Day 22 no ovulation...

[Cczar]

It appears that I am have not yet ovulated after 21 days in my cycle (currently on day 22).  I am very familiar with charting ,but do not chart except when I am ttc.  SO we are currently ttc and on cycle #5.  I conceived early on day 17 last cycle, but normally ovulate around day 19-21.  So praying for an ovulation today...I have recently read that late ovulation could majorly decrease your chances conception - is that true?  Here is my chart: http://screencast.com/t/b0wgEiCmY0Q  Never thought we would have to try every day for week...I hope my husband has a sperm count left...

[Jaimee]

When you say you conceived early on CD 17 last cycle do you mean you had an early m/c or was that a typo and you meant to say you O'd on CD 17 last cycle?  If you did have an early m/c that could certainly account for the linger high temps into this cycle and why O would be delayed.

Otherwise, Oing later than the "typical" CD 14 is not at all uncommon and I haven't seen it as a problem when that is the only issue.  It's just that sometimes late O can mean other things are going on, which cause the body to gear up to O repeatedly and not succeed until much later in the cycle (like PCOS for example).  But without complicating issues, delayed O could be caused by any number of ordinary things like illness, injury, travel, stress, diet changes, exercise changes, etc.  I myself O late- generally CD 18-20 and the cycle I conceived my first I didn't O until CD 23.

I personally would not worry at this point as long as you fertile CF lines up with your O day and your LP is long enough to sustain a pregnancy without spotting.  I do see that one day of random spotting... is that typical for you?

[Cczar]

Jamiee-

I didn't accidentally did the typo - it was ovulate on CD17 no conception or m/c.  I also researched PCOS and do not appear to have any signs or have any family members with this condition.  I do not think this is it.  Just think that I did travel last weekend to my parents..only thing that could delay the ovulation.  As for the spotting, no that is not normal.  It has happened once each time I was trying to conceive a child.  I actually thought it might mean I was about to ovulate...no luck.

I have noticed that my cervical fluid since I have gotten older (than other times of ttc for my other 2 girls) is not near as defined.  My sticky is pretty easy, but the creamy and eggwhite is very little and very difficult to clearly detect..my twin sister has always claimed to have this problem and said she has never been able to chart efficiently reviewing her cm.

[Cczar]

Day 23 - temp still at 96.9....?  texture of cervix now firm.  I know that isn't supposed to happen until after you ovulate correct? I swear yesterday I did have cramps on one side making me think mittelschmerz...any thoughts?  By the way, my opk's were all over the place.  Most of the time they were quite faint and then a few times it would have like less than half of the test line be dark the rest faint.  really confused..

[Jaimee]

Well, here is my general guide to CF, just in case it helps:

Cervical fluid (CF) is something you can observe throughout the day- whenever you feel it, whenever you see it (while wiping, on your panties), etc.  Here is my general guide to CF:

Dry: you'll feel dry all day and there is nothing on your panties

Sticky: you'll generally feel dry and there will be a bit of staining- usually yellow- on your panties.  It might be a bit crumbly or clumpy.

Creamy: generally you'll feel a little wet, lotiony in texture, could be slippery when you wipe, often it will stand up on your panties

Wet: you'll feel wet and your panties will likely be wet- maybe even soak through, may look like skim milk (I rarely get this)

Eggwhite: you might actually feel it slipping out of you throughout the day and it might fall out of you while using the bathroom, stretchy- it may stretch from you to the TP for several inches- and usually clear or yellow tinted, often quite profuse

I wasn't thinking you had PCOS based on the one chart I saw, just that it is an example of a condition that causes very late O.  You are still not in the realm of very late O, just delayed.  And sometimes it's difficult to figure out what caused the delay as there doesn't seem to be a reason that is obvious.

You mentioned as you've gotten older that your CF has changed... may I ask how old you are now?  Are you still breastfeeding one or both of your children?

As for CP, it's totally normal to have a firm cervix in the follicular phase.  But, it should soften as you approach O.  If it is now firm and your CF is back to sticky then I would say you geared up and did not succeed and another patch of fertile CF will be on its way soon along with a softening cervix.  I do not put much stock in OPK's as they are often very unreliable for a lot of women- never turning positive, positive for days on end, or turning up positive at random times (like after confirmed O).  Plus there is the issue with interpretation when using the strips- is it darker than the control, half dark, half not?  And with the plus/minus kind (or smilie kind) it's easy to miss your peak day.  Plus, in the end OPK's cannot confirm O for you, just that you were gearing up.  So while they can be a nice addition to a chart, often they are just confusing and expensive.  FYI you can check this out about half dark OPK's: www.peeonastick.com/opkfaq.html.

As for O pain, well, that is highly variable as well.  Sometimes you might have it prior to O, on your exact O day, or even after O.  It can be caused by the egg bursting forth or it can be caused by follicular fluid irritating the abdominal lining.  In general, it's just really hard to say.  My guess is that your body is having some hormonal fluctuations right now and those are causing all your symptoms.  Hopefully everything will sort out in a few days to a week.

