How early to DTD before positive OPK?

[mamalove1]

Ok, TTC experts, so how early and often should you DTD before positive OPK? I was just wondering.... Is it up to 5 days before? Thanks...
ALison

[finnegansmom]

A + opk doesn't mean ovulation happens that second. LH is the hormone surge BEFORE ovulation and an OPK detects that surge. If you BD when you start getting +, you should be OK. Are you checking EWCM as well? That's really important IMO.
If you only go by OPKs you might miss your chance if your surge is really short.
But my surge is longer, 2-3 days, so if I DTD 5 days before and don't O until day 3 of + OPKs, I would never get pregnant.
as soon as I see a + OPK, it's operation BD until they go negative again.
Good luck!

[Lousli]

Yeah, before the positive OPK I'd say just BD whenever you feel like it. But once you get the positive, that's when you really start trying. This is of course if you have good luck catching your surge with OPK's. If you haven't had luck there in the past, I'd say go ahead and BD every 2-3 days starting around CD7 or 8 and continue until you get a temp rise.

[justthinkn]

Have you seen the sperm meets egg plan? I don't use OPKs, but the plan seems really reasonable!

[karmab]

sperm meets egg has some appeal, mainly because you dont know when your opk is going to be positive, so how can you plan to bd before that?! s.m.e. has got to be exhausting for folks with long cycles though.

i agree with pp that cm is a great tool. if you have watery or ew cm, dtd. at least every other day, even if opk is neg. once opk is pos, get busy and do it everyday. listen to your gut too. i know my drive goes up around the same time the fertile cm kicks in, without fail. dh starts looking at me especially lustfully around then too! it's so obvious, it's funny, and he doesnt have a clue about my cycles. so pay attn to those kinds of things as well.

[mamalove1]

Thanks everyone! My DD was just a graceful, well accidentally timed blessing so this whole TTC thing is a whole other enchilada. Because if I had gone by the standard timing of 14 day ovulation I would never have gotten pregnant. Now, the OPKs say to stop testing once you get a positive but I see that others keep testing until it is negative. WHat do you do?