Charting to Avoid/Fertility Awareness, May 2010 - Page 21

[MarineWife]

Issy ~ You can change the extra chart that's on your homepage. Go down to the bottom of your homepage setup page and add/delete whichever chart you want to display. If you want, you could post one chart at a time for us to look at.

OT. I just figured out that if you click on the word bubble looking thing on the top of the posting window, you get quotes wrapped around your text. All this time I've been copying and pasting one at a time.

[BarefootScientist]

fresh veggie, have you done anything else unusual this cycle? I'm intrigued by what else could cause a shortened LP.

[RaraAvis]

Originally Posted by AnnieA

MW: Yes, the Mucus-Patch rule is the same as the 4 day rule. Basically, if you have a patch of mucus, even just one day, and the dry-up is NOT followed by a temp shift, then you can consider yourself safe on the evening of the 4th dry day. [/url]

I hope I'm being a little obsessive, but is there an outside chance that I didn't O before my body got knocked off kilter, and it's waiting to go when I get better? Or would I still be getting fertile CM (I haven't had ANY, and I haven't taken any decongestants or meds like that)? My cervix feels shut -- but I keep worrying it's wishful thinking.

Are we REALLY safe/following the rules? I keep thinking this is the kind of month that would throw us and I really don't want to screw up!
Thanks!

[MarineWife]

Originally Posted by RaraAvis

but is there an outside chance that I didn't O before my body got knocked off kilter, and it's waiting to go when I get better?

If you don't have an accurate thermal shift, there's always a chance you didn't O. That's why the 4 day dry up rules says you are safe every other dry day. You wait for every other day to make sure semen isn't obscuring any CF. Then if at any time you notice any CF, you should consider yourself potentially fertile again.

[fresh_veggie]

No, I haven't done anything unusual this last cycle at all. Work, school, all my normal stuff. I can't figure out how to display a previous chart...so I deleted my current one (lol) so my last 2 show up.

charty-chart

[kcroto42]

Originally Posted by MarineWife

So, you don't have any safe days at the beginning of your cycle? I'm never dry. I go straight from to sticky, have maybe 1-2 days of creamy, then ewcf. After O, I go back to sticky, still no dry days. I use sticky as my BIP. Could you do that? I guess it would depend on how long your cycles are. Mine are long so I usually don't start worrying about being truly fertile until I get ewcf because I get a week or more of it. That can be risky but I like risky.

I don't think that I do. I remember getting sticky CF in the past -- it looked like paste in my underwear -- but that hasn't happened in months. Of course, I also haven't really had CF on my underwear since my cycle returned in 09/09. Not sure if this is a change post-bfing or a change post-IUD or a change post-artificial hormones, but I have to check internally, or I would never find anything.

When I check internally, what I find pre-O is like lotion. Soft, spreadable, peaks when you draw your fingers apart. I have that for several days, and then get to watery. My last two cycles, I've had noticeable EWCF/watery for six or seven days pre-O, which was really disconcerting, as before that, it was like two-days-BAM. After O, I get proper dry-up, and won't have much of any CF until right before AF, when it might go back to this kind of creamy, lotiony, CF. Of course, my entire cycle has shortened since pregnancy/nursing, which is weird, too. I wasn't charting before, but my cycle was around 30-34 days most of the time. Now we're in the 25-28 days area, closer to 25 or 26 sometimes. I've had some light spotting today, 9 or 10 DPO, so we'll maybe have a 25 day cycle at best? I seem to be right around an 11 day LP at this point. Borderline, but hopefully enough.

[MarineWife]

fresh ~ I don't really know what to tell you. The obvious answer is hormones but I don't know why your hormones would've changed. The cycle before last is a little unclear. It does look like O is probably correct but the temps are so up and down that maybe some were off somehow.

kc ~ That does sound like creamy. My sticky is weird, I think, because it's shiny and kind of slippery. The only way I can tell it's not ewcf is because it's not stretchy and I have it throughout my lp. Could you use the Doering Method that Mel was telling us about. Subtract 7 days from your earliest O and you can consider yourself safe up to that day.

One of my best friends had a baby girl today at home! She texted me while she was in labor. I was so happy for her (and maybe a little sad for myself) that I got all teared up.

[echospiritwarrior]

awww, congrats to your friend's home birth today MW! How sweet to get a text while she was in labor!

back to

[lyterae]

The June thread can be found here

I hope everyone had a good weekend!