different from my other charts, because this stuff is truly clear, stretchy, slippery, looks like it came out of a chicken egg! Kind of cool, actually, but how much of this stuff can one girl produce??!! lol http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/277407

Not taking my temps anymore, just going by CF, since we're not trying to figure out safe days.

[BarefootScientist]

WWC, if I were you I would probably keep temping anyway just so that I knew what was going on. Like if you have a fertile patch and dry up but don't actually O, you could be two weeks down the road and wondering...um...am I pregnant or just haven't O'd yet? Then you could just POAS but temping would give you an accurate due date and I guess I just like to have as much info as possible. Totally a personal choice of course, just throwing that out there.

HulaJenn, I think I would call you safe as of tonight, ignoring the CD 9 temp.

[MarineWife]

WWC ~ I've been getting about 9 straight days of ewcf before O and I'm old enough that I'm supposed to be getting fewer days of ewcf. I'm like BFS. I'd have to temp so I'd know when to expect . It'd be pretty awful to be at the gym and have take me by surprise in the middle of doing squats.

AFM, I'm expecting in 3-4 days. Then I should O around Christmas day (give or take a week) assuming my body continues the way it has the last 2 cycles. That means I'll be 1 week post-O during our romantic weekend away. That kind of stinks because I get really bad cramps during my lp that are made worse from sex. I usually don't want to dtd at all during that time because it hurts so badly. I guess I'll be sucking it up and popping a lot of ibuprofen.

[HulaJenn]

Originally Posted by MarineWife

Explain to me again about the cd13 temp. Did you take it at a later than normal time or did you mark it as sleep-deprived since you have been woken an hour and a half before you took it?

I woke up to hubby's alarm at 5:30 but didn't get out of bed or temp, I went back to sleep for another hour and a half and then used that temp. So I don't know what I would call that? LOL In FF I marked it as taking it later than normal because I really should have temped at 5:30 (even though that isn't my normal temping time of 6:30-7) because that's when I woke up right?
Or was that my cd9 temp that I am thinking of? Arg, now I can't remember why I marked it as later than usual temp.

[MarineWife]

Originally Posted by HulaJenn

I woke up to hubby's alarm at 5:30 but didn't get out of bed or temp, I went back to sleep for another hour and a half and then used that temp. So I don't know what I would call that? LOL In FF I marked it as taking it later than normal because I really should have temped at 5:30 (even though that isn't my normal temping time of 6:30-7) because that's when I woke up right?
Or was that my cd9 temp that I am thinking of? Arg, now I can't remember why I marked it as later than usual temp.

If you went back to sleep after the alarm and took your temp at your usual time (7 was it?), I'd just record that as it is. If you usually take your temp with the alarm but fell back to sleep without doing that and then had to take it later, I'd adjust it down.

So, if I understand correctly that you did take your temp at the usual time, I'd wait for one more day of CF dry up and/or one more high temp before considering you safe if you need to be absolutely certain.

[eirual]

I'm about 98% sure I O'ed yesterday and go figure NOW (after upwards of 50 days so far this cycle) I can't find my thermometre!!....I want to confirm we're in the clear asap after this monsterous cycle!! argh...

[MarineWife]

Originally Posted by eirual

I'm about 98% sure I O'ed yesterday and go figure NOW (after upwards of 50 days so far this cycle) I can't find my thermometre!!....I want to confirm we're in the clear asap after this monsterous cycle!! argh...

Well, without temps you could use the 4 day dry up rule. It won't give you confirmation the way a thermal shift would but you'd at least know whether or not you're safe for a while. If your cf stays dried up until , then I'd say you could look back and be pretty sure you Oed when your cf dried up. If it gets wetter again, you'd have to assume you didn't O and are potentially fertile again.

My temp dropped a little today, 2 days before is due. I reviewed my previous charts and it seems that most cycles my temp does drop right before or the day of . How did I miss that about myself? I always thought my temp stayed up.

[turnquia]

So I'm on cycle day 5. I think my chart looks pretty good and I'm thinking I can already tell where my coverline will roughly be because the first few days of charting I was just before AF.

I go in for a recheck of my cyst on my Left side just after christmas, so will be interesting to see. I should roughly be due to have AF show up then. Will be interesting as I have had 2 previous BFP the day after christmas so hopefully we will behave and get a BFN

[MamaGwynn]

FF gave me dashed crosshairs this morning. It's not totally sure I o'ed, and I'm not convinced that I did at all. I don't see a big enough temp shift. I had eggwhite cf (quite a bit) when I woke up this morning, and entered that already just assuming that's the wettest I'll have today.

Link to my chart: http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/2b0c91

[wholewheatchick]

MamaGwynn: I'd be really cautious, too.

AFM: Good points about the benefits of temping...I did again today, and it's still down. Everyday, I get closer to O, but that might still be a long ways off!

I'll put up the Dec. thread today.

[MarineWife]

Yeah...hmmm, MamaGwynn. I'm not convinced either. You're right to put in the ewcf you saw this morning since that's the wettest cf you can get. It doesn't matter what you get for the rest of the day.

turnquia ~ Just remember that your CL can change with each new temp, especially if you are only at cd5.