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Please help...

I am becoming more and more confused about how to predict ovulation. The more I read the more confused I have become as everyone seems to be saying something different. Do you count 14 days from day 1 of your period or 14 days from when your periods has finished or 14 days before the start of your next period???

I came off the pill last September and my cycles are still a bit all over the place so its making it really difficult to predict ovulation. Also this month I couldnt detect any cervical discharge either so am I even ovulating???

I know some say have sex every 2-3 days if you are unsure - but how realistic is that? - both me and my husband are teachers and are under a lot of pressure and stress & also tired all the time.

Please help - I would really like to be reassured that we are trying at the correct time each month

Wend

hi there i read in a pregnancy book that its 14 days after your period but that might not always be acurate depending on your period cycle as mine used to be late sometimes and we could never get the dates right.Dont do what i did and become obsessed with books that say things like have sex before midnight etc i honestly read that and it became a chore (right its almost midnight come on quick)and we actually started to hate having sex imagine that!When we were trying we had sex at least once a day and the months where i was obsessed with becoming pregnant were the worst i couldnt get pregnant and was deverstated when i came on my period it was only when i stopped working out the ovalation times and reading books on it that i became pregnant which was 4 mths after trying.Enjoy trying for a baby thats how its ment to be and try not to worry about the right time by a book the'yre not always accurate.

I don't know much about ovulation and i am finding it as confusing as you but I can share with you my little piece of knowledge!!!

The first day of your period is the day 1 of your cycle. Ovulation can occur between day 10 and day 16 of your cycle, but is very hard to detect. The cervical mucus thing is an indication but you need to monitor this over a period of time to really understand how yur body is working. Most books I have read say that you should have sex every other day to ensure that the sperm is off good quality. In reality this is quite difficult as we are old busy in our lives and the key is to have sex when you want to not just because it is the right time of the month!!

however I have been following aplan this month that I read about on the internet and if nothing else I have learnt what to look out for with my body. You need to buy some ovulation prediction kits. I have found they are cheaper to buy from the internet. But I started testing on day 10 and finally got a positive on day 14. The test measures the amount of Lutenising hormone in your body. Your get a surge of this 24-36 hours before ovulation. Once I had got the positive we went for it for 3 days!!!!

The other way to try and predict it is to track your body basal temperature. You need to get a basal thermometer and take your basal temperature every morning before you get out of bed. Your body temp will rise aftr you have ovulated. Once again you need to do this for a few months to really get a good picture of what is going on.

personally I have found the ovulation kit really useful. I normally get pains around the middle of my cycle and although I thought they were ovulation pains I was never sure. Within in hours of me testing postive I got the pains!!!

I don't think any of it is an exact science and apparently one of the main causes of couples not getting pregnant is just that they are not having enough sex at the right time of the month.

I hope that helps Wend, but I think that you can rest assured that we are all very confused and just when we think we know what our bodies are doing then they go and change again!!!!

I came of the pill exactly 5 weeks ago. I had a period which lasted 5/6 days then had a day of it a few days after finishing my period. For the past 3 weeks I have been having pregnancy symptoms e.g. cramping, extreme fatiuge/tiredness, tender breasts and ever changing hormones. I have been off work for a few of these days as have felt really horrible. I had pregnancy tests done they were negative and as I didn't know when I was ovulating I couldnt' work out if the possibility of a pregnancy was there or not. I am now on day 31 of my cycle and have not come on my period still. I understand that it may take a while for ovulation to start again but I am a little worked up about the whole scenario. Last week when I went to see my doctor he said that there was no eptopic pregnancy and that it was more than likely down to my system getting itself back to normal again.

I just want to sleep all the time and every time I get a period cramp I think - "yes I am coming on at last" - it never happens.

Hi Tinyem,

I was thinking of you this morning and wondering what had happened with your 'Am I pregnant or not' scenario. I can't offer much advice really excpet that until your period turns up there is always the chance that you could be pregnant!!! I will continue to keep my fingers crossed for you. As your doctor says it could just be your body get back to normal and I have heard stories of women who have come off the pill and have gone months without a period, but we are all different. I was lucky and seemed to fall straight back into a regular cycle.

However, you may remember last month I had terrible pains on 1 side near my hip and the doctor said that I could have endometriosis, but this month I have had the same pains (although no quite so bad) on my other side and I am beginning to wonder now if this is actually me ovulating again. I think that for the first few months I wasn't actually ovulating. Anyway, we have continued with lots of baby dancing this month and I am feeling strangely confident - not sure why really!!!! Just got to wait the 2 weeks now to see what happens.


