Beginning of the cycle 10/6

[gigem]

katespade i was going to ask this question, when do others start opk’s and at what time of day do you “test”? I think I’ve been doing CD10 and when i get watery CM but I use so many of them, and I was trying to do mid afternoon but that isnt always convenient. I’ve read that some ppl do them twice a day even.

[Jalapeñomel]

Oct 21, 2017 0:03:27 GMT -5 gigem said:

katespade i was going to ask this question, when do others start opk’s and at what time of day do you “test”? I think I’ve been doing CD10 and when i get watery CM but I use so many of them, and I was trying to do mid afternoon but that isnt always convenient. I’ve read that some ppl do them twice a day even.

I use previous month’s data to determine when to test, so I usually go for a week around CD 11.

[seeyalater52]

Oct 21, 2017 0:03:27 GMT -5 gigem said:

katespade i was going to ask this question, when do others start opk’s and at what time of day do you “test”? I think I’ve been doing CD10 and when i get watery CM but I use so many of them, and I was trying to do mid afternoon but that isnt always convenient. I’ve read that some ppl do them twice a day even.

My cycles are pretty irregular, but I tracked for long enough to know that based on my usual luteal phase and min and max cycle lengths that I usually ovulate between 18 and 23 dpo. I start testing on cd15 just in case I buck that trend.

My doctor is really specific about what she wants for OPK - mid morning (before noon), 2nd morning urine with a 3-4 hour hold. She does not recommend testing more than 1x per day, but that may be because we can’t try outside of IUIs so the additional data is more likely to be frustrating than useful.

[Deleted]

I usually start doing OPKs around CD 11, myself...but my cycles are pretty regular, so it works for me. I typically test somewhere around late morning/early afternoon (which would be 2nd morning urine for me, because I clearly don't drink enough water sometimes). I only test once a day, even once I get positives.

[onthemove]

Because my cycles are so irregular I can’t use my $$ CBFM and I’m going to try the cheapies. How are you testing with second morning urine/early afternoon if you are at work? I’m trying to understand the logistics.

[gigem]

onthemove the times ive tested at work i brought a small plastic cup from home and just tested in the stall and sat there waiting a cple mins then i put the opk back in the wrapper and brought it home to throw away. I don’t have a lot of mtgs so it was easy to schedule

[Jalapeñomel]

No way I could go 3 hours before peeing.

[seeyalater52]

Oct 21, 2017 11:51:06 GMT -5 onthemove said:

Because my cycles are so irregular I can’t use my $$ CBFM and I’m going to try the cheapies. How are you testing with second morning urine/early afternoon if you are at work? I’m trying to understand the logistics.

I do it at work. It’s a little awkward, I bring a small plastic cup with me that I use for dipping and throw the OPK and cup into the little feminine products trash recepticle in the stall. Not ideal but I make it work. For our first IUI cycle the OPKs were our only method of timing the insemination so I was a stickler for following their directions.

[seeyalater52]

I have been taking the letrozole for 3 days and I don’t feel different at all. Maybe because I’m typically pretty emotional it doesn’t make a difference.


Our first monitoring is scheduled for Friday but I am going to call them to double check the timing. I’m medium worried about how I’ll respond and that I’ll ovulate way early or something and miss it.

[Deleted]

Oct 21, 2017 11:51:06 GMT -5 onthemove said:

Because my cycles are so irregular I can’t use my $$ CBFM and I’m going to try the cheapies. How are you testing with second morning urine/early afternoon if you are at work? I’m trying to understand the logistics.

I work from home 99% of the time, so I can basically test whenever I want without any awkwardness.  lol

[onthemove]

Thanks. I work in a little office so it’s hard to not make this obvious. Plus being pregnant would mean 9 ish months on not being able to do my primary job, so I don’t really want people knowing what is going on.

[seeyalater52]

Anyone still at the beginning of their cycle with me? I'm only cd9 today, and won't even be monitoring follicles until Friday, so I have a while to go before I'm with the tww crew. I'm not temping this cycle which is GREAT for my mental health, but the letrozole really bloated me up, ick. 

[katespade]

Oct 23, 2017 10:41:42 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Anyone still at the beginning of their cycle with me? I'm only cd9 today, and won't even be monitoring follicles until Friday, so I have a while to go before I'm with the tww crew. I'm not temping this cycle which is GREAT for my mental health, but the letrozole really bloated me up, ick. 

I'm still here, CD11. FF says I should ovulate on 10/31, but my cycles have been so irregular that I have no idea what to actually expect. All I want is to ovulate this cycle, so I can prove to myself that it's possible for me to ovulate two cycles in a row. If I have another 65 day nonovulatory cycle, I might lose my mind. 

[seeyalater52]

Oct 23, 2017 11:32:49 GMT -5 katespade said:

Oct 23, 2017 10:41:42 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Anyone still at the beginning of their cycle with me? I'm only cd9 today, and won't even be monitoring follicles until Friday, so I have a while to go before I'm with the tww crew. I'm not temping this cycle which is GREAT for my mental health, but the letrozole really bloated me up, ick. 

