getting started

[monpetitfils]

my dh travels a lot... about 50% of the time. we would like to start ttc in March so I am hoping to have him alter his travel plans to best accomodate the *most likely* days to conceive. from your personal experience, would you say that be about days 13-17 of the cycle? I know things can happen at all different times in the cycle, but I am just trying to do the best with the time I have, KWIM?

TIA

[AdinaL]

Depends on your cycle length. Your cycle is made up of two parts. The pre O phase (which has a techinical name I can't remember) and the Luteal Phase. The LP stays pretty much the same from cycle to cycle - generally 10-18 days.
And the Pre O phase can change based on sickness, stress etc. If you have a 28 days cycle and your LP is 14 days long then you O on cd 14. But if you have a 12 day LP you O on day 16. 13-17 is a pretty good range if you have a 28 day cycle.
Try OPKs - they work well for pinpointing.
Good luck!!!

[monpetitfils]

Thanks Adina for the information. I am a little hesitant to start reading up on ovulation and start charting b/c I am afraid I will become obsessed and drive myself insane... sometimes I am a little too intense, KWIM? A good ball park is exactly what I was looking for. I think we'll start out aiming for him to be in town during these particular days and take it from there naturally. Hopefully we won't run into probalems, but you never know. TICK TOCK! Oy!

[bec]

First off, congrats on getting ready to ttc. I hope everything goes well and quickly for you.

I completely understand not wanting to get obsessed about fertility, etc. I tend to become very driven and one-tracked minded myself. Hmm, in fact, I am right now!:

Anyway, with that said, I would highly recommend Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler. It will give you a very in depth understanding of how your body works, while still being a very easy read. If you don't want to go for the whole charting thing, I can understand. Although it is pretty easy to do, it can tend to focus you, especially if you are starting to obsess anyway.

What you can do, and one of the things the book explains how to do, is to take shortcuts with the charting method that still lets you easily pinpoint your fertile period.

I know I won't do it justice, but it basically means taking the couple of weeks after your period, and marking your temperatures and checking your cervical fluid. When you have egg-white cervical mucus, you are most fertile and probably about to ovulate. That only happens a couple of times a month, so it isn't much to obsess over.

Anyway, I hope this helped, and wasn't too long-winded. Best of luck!

[adventuregirl]

I keep it simple. I've kept track of when my period occurs for about 3 yrs now, not for ttc reasons, but for my general info. So its easy to know how long my cycles are. I rely on the EWCM to know when I'm fertile and have just recently began writing that down. So now it's really easy to figure on a calendar. But I guess if you don't have it written down, you prob can't predict. But you can start now if you aren't in a terrible hurry...
I don't want to make myself nuts with temping and all the other jazz there is either, unless I end up with some failed attempts...
Good luck!