Hope that you find out what is happening one way or the other soon. I am on holiday next week so I will have to catch up with you in 2 weeks to find out if there has been any developments.

Lizzy
xx

Hi Lizzy

Thanks for your reply. Very confusing this whole pregnancy thing isn't it! Re your message, I do believe that some women sense they are pregnant just before they have it confirmed by a test! Do you go strictly by your ovulation when trying or do you try and forget about it as I guess this puts added pressure on a couple doesn't it?

Hi there Wend

My name is lesley, I struggled to get pregnant for over 4 years and out of the blue I became pregnant and now have a fantastic 15 month old girl called Erin. When I approched my GP the information was very scetchy about what day to start counting but I went with a friend to her check up at the hospital when she was around 38 weeks pregnant and was lucky enough to speak directly to a consultant pediatrician who told me to start having sex from day 8 counting the first day of my period as day one. This is when your sticky days start if you know what I mean and she advised sex daily for seven days. She said the clearer the male tubes are of dead sperm that builds up over time the better and even said that male masterbation before sex on day 8 may help. Advised that 24 hours is all it takes for the male to refill active sperm. Around day 14 is when your discharge should become cloudy and that is the optimum time but I was advised that the days running up to from day 8 or 9 up to days 15 or 16 are just as successfull and quadrupel your chances of getting pregnant as your discharge is there to hold the active sperm for ovulation.
She said it was very common for people to try to hit one day at day 14
and it was difficult to be accurate but she also told me not to get so worried and upset at not getting pregnant it would only make it harder and to relax and enjoy myself.
She was so correct six weeks later I was complaining of sore breasts and then realised I was 5 days late. I took 'three' preganacy tests (because I did not believe the first) and they where all positive, I was shaking with disbelief but she is here now as the proof.
I was 27 when I started and 31 when I eventually fell. If you are worried you can ask you GP for ovulation tests I did and you give blood to them. Clearblue also do an ovulation kit the same as a pregnancy kit, 99% acurate and you just pee on it the same way you can get it from Boots next to the pregnancy tests.

I hope this helps I know how frustrating and worrying it all is but we are now trying for number 2 and I will not make the same mistakes the second time as I did the first, Enjoy youself it will happen.

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Originally posted by tinyem
[br]Hi Lizzy

Thanks for your reply. Very confusing this whole pregnancy thing isn't it! Re your message, I do believe that some women sense they are pregnant just before they have it confirmed by a test! Do you go strictly by your ovulation when trying or do you try and forget about it as I guess this puts added pressure on a couple doesn't it?

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Hi tinyem
I read both of your messages posted. As fas as I was told by my GP it takes 1 month for every year you have been on the pill to start ovulation again as a bench mark. You may have seen my message to wend about falling pregnant and yes there is an element of knowing the difference. When I came off I was blown away with the difference in my cycle from being on the pill, tender breast, cramps, discharge etc. It may all be new to you because the pill takes all these side effects away, I initially started on the pill by the doctor because of severe cramping any heavy bleeding and you may find that if and when if comes on you will bleed much heavier and longer that you are used to.
Hope you get what you are looking for though.

Thanks Lesley (Celticgirl) for your advice. I didnt know about starting from the 8th day so that was really useful to know. I also think I may try an ovulating kit soon. I think its so difficult to predict ovulation after coming off the pill as your periods/cycles can be all over the place and also you may not experience the other symptoms that people talk about. Good luck to everyone trying for a baby I hope we all have some good news soon!

Love Wend xxx

Dear Wend, I was always under the impression that ovulation occurred 14 days BEFORE the start of your NEXT period (which is great if you have regular cycles, but if you are irregular a crystal ball seems to be needed!)

To start with, a cycle is the first day of your period to the first day of your next period. So if you have one period on say 1st June, then the next on 28th June your cycle length is 28 days.

So, if your cycle is 28 days long you will ovulate around day 14.
If your cycle is 29 days long you will ovulate around day 15. If your cycle is 30 days long you will ovulate around day 16. And so on and so on ...

My cycle was always around 32 days long. I used the ovulation kits and found I usually ovulated on day 18 of my cycle. They are certainly worth a go, they can help take the guess work out of it all.

Hope this helps. Why is it so complicated - it makes my head spin even now. Good luck. Love Laylaa.

Hi Wend,

Don't worry i was totally confused as well, I was told from the 1st day of your last period to count 14 days.. i tried this for months. So i gave up working out my ovulations etc and guess what one month and a half later i discovered that i was pregnant so my advice to you is to let nature take its course.

Goodluck

Emilyjane xx

E.D.D 04/03/05