[Cczar]

Jamiee-

Thanks for all the info..when I read TCOYF years ago (about 7-8 yrs ago) It only every seemed to talk about sticky, creamy, and eggwhite and totally left out watery/wet.  Anyway, it is all still very helpful to remind.  The question on my age - I am only 28, but when I was 22 my cm seemed so obvious and got pregnant on the first try.  Anyway, last night when I checked my cervix I had a big gunk of what looked like eggwhite...hmm ha-ah, it is so funny trying to figure out your body and you just can't...I reallly appreciate all the tips and will just try and cool off my concern,  I am guessing it is still okay to keep bd'ing every day till the big O day, right?  Wondered I was gonna ovulate early again we started like on day 15, though we really wanted to try the shettles method for a boy, we have kind of thrown the timing out the window as we would just like to get pregnant more versus still continuing to have issues with timing it right due to the flux of changes in my ovulation days.  However, we are still working the other suggestions, position, penetration, and boxer shorts.  We'll see, whatever happens..happens...Thanks again for examining my situation - I am very grateful!

[Jaimee]

Yeah, I would generally suggest that you don't bother with internal CF observations at all- just mark what you see externally.  And unless you suspect a low sperm count there is no reason you can't DTD every day until you pass your O spike by 3 days.  I just know for my dh and I that DTD started to become a chore when we did it every day for looooong stretches TTC our first.  When this happens you could go for every 36 hours instead.

The Shettles method has largely been debunked.  You can check out in-gender.com for details.  Really the method for the best odds is the O+1 method for a girl and even that only has about a 2% higher chance of conceiving a girl.  Gender selection is one of those things you really have to balance with how badly you just want to conceive soon.

[Cczar]

Do you think this much of a temp increase could indicate that I ovulated? CHART: http://screencast.com/t/vU4tYzjpb

Though my temp is usually at  or above 97.8 for ovulation - however, I do not normally have low temps prior to ovulation like I did...I just counted 6/10 of a degree up from the previous six temperatures...isn't that giving my a possibility?

Edited by Cczar - 11/1/11 at 5:03am

[Jaimee]

What is your CF and CP like today?  It's certainly possible that this is an O spike, but it cannot be confirmed until you have 3 high temps.  I don't have any of your other charts for comparison.  Sometimes when O is delayed you see a pattern like this where there is a whole batch of pre-O temps that are higher and then a small batch of lower temps just prior to O then that are what I like to call "the calm before O."  Otherwise I would expect to see your temp truly spike up into its normal LP range at some point soon, maybe tomorrow, and depending on what your CF is like I would then call O a day or two later.  We'll just have to wait and see!

[Cczar]

Okay, didn't check it right away, but when I did it was still soft with what appeared to be eggwhite, but couldn't this also possibly be pre-seed (from bding) or semen?  Not saying I deny that I didn't ovulate, because I definitely am not sure, just weighing all the options.  Of course, we will not know for sure till another few days. 

[Jaimee]

With CP you do want to be sure you're checking it at the same time each day for consistency.  With CF you want to record the MOST fertile type you have that day.  So if it's dry in the morning, creamy in the afternoon, and EW by the evening, mark EW.  Also be sure to take the time to actually mark dry when you're dry instead of leaving it blank- especially around the time of O.

I'm not sure what pre-seed would look like on its way back out, but you can distinguish between EW and semen pretty easily.  EW will stretch when you put it between your fingers, semen will not.  EW will ball up and sink when it hits the toilet water, semen will dissolve.  The easiest way to prevent the confusion, though, is to do several serious minutes of kegels over the toilet a few hours after DTD.  Sperm only need a few hours to get where they are going so after that you can get rid of excess with the kegels so that you can get accurate observations the next day.

[Cczar]

Okay,  Here is the latest: http://screencast.com/t/emeNdJXU

Good news, I did ovulate.  However, the chart identifies this as three days ago. My temps are typically higher than 97.8 when ovulation occurs.  I was showing stretchy cm even yesterday.  Could FertilityFriend actually miscalculated my Ovulation Date?  Wahoo!  I am so happy, I am not sure if I care what day I ovulated, but would like to make sure my luteal phase count is accurate.  Happy Day!!

[Jaimee]

Well, you can't always trust FF and FF will move your cross hairs if necessary as more data are entered.  So, as of right now, I would say O was on CD 25 based on CF and temps, but we'll need to see how the rest of your LP temps play out.  FF thinks earlier b/c CD 23 b/c CD 24's temp is significantly higher than the previous 6 temps, but your CF does not support that day.  Again, we'll need to wait and see what's happening.  I don't think an O day can be correctly called for another 2 days.

[Cczar]

I know I haven't replied for a few days, wanted to see what my temps did.  I am officially in 5 DPO.  After 3 days temps above 97.8 FF changed my Ov. date to Cycle Day 25.  I guess I am a little more nervous than before now...we didn't try fully on Day 24 - burned out of trying so we started-but quit...never finishing.  Then didn't try till PM on Day 25...praying it wasn't too late..:(  See chart here: http://screencast.com/t/mf6c2wRBeHP

[Jaimee]

That's what I thought would happen!    At any rate, sperm was definitely present at the time of O.  You caught O-3, O-2, and O.  That's pretty good.  Sure O-1 and O+1 would have been excellent, but so it goes.  There was sperm there when the egg was around so you've definitely got a shot.  Happy counting days!!

[Cczar]

Wahoo!!  DPO13 and just got two BFP!!!  So happy!  After 6 cycles - it happened!  Thanks for all of those who helped me along the way!  That means you Jaimee! :)

[Jaimee]

Yay!!!!!!!!!   Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!     HH9!  Join your due date social group for intimate support during your pregnancy!  So much fun!

Due July 25th!  http://www.mothering.com/community/groups/show/15/july-2012-ddc