Can someone help me interpret this chart?

[nova22]

My youngest son is about nine months old and my cycle, as usual, came back when he was about six weeks old. : It took a while to regulate and I've had 3-4 normal-ish cycles since his birth. Those cycles were all 26-28 days long with a very short (6-7) day luteal phase. My NFP instructor assured me that it is normal for the luteal phase to be short when your body is still regulating its fertility cycles. Also, my temps are generally very low - around 97.0 or lower - and my temperature usually goes up to about 97.6 for the thermal shift and dips back down to about 96.8 the day before my period starts.

DH went on a business trip this month and I didn't take my temps while he was gone. I actually expected to start my period on his third day of absence, which was CD 27. I didn't start my period, which made him very happy (see the "coital record" for the day of his return). My period still didn't come. Today (CD 36) when I got out of bed I noticed some light (as in "not heavy") brown spotting. It's been going on since I woke up and it's not so brown anymore, but it is nothing like the normal first day of my period, which is characterized by very heavy bleeding and excruciating cramps and headaches. It's right on the mark for implantation bleeding, but that has never happened to me before and I didn't think it would last throughout the day.

WTH happened here...double ovulation? Late ovulation? No ovulation? I'm so confused...here's my chart.

NFP chart April - May 2008

(it looks really small on my computer...if it's too small I can try to upload a bigger one)

[twilight girl]

Hard to say with those missing temps ... but, I'm going with gear up to ovulated, didn't happen (temps after the dip seem really low), then ovulated later in cycle, somewhere in the missing temps.

So, perhaps AF is not quite yet due?

ETA: like perhaps you are closer to 10-12 dpo?

[nighten]

Looks like potentially late ovulation to me, or you're pregnant. Very confusing though for sure! Be reassured though that it wasn't double ovulation. You can release more than one egg in a 24 hour period, but there's no such thing as double ovulation, so don't fret over that.

Your body had a temperature shift, which typically indicates ovulation, but another shift later, so I'm inclined to think one set of numbers may not be accurate necessarily, regardless of ovulation or conception. What was going on around day 19? Did you sleep late/wake early? What about the days following before your next temperature rise? Stress? Did you not get 3 hours consecutive sleep, maybe? Were you getting out of bed before temping?

It looks like you might've ovulated around day 24, actually, since the numbers go back up after that. I know you can have all the signs of impending ovulation without it occurring if stress or something intervenes. But that should not affect your temperatures, which are ruled by the hormones, not stress. So if it were me, I'd look at external factors that could've made days 17-19 not reflect accurate temperatures.

If you ignore those days and look at the chart, it looks more normal to me, but with a late ovulation (normal, especially if you were stressed before your husband left town). Days 32 and 36 are one degree below what looks like your coverline. Any variations on time you took your temp those days? Did you wake up 30 minutes early or something by chance?

Implantation bleeding for some women can last more than a day even. For me it was just as you described -- looked like the beginnings of a period, only without the actual red flow.

Good luck to you and I hope it turns out how you want.

[twilight girl]

Originally Posted by nighten

Looks like potentially late ovulation to me, or you're pregnant. Very confusing though for sure! Be reassured though that it wasn't double ovulation. You can release more than one egg in a 24 hour period, but there's no such thing as double ovulation, so don't fret over that.

Except for fraternal twins of course! Two eggs released at the same time, yes? And apparently there have been rare cases of double ovulation. I remember reading some clinical report of a woman who ovulated during a pregnancy and conceived a second child that was born something like 3 months after his sibling. So, stranger things have happened. Not likely in OP's case, but ...

[kriket]

sorry mama, Maybe it's from staring at my own anovulatory chart. But I see where you were gearing up, but I don't think it happened. It's still really soon after your birth too.

[nova22]

Originally Posted by nighten

Your body had a temperature shift, which typically indicates ovulation, but another shift later, so I'm inclined to think one set of numbers may not be accurate necessarily, regardless of ovulation or conception. What was going on around day 19? Did you sleep late/wake early? What about the days following before your next temperature rise? Stress? Did you not get 3 hours consecutive sleep, maybe? Were you getting out of bed before temping?

Oops - I meant to include my notes, but I guess I cropped them out. On Day 19 I didn't get to sleep until after 4am, so I didn't have three consecutive hours of sleep.

I was [I]very[I] stressed when my husband had to go on his business trip. I was dreading being without him for the first day of my period, when my emotions are completely out of control and I am in a lot of pain. I like having him here to help me when I feel that way and I was really anxious about being alone.

Thanks a lot for your response, it makes a lot of sense. I started my period so I guess I'm not pregnant. DH and I were in a panic at the mere possibility of having another baby right now, but when I got my period, we were both disappointed. Nothing like a good pregnancy scare to make you realize you want to be pregnant again, huh?

[nighten]

nova22,

Don't count temps from less than 3 hours consecutive sleep. I'd just make a note on the chart if possible, so that you're aware not to count that temperature as part of the pattern. If I had to guess, I'd say you ovulated late, since you did have a rise in temp (from progesterone, which is released after ov, and a heat-building hormone).

Sorry you're not pregnant, but glad you're feeling comfortable with the chart now.

----

And just a technical note:

Originally Posted by twilight girl

Except for fraternal twins of course! Two eggs released at the same time, yes? And apparently there have been rare cases of double ovulation. I remember reading some clinical report of a woman who ovulated during a pregnancy and conceived a second child that was born something like 3 months after his sibling. So, stranger things have happened. Not likely in OP's case, but ...

Fraternal twins are from two eggs released in the same 24 hour period. It's still considered single ovulation, just had two eggs released. It's impossible to have ovulation one day and then days later have it occur again, in the same cycle. The progesterone released by the corpus luteum (the shell the egg is released from) prevents ovulation from occurring again. But it is possible (as I said in my previous post) to have more than one egg released.

The number of eggs released all occur within the same period of ovulation.