hi hun,

how have you been doing? i also have irregular periods and have been trying to see when i ovulate. it might be hard to find the exact time you do ovulate since your cycles are so irregular. maybe you can chart how many days on average you go between your cycle and go from there. you might want to get several opk's and test every couple days around day 14 just to see.

It is a common misconception that it should be around day 14!! That is based on a perfect cycle of 28 days, that doesn't change... but the reality is very different! Women will experience varying cycles for all kinds of reasons, even regular women will have changes with stress, illness, travel etc. The time from OVULATION until your PERIOD starts generally is fairly constant. But the time from your PERIOD until you OVULATE again varies considerably! It varies from woman to woman and cycle to cycle... I have a luteal phase defect, so instead of getting my period around two weeks after ovulating, I get it a week later. The best way to check is wait until you are having EWCM (egg-white cervical mucous - you can check by wiping before and after using the toilet each time. Just what it sounds like, clear, stretchy, lubricative and looks like egg whites!! But the next most fertile symptom if you don't get this is watery cervical mucous). Ovulation should be very soon after or during this discharge. If you don't know whether it is vaginal lubrication, you can put some into a glass of water. Cervical mucous won't dissolve. And if you are not sure if it is semen, semen will break into sections before it is fully stretched between the finger and thumb! And you do not need to do any internal checking at all... Hope this helps xx

Hey sabby - Im going ok just my health sucks! :( However Jan I have another surgery and after that I will start PT and hope to look into some other stuff. All about being proactive :) How have you been going? I hope things are improving for you :)

Ruth - thanks so much! :)

To you both - I have purchased 15 OPK's from this website australian based near where I live. I think it's cheaper because they;re not packed to sell, their website does the selling for them :) I researched them and what they offer too, to make sure they are decent and what I need from them is delivered so I am rest assured there :)

Anyway I have been testing from day 9 after CD1 :) and will continue to test untill my next period taking note of all you said ruth :)

Thanks again for your help! much appreciated =)
xxx

@taters im doing alot better thanks for asking. hope you feel better too. whens your next surgery?

@ruth for the last 2 years i havent had any cervical mucous so how can you tell your ovualting without this?

Sabby - My next surgery in Jan 5th...hope to learn what going on since excision, I'm deffinately not getting better. Im glad to hear you're doing better though :) makes me smile!

xx

Sabby - EVERY woman has cerivcal mucous, if it is not copious enough to see when wiping then there are other techniques (checking your mucous at your cervix and feeling your cervix for changes in position and firmness) Hoever these techniques are NOT recommended if you have not had a natural family planning practitioner teach you. So you would need to book in with one to learn how to safely and accurately do this (doesn't take much to learn, but each woman is different and you would need to see one). The mucous at the cervix and your cervical position WILL change with ovulation, you must not have copious enough amounts to make it down the vagina to be seen externally.

ALSO - Taters you CAN have a positive OPK and NOT ovulate... it doesn't happen often, but the OPK simply picks up the LH surge and it is possible that the upcoming ovulation doesn't occur... so if you think you are ovulating AFTER a + OPK then test again! :)

@ Sabby - are you also checking EVERY time you use the toilet (both before AND after urinating and bowel movements) AND before getting into the bath/shower etc?? Some women only have ONE patch of FCM in a cycle, if you are not checking each and every time you could miss it very easily! There are women who have FCM for only half a day, that is why it is important for them to constantly check if TTC as they have a very limited window of oppertunity.

@ Taters and Sabby - fertility specialists know that regardless of when you ovulate or what methods you are using, the BEST chance of conception is having sex when you have fertile CM. A couple times (2-3) a week on any other day, then every day or every 2nd day when you have the fertile mucous gives a good chance of pregnancy (well, as good as the chance every is each cylce!) xx

thanks ruth for all the info! i will be checking alot more often! i havent been ovulating for the past year and before i ANYWAYS had cm and now its like non exsistant. im also not ttc but i just want to know if im ovulating or not. i will definatly check with my fertility speacialist when i see about my egg freezing in january. btw how is your son doing now?

@taters. i really hope this surgery will be the one who will work for you and make you feel better. its no fun to hear when anyone is sick :)

@ Sabby - if you are ovulating, there are quite a few things you can do to up your mucous production (useful for TTC but also just so you know when you are!) Our boy is great, according to the specialists he will have problems but the Lord will not allow that.

Taters - let us know how it goes honey xx

I am now on day 5 of he 5 day testing (they say start on day 9 of CD and continue for 5 days or untill you ovulate)...although I havnt tested today I will do it later on. So far all have presented as negative. Which doesn't worry me I'm not near the 'half way mark' even so to speak. However this CM you spoke of...I had some yesterday I think, it's the same sort of thing I always get though, although it's not stringy like you said, and it's not the 'egg' white semi clear like the pictures show. It's almost rubbery, hard jelly like stuff, it doesn't stretch at all and it's very white. I generally get that once a month and then nothing. The more pain I am in too I notice the worse it seems to be, yesterday there was a heap of it. But again it seems to only one once a month.


I've always wondered what it is...I can litterally pick out the clump and easily hold it between my finers (sorry for TMI) and it has no give at all.

Thanks ladies, this is quite a useful thread :D