Very personal question about cervix length....

[its_our_family]

I know that the length of the cervix is a hint to fertile days and such. From what I understand that when the cervix is short it is "fertile" and when it is long it means either af or pg...or something else...anyway. I had a m/c on Nov 19 and I'm still waiting for af to show up. I tried to check my cervix length, I used to before I got pg with Tracy, and I think it felt long BUT my vaginal walls are amazingly thick! I asked dh if he could tell the length and he was like...man, you're so thick I can barely find it.

Why would I be so thick that we notice...definitely noticed during sex.....anyway, I'm just waiting around for af...I know I'm bfing and that may affect it but I started af 6 or 8 weeks after Tracy was born. I'm starting to feel some early pg symptoms...tired, a little nausea, slightly heavy uterus, no sore boobs but they are in sue so I'm not surprised on that one.

Any ideas?

Megan

Tracy 4/26/02
Sweetpea 11/19/02 (m/c)

[simonee]

My cervix feels longer when in "resting" mode, i.e. not pg or fertile.

I felt my pg by its hardness: when, before af is due, it feels kinda like the tip of the nose, I'm not pg. When it feels a bit softer, kinda like the tip of the chin, it means preggers. Hope that helps (and hope to see you soon in the pg forum again )

[frogertgrl]

itsourfamily, you didn't have a vaginal birth, did you? If you had, your cervix would most likely feel more differences in your cervix in your fertile and non-fertile times.

I don't know about 'short' as a description, but when your cervix is most high (you can barely reach it) and open (again, if you didn't have a vaginal birth, you might not notice much openess), it is your most fertile time. When your cervix is lowest, it is your least fertile time or not fertile at all.

Also, just checking your cervix is probably the least reliable/helpful method to determine pregnancy. Do you chart temps? Cervical fluid? You really can't tell much by the cervix if that is the only indicator you are using.

Breastfeeding (meaning, prolactin in your body) affects cycle length tremendously. Doesn't sound like you are pregnant to me. It doesn't matter when you had your first PPAF, btw. That's no indication of regularity thereafter. You can have long, extremely long cycles after PPAF, not regular at all.

I don't know what you mean by 'they are in sue' with regard to your breasts. Can't help there.

But i will say that all your symptoms could just be hormonally related since they sound so much like PMS.

Good luck!

[its_our_family]

Thanks frogrtgrl!

I did not have a vaginal birth. But i used cervical position and cm to chart fertile days (our attempt at nfp ) The problem is that I cannot remember what means what! I have no memory anymore!! I meant to put my breasts are in USE...I didn't see the typo =..oops! They weren't sore with this last pg.

Can you refresh my memory on cm or point me to where I can find it? bfing didn't affect my cycle before so I don't know if it will now or not. I'm hoping that it is just PMS. Not that I wouldn't love another baby but not for a little while! I was finally able to find my cervix and it is long and closed....

Anyway, thanks for the info!!

[Sahara]

I just wanted to add that I have had 56 day long cycles while breastfeeding. It's really impossible to guess what might be going on with your cervix, I think the best thing you could do would be to start taking your basal body temp first thing in the morning. It might be really confusing, since breastfeeding can make your temp charts pretty hard to read, but eventaully a pattern might emerge and you would be able to compare that to changes in your cervix.
I also find that the position and softness of my cervix is much more related to my fertility than it's length. It feels a little longer when it is low and firm (not fertile), but I generally go by how soft it feels.
You might find some information at www.tcoyf.com, that's the website that goes with Toni Weschlers book. Basically dry or sticky cervical fluid is not fertile, and as you get closer to ovulation it should become creamy or clear and stretchy like eggwhite. Once you have ovulated, it generally returns to the dry or sticky consistency. Everyone's a little different, though.

[its_our_family]

I did notice that my cervix is kinda hard and the cm is chunky and dry. Which is not like me at all normally. I'm pretty sure I o'ed this month too. So, I guess I'll wait around for af to show up. My cycles were pretty regular after Tracy was born. What stumps me is how thick my vaginal walls are right now!

I'll just play the waiting game. I guess I'm wanting af to show up kinda giving me more of a sense of closure in all of this madness going on right now!

Thanks ladies!!

[frogertgrl]

You might want to start taking Vitex (Chaste Berry) to regulate your cycles. All your PMS symptoms would improve, too.

If you get pregnant now, if you are anything like the majority of women, your milk would dry up or be close to gone by 8 weeks. I wouldn't recommend putting a baby through that at such a young age as Tracy is. It shortchanges him in a multitude of ways. Stopping nursing before a year is something no one would ever recommend.

If you don't want to have another baby 'for a little while', I would recommend some method of birth control that would not conflict with your wonderful breastfeeding efforts (condoms, NFP, minipill, cervical cap, etc., etc.)

Edited to add: Sahara gives a great suggestion for www.tcoyf.com. You should really check it out with all your questions about the signs of one's fertility cycle (CP, CM, BBT).

Probably using some birth control method since you don't want to get pregnant now, would tremendously help with closure from the miscarriage. Otherwise, you're risking pregnancy each cycle and then going up and down emotionally with each PMS symptom. Better to narrow your risk for pregnancy with birth control and get some peace of mind so you can love up your baby now!

[its_our_family]

I was 7 weeks when I m/c'd and my milk was far from dried up. i knew that the supply lessened some but i didn't think you dried up. We are using bc. If you want to know we used condoms and got pg with #2. I'm normally regular....who knows...but your right about going AHHHH over every pms symptom....except that with #2 I "knew" I was pg before the test showed pos cause of the way that I felt.

So, I'm just gonna play the waiting game!

Is nausea a normal PMS symptom? I've never had it as one before.

