Charting to Avoid / Fertility Awareness - April - Page 4

[justKate]

mommytotwo,     That is the best news ever!

[JMJ]

Originally Posted by mommy2two babes 

Thanks everyone.

I actually got a second opinion today. lo and begold It looks like I was right.

He said he could not see an iud anywhere in my uterus or cervix.

Absolutly made my week.

That's great news!  I'm glad you got a second opinion instead of letting somebody dig around looking for it.  Hopefully the rest of your pregnancy will be much more smooth than the first part has been.

[justKate]

I guess I could go look this up, but just curious if anyone had any thoughts--

What might cause your LP to vary in length?  I've heard of supplements and good nutrition extending the LP, but what if you haven't changed your diet?

Not really having a problem; my LP is usually ~11 days, but i've had less pre-AF spotting lately and am wondering if that means anything.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining!  Less spotting is always nice.

ETA: I forgot I wanted to mention that I read an article, like a legitimate news article, about the lack of birth control choices for couples, and it actually mentioned charting as an option, right along with hormonal and barrier methods.  I was pleasantly surprised to see it.  If I come across it again I'll link it here.

[MillieJane]

Well, CD1 today, right on time. So either something weird happened to make my temps high at the beginning, or I didn't ovulate, which doesn't seem likely to me. Any thoughts??

Either way, I'm glad to not be wondering anymore. Hoping I'm back to normal this time around! :)

[JMJ]

MillieJane, it looks like your cycle was probably ovulatory.  You had a mucus patch and ascending temperatures about 2 weeks before the start of this new cycle, and anovulatory cycles are generally longer.  The missing temps made it impossible to confirm, but it looks likely.  Hopefully things are more clear this cycle.

JustKate, has anything changed with the ambient light at night, your stress level, or anything else you can think of?

[justKate]

Millie, it does look like you O'ed around CD14 given all the secondary signs.  If you'll be sticking around for a while, would you mind if I link your chart on the front page?

JMJ, I can't think of anything that has changed, although I probably ate more sugar last week than I should have with Easter candy laying around. 

It's frustrating because I had a few months of very clear, typical thermal shift charts, then last cycle (and now this one) are more confusing.  So either I'm wrong about my O date (like last month) or my LP is getting longer....  Of course the unspoken third possibility (pg) would be a happy surprise for me, but it is very very improbable this cycle.  *sigh*

[JMJ]

A longer LP isn't anything to complain about besides the fact that you wonder every month if you might be pregnant.  10-11 days is really on the short end of long enough.  12-14 is better.  I'm trying to remember, are you still BFing a little one?  While breastfeeding, it is likely that your LP will slowly lengthen out, or it may happen all in a few months.  Being strict about the rules could help give you some peace of mind as your body is adjusting.... unless you want to TTC, but I have no advice on how to keep that from being an emotional roller coaster.

[azgirl]

I posted this original in TTC, but since we are trying to avoid this month and other months in the future, I need some input! If I wasn't using OPKs and a monitor I would have thought I O'd on CD12, FF think it's cycle day 14, but my temps jumped again making the coverline higher? Could I have O'd on CD16??? When do you guys think I O'd? I feel like with a chart like this I can't chart to avoid...

Here is my post from a few days ago:

I charted to conceive 4 years ago but haven't been charting since because I had an IUD. I got my IUD taken out on the 8th and I got AF on the 11th, about when I would have expected a regular AF. My temp shift does not line up with what the fertility monitor is telling me. I also used cheapy OPKs so I could test in the afternoon. I was so excited to TTC after getting a super surprise green light from DH that I really failed to think it through as well as I should have. This month is not the best month to get a BFP so I sort of decided to avoid halfway through. That whole think is pretty silly :) Anyway, the FIRST peak day on my monitor coincides with my temp shift. An OPK taken that afternoon was positive as well...

When I take the test data out, FF plots shows my O at day 13. I was pretty confident that my temp shifted but I waited until I had three days in a row to really question the OPK and monitor. I read TCOYF a few years ago, but I have always had a little trouble with CM. I did note the obvious EWCM. Thoughts??

<a href="http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/1a68f1/">My Ovulation Chart</a>

[JMJ]

Azgirl, it is confusing, but you can chart to avoid with this chart.  I would consider you to be fertile from whenever your CM starts at the beginning of your cycle to CD 15-17, depending on what your CM is doing.  It's harder to pinpoint ovulation, but you can still pinpoint the fertile period.

