Help! Anyone have their luteal phase suddenly change?

[segrau]

I have been ttc for a year now, and I've been monitoring my ovulation by cervical fluid for a long time now. In the beginning, I tried to temp chart, but I could never seem to get into the rhythm of doing it every day, and I used a Clearblue Easy fertility monitor (yes, the expensive one) for the first 6 months and that said I was indeed ovulating. I stopped using that because the test sticks were so pricey, and because I totally had a handle on figuring out my ovulation just by checking my cervical fluid. I had only like 3 hours of ewm on the day of ovulation before I quit bf in September, but since then I've been getting more and more days of it. Up until February, I ovulated on day 11 or 12. But in March I ovulated on day 16 without my cycle getting any longer (it's still just 26 days) and now I'm on day 16 with no ovulation again. I admit, I had a female friend stay with me for 8 days, and I know being around another woman a lot can throw your cycle off, but I was just wondering if this has happened to anyone else? Did it get back to normal suddenly, or just stay like this? Should I shell out the money for more test sticks since the change in my cycle might mean I'm not ovulating, or is testing cervical fluid a good enough indicator that I can save my money?

Help please!

[JessieBird]

All sorts of things can affect any aspect of your cycle, especially CM. I don't mean to doubt you but I think you need to consider that it's your CM that is wonky these days and not your ovulation day. It's just far more likely, especially if your cycle length is remaining the same. Changes in your diet, amount of water you drink, supplements you take, sleeping pattern, stress levels, maybe even the change of seasons and increased hours of daylight (depending on where you live) could be affecting your fertility signs including CM. It is possible to get fertile CM after ovulation. These factors could be affecting your ovulation day too, or perhaps you are having anovulatory cycles, but it's really hard to know if you're going on CM alone.

Without charting other signs, I don't think you can jump to any conclusions. I'd suggest giving temping another try - it'll become automatic eventually. And instead of the CBFM, what about just regular old ovulation test strips? There are lots of sites on line that sell bundles of them dirt cheap. Test twice a day and, since your ovulation used to be as early as day 10, start testing around day 8 and you'll be sure not to miss it.

All that said, it is possible but very rare from what I understand for a woman's LP to vary. Before getting preg with DS, mine was variable to the point that my doctor was starting to test my hormone levels and I'd been referred to a fertility specialist. Then I got pregnant! So we didn't pursue it. Throughout that journey, over and over I'd been told and read that LP is the most consistent part of a woman's cycle and variations are extremely rare. So while it is possible, I think you really need to pinpoint ovulation with more precision if you are TTC. Good luck!

[kalamos23]

Mine has gone back and forth, but I have extentuating circumstances in that I am nursing still, and so it started out at 4 days, worked its way up to 12 days, I got pregnant, lost the baby and it went to 8 days and then 10 days. So it *can* vary, but usually there are other things going on. I'm guessing that maybe your CM stopped lining up with ovulation in March or possibly you were ovulating later than you thought all along, but your CM was drying up before O. Since you have been TTC for a year, I'd start temping for a month or 2 to see if your temps line up with your CM - it may be that you are working with a 10 day LP and ovulating later then you think, and if it IS a shorter LP, that might explain why it's taking a while to get pregnant. Nursing produces prolactin which is a competitor to progesterone which is the dominating hormone in your LP, so since you have stopped nursing, your cycle might be just trying to get back to it's pre-baby normal, you know?

To summarize - I would temp and chart CM for at least 1 month to see what's going on - that will be a better indicator than CM only or test sticks.

[Stevi]

Did you say you just stopped nursing recently? I am pretty sure that can change your cycle. Anyway, I would do some cheap Dollar store OPKs next cycle if I were you, it should help you get a little bit of a grip on how/if your cycle has changed.