[frogertgrl]

Originally posted by its_our_family
Is nausea a normal PMS symptom? I've never had it as one before.

Absolutely is a PMS symptom! Some women experience nausea related to breastfeeding as well.

The same hormone, progesterone, gives us the PMS and pregnancy symptoms. Rising levels of progesterone as AF approaches give us those wonderful cravings, nausea, full/heavy uterine feeling, fatigue, teary, etc., etc.

Ever browse TTC forums and read the 'Early Pregnancy Symptoms' and the 'Not Pregnant Symptoms' threads? The symptoms are identical.

A third factor is one's wish to be pregnant, not necessarily at work in your case. Many women want to be pregnant so very much (understandably) that every thing they feel or experience is understood in terms of confirming a suspected pregnancy. Craving that certain food you crave only when pregnant? Must be! Hearing that special song? Must be pregnant! Seeing spotting? Must be implantation spotting! Etc.

A virgin could have 'early pregnancy symptoms' technically, since her PMS symptoms would match the early pregnancy symptoms! That's why it is such a mind game to put oneself through - if you are going by your physical symptoms, it's the same hormone (progesterone) at work in both pre-AF and pregnancy. The difference is that progesterone levels drop upon AF and in a pregnancy, they continue to rise.

Oh, and everyone is different regarding their milk supply during pregnancy, of course. Nursing during pregnancy is a fantastic thing! As is tandem nursing both children after the baby arrives.

[its_our_family]

Hey! Thanks for the info!! I had no idea nausea was a PMS thing!

[its_our_family]

Probably TMI but.....

I woke up this morning and I thought I had peed the bed! I'm assuming I'm right where I need to be in my not-pg cycle! I looked at the site (which was helpful I'm gonna go back to it again But I have one question...what is the cervix and cm like once a person is pg?) I went right from very dry to VERY VERY not dry overnight!

Thanks for your help and especially your patience!!

[frogertgrl]

Everyone is different, and certainly, a pregnant woman's cervix is all different places during her pregnancy! And she will have a variety of CM phases as the progesterone and estrogen cycle throughout pregnancy.

I don't know of one resource that says, 'when a woman is pregnant, she can tell because her CP is high/medium/low'. It's just not an accurate source of detection - CP is best utilized as a cross check to other fertility signs (BBT, CM being two of those).

Likewise, it's not possible to say, 'oh, you have x type of CM, that means you're pregnant!'

If you polled a bunch of pregnant women, most likely their 'pregnancy symptoms' would only be recognized as such in hindsight. And all those 'I'm sure I'm pregnant' ladies who received AF anyway would have the same symptoms, like I mentioned before, due to progesterone.

The best way to really know what is normal for your body, if you have lots of questions each month on what is going on, is to chart your symptoms. Then you can review multiple months and see that say, you usually have multiple patches of fertile quality CM. Or that your temps stay high into AF. Or that you start having lots of food cravings, nausea around ovulation. Etc.

The best indication of pregnancy is a positive pregnancy test. A blood test is better. (I'm not covering chemical and ectopic pregnancies as that's not related really here). Until you have a positive pregnancy test, everything is going to be 'am I pregnant?' Or, I should say, until AF arrives, every symptom is going to be 'is this what is normal in pregnancy?' IMO, that's too much going up and down and all around as you wait for AF.

[its_our_family]

The crazy thing is I never had questions until the last couple months. With the m/c and everything. I've always had the same symptoms and regular cycle...so these different things are so new that I'm still figuring out what to do with them

I didn't know if there was a "norm" Is hould have figured not because there never is to anything else

[frogertgrl]

Certainly a m/c can change the regularity of your cycle but you've also got breastfeeding as a contributor to irregular cycle length. And breastfeeding affects CM as well. If your baby nurses less to not at all for 4-6 hours one night, for example, that can be enough to decrease the prolactin you're producing and your body can produce more CM. Or some women can start ovulating upon a reduction in nursing, particularly night nursings.

Any woman who is charting regularly can find her 'normal'. It doesn't matter then, what is someone else's CP or whatever. I've found that my temps stay high into AF. This can be confusing initially b/c usually, someone might see high temps and AF is one day away but no temp drop - voila! a pregnancy! But it's not. So you just have to know what you're normal is, or your new normal post m/c and breastfeeding.

Whatever you do, it's most important to chart so you can be reminded of what actually was happening. It's easier to forget these things, of course and a chart will be a great tool. If you don't want to do temping, you can chart CM (there is a NFP method which does not utilize temps) and that will help you alot right there.

Lots of women are on the obsession train as far as possible pregnancy and I've been there myself at times. But I find that my energy is better utilized in the here and now, instead of what could be. Eventually, I will know (in terms of AF or pregnancy) and it's much better for my devotion to my family and self if I stay in the present and take every bodily change with a lighthearted attitude and in stride.

Good luck!

[Sahara]

frogertgrl,

I find that my energy is better utilized in the here and now, instead of what could be. Eventually, I will know (in terms of AF or pregnancy) and it's much better for my devotion to my family and self if I stay in the present and take every bodily change with a lighthearted attitude and in stride.

That is SO true!!

PS - what's the story behind your username?

[frogertgrl]

Sahara, I dunno how I came up with that name, really! I think I saw a frog thing the day I registered and tweaked it a bit. It's an odd username, if you ask me!

it'sourfamily, I also meant to congratulate you on how much lovemaking you and your DH are doing even with a young baby, and hence, the pregnancy possibilities you are thinking about now! That is something to be glad for, how much you and your DH are being close. Right on!

[its_our_family]

Thanks! That is def something to be proud of! We're kinda still newlyweds ( we'll be married 2 yrs in March and were only married 5 months when I got pg!)