By CM, it looks like your peak day was Day 11.  It would help if you could record more data on this even if it is confusing.  I had very confusing CM early in my marriage, and I basically had to rely on temp, but I did not get pregnant while I was CTA for almost a year.  To be really safe, you need to consider yourself potentially fertile if you have any pre-ovulation CM.  If you don't really have enough CM to give you a warning in time for ovulation, you can consider yourself fertile after day 6, or with 6 (or 12, I'll have to look it up for you when I get home) months of experience, you can count yourself fertile 7 days before your first day of temperature rise based on your previous history up to 2 years ago.  If you get a clear peak day, you probably ovulate within 3 days of that peak day.  If your peak day was CD 11, statistically, you probably ovulated between CD 8 and CD 14, but if you're having a hard time telling, you might want to rely on temperature data more.

By temperatures, your first day of temperature rise is CD 13.  However, it's not a terribly strong temperature rise.  By CD 15, you have an "overall thermal shift" (if you round/shave your temperatures) so you can consider yourself to be infertile in the evening if you have 4 days of clear dry up after peak day.  Since you seem less certain about your CM, and you had a fertility monitor telling you that you still had high fertility that day, I would wait at least one more day.  You've got a stronger overall thermal shift by CD 16, so I would feel more comfortable calling you infertile on this day, especially since you're unsure about your CM, and your fertility monitor is giving you low fertility.  By CD 17, you have a "strong" thermal shift, and by CD 18, you have a full thermal shift with shaving.  CD 19 is a full thermal shift without shaving.  If you are not really sure about your CM, I'd wait for a full thermal shift or 5 days of thermal shift (CD 17).  If you are still having fertile CM, I'd wait for a 7 day thermal shift (Day 19).  It really depends on what is happening with your CM and how careful you want to be.

It's hard to tell an exact ovulation day, but I would guess CD 13 or 14, based on all your signs combined.  If it were me, and I really didn't want to get pregnant but it's not a life/death situation, I would consider myself infertile on CD 16.  If something really terrible would happen if I got pregnant, I'd wait until CD 19.  If you're ever having trouble figuring it out, feel free to ask.  I seem to have nothing but crazy cycles, so I've gotten pretty good at interpreting them by familiarizing myself with obscure rules out of necessity.

[justKate]

Hi ladies, having trouble with my internet access at home today, so the May thread will be up tomorrow when I'm at work.  Meanwhile I hope you're all having a great weekend!

Kate

[justKate]

New thread is up: May Thread

[JMJ]

Azgirl (and anyone else who is interested), I now have my NFP book to give more information on how to tell the end of the infertile period pre-ovulation (phase I) that go a little beyond the information in TCOYF.  When CM is confusing, these are very helpful.  This is from The Art of NFP 4th Edition by John and Sheila Kippley.  The following rules are for the last day of your cycle to consider yourself infertile.  They go from most to least conservative, though all are at least 99% effective.

-Total abstinence (recommended for beginners and couples with an extremely serious reason to avoid pregnancy)

-Day 3 (assume that you are potentially fertile on day 4): Use if you have had cycles less than 21 days in your last 12 cycles or if you are in premenopause.  Once your period has ended, and you have truly "dry" days, you can consider yourself infertile until you experience CM if you wish.  This rule is there so that women who experience short cycles and may be fertile even while they are experiencing bleeding heavy enough to cover fertility signs can CTA effectively.

-Day 4: Use if any of your last 12 cycles have been 22 days.  You may use the "last dry day" rule once your period has ended if you wish.

-Day 5: If your shortest cycle in the past year was 23-25 days.

-Day 6: If you shortest cycle in the past year was at least 26 days.

-21 day rule: With 6 cycles of experience, shortest cycle minus 21 = last day of phase I if dry.

-20 day rule: With 12 cycles of experience, shortest cycle minus 21 = last day of phase I if dry.

-The Doering Rule: Earliest day of thermal shift (in 6-12 cycles) minus 7 = Last day of phase I if dry.  You need at least 6 cycles of experience to use this.  Dr. Doering actually tested this rule as a temperature-only method, without paying any attention to CM, so it may be effective even if you are not dry.  TAONFP recommends that you may use this rule even in the presence of less fertile mucus if you know that you have all-the-time less fertile mucus and consistently have at least 5 or 6 days of more fertile mucus from start to peak day.  Do not disregard more-fertile mucus.