TTC with 21 day cycle

[healthy momma]

DS1 is 31 months, I conceived DC2 last October and miscarried in November at 7 weeks. I've had 21 day cycles since then when previously they were always 28 days. I also used to know exactly when I was ovulating by checking cervical mucous. Now that is not working. I haven't been charting temperature but am getting an ovulation test kit. I've read that technically with a 21 day cycle I'm likely to ovulate between day 6 and 10 but I'm wondering what other's experiences here are. Oh, and any tips for using the ovulation kits?

[ValH]

I don't have any advise on 21 day cycles, but I can offer some tips on OPKs. 

I use the Clear Blue Easy smiley-face OPKs.  I like those because I can use them in the morning with FMU and don't have to worry about diluted urine later in the day.  The only downside with that, though, is that if I only test in the morning, I may be catching the end of a surge and end up O'ing later the same day, so not much warning.  When I used a cheaper test (Answer brand), I would test twice a day (if not more), usually around 10-11 and again around 5.  Easier to catch the beginning of the surge that way, and get plenty of notice of impending O. 

Anyway, best of luck to you! 

[healthy momma]

Thanks for your advice on the OPK's.

[babycakes1]

It sounds like would be well served figuring out how long your LP is. With 21 days, there's not much room for a good ole fashioned 14 day LP, so you might be vaguely deficient in that area. Are you charting? That could really provide some insight.

B6 and vitex are supposed to lengthen short cycles (particularly when the LP is the offending part).

[healthy momma]

Thanks for the info on lengthening a short cycle. I'm currently working with my acupuncturist on this but am definitely going to look into B6 and vitex. 

[vtechmom]

I conceived on a 22 day cycle, ovulating on day 11.  I started OPKs almost as soon as I stopped bleeding and tested twice a day around 2pm and 8pm with the ones from early-pregnancy-tests.com

I also had no major changes to CM and only really noticed that I had a bit of watery CM because of the OPKs.  From what I had read as long as you are ovulating early and have an LP of at least 10 days it's not really a big deal.  It can be a problem if you are still ovulating later and have a very short LP. 

Oh!  And you might want to consider temping.  The OPK can show your body is gearing up to O but it doesn't show that it actually happened or what day it happened on (can be as long as 72 hours past the +) and with a short cycle it's pretty important to make sure you really are O'ing early enough to have a suffecient LP.

[healthy momma]

Thanks again for all the great information. This is a new experience and I've felt lost reading all the "official" information out there. Your experiences are extremely helpful and it's a great boost for for my morale to hear success stories!