I'm still here, CD11. FF says I should ovulate on 10/31, but my cycles have been so irregular that I have no idea what to actually expect. All I want is to ovulate this cycle, so I can prove to myself that it's possible for me to ovulate two cycles in a row. If I have another 65 day nonovulatory cycle, I might lose my mind. 

I hope you have another good cycle this time! I am really not sure when I will ovulate on the meds, so perhaps we will be cycle buddies again.

[seeyalater52]

I have the world's worst headache. Anyone else taken letrozole? compassrose, you do, right? Does it give you a headache? I felt fine while I was taking it, but yesterday was my last dose and no matter how much water I drink today I can't seem to shake this.

[compassrose]

seeyalater52, yup, I'm on it. I don't get headaches on it, but I take magnesium for headaches already in addition to watching my water intake, so that may help. I just get increased anxiety

[seeyalater52]

Oct 24, 2017 16:27:36 GMT -5 compassrose said:

seeyalater52, yup, I'm on it. I don't get headaches on it, but I take magnesium for headaches already in addition to watching my water intake, so that may help. I just get increased anxiety

Thanks. How joyful! Hah. Weirdly it doesn’t seem to have any impact on my anxiety but I am the world’s most anxious person to begin with so I’m not sure how it could get any worse.

Not temping this cycle is the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. My anxiety is so much more manageable and I don’t feel like I’m so fixated on TTC every minute of the day.

[katespade]

My temp has been all over the place so far.

[compassrose]

Happens to me too katespade. The drop looks like your body is trying to gear up to ovulate.

[Deleted]

I'm still waiting to ovulate too. I'm on CD 11, so I'll start doing OPKs today. I feel like I might be starting to get a cold, and DH is going out of town tomorrow through mid-day Sunday, so I'm really hoping that I'm going to ovulate a day or two late this month. Otherwise, we're going to likely be out for this cycle.

[katespade]

Oct 25, 2017 6:22:40 GMT -5 compassrose said:

Happens to me too katespade . The drop looks like your body is trying to gear up to ovulate.

Maybe I should have started OPKs earlier than I planned, because my temp went up again today. It seems crazy that I would ovulate so early in my cycle, but I guess we'll see what my temp does tomorrow.

[compassrose]

Oct 25, 2017 8:38:26 GMT -5 katespade said:

Oct 25, 2017 6:22:40 GMT -5 compassrose said:

Happens to me too katespade . The drop looks like your body is trying to gear up to ovulate.

Maybe I should have started OPKs earlier than I planned, because my temp went up again today. It seems crazy that I would ovulate so early in my cycle, but I guess we'll see what my temp does tomorrow.

At least your timing would be good! Did you notice any fertile CM?

[katespade]

Oct 25, 2017 9:52:14 GMT -5 compassrose said:

Oct 25, 2017 8:38:26 GMT -5 katespade said:

Maybe I should have started OPKs earlier than I planned, because my temp went up again today. It seems crazy that I would ovulate so early in my cycle, but I guess we'll see what my temp does tomorrow.

At least your timing would be good! Did you notice any fertile CM?

I've definitely had some watery CM, but I'm not sure about EWCM. Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out the differences between the two and how to tell which one is which. lol. It's been a noticeable amount over the past few days, but not enough for me to have thoughts to start OPKs early or anything.

[compassrose]

Oct 25, 2017 9:57:35 GMT -5 katespade said:

Oct 25, 2017 9:52:14 GMT -5 compassrose said:

At least your timing would be good! Did you notice any fertile CM?

I've definitely had some watery CM, but I'm not sure about EWCM. Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out the differences between the two and how to tell which one is which. lol. It's been a noticeable amount over the past few days, but not enough for me to have thoughts to start OPKs early or anything.

If it's clear and when you touch it, it can be spread apart between your fingers like gum (but looks like an egg white), that's EWCM. Water is clear but not stretchy the same way.

[Deleted]

I have literally not been able to get through a single day this week without someone else I know announcing that they're pregnant. *sigh*

[katespade]

Oct 25, 2017 12:56:36 GMT -5 @writererin said:

I have literally not been able to get through a single day this week without someone else I know announcing that they're pregnant. *sigh*

I have a FB friend who is pregnant and finding out the sex soon. At least once a day for the past week or two, she posts an update of her countdown of days, hours, and minutes until the appointment. I get it, she's excited and I'm excited for her, but I don't need a reminder every. single. day.

[compassrose]

((@writererin))

[seeyalater52]

I commented this morning that our office was hot (they turned on the heat but now we’re having a really warm week weather-wise) and a coworker asked me directly if I was pregnant. Nope. Thanks, though.

4 more friends announced pregnancies this week. Hugs to everyone who is experiencing similar stuff. It’s brutal.

[Deleted]

Oct 25, 2017 14:24:45 GMT -5 katespade said:

Oct 25, 2017 12:56:36 GMT -5 @writererin said:

I have literally not been able to get through a single day this week without someone else I know announcing that they're pregnant. *sigh*

I have a FB friend who is pregnant and finding out the sex soon. At least once a day for the past week or two, she posts an update of her countdown of days, hours, and minutes until the appointment. I get it, she's excited and I'm excited for her, but I don't need a reminder every. single. day.

One of my FB friends is like that too.  But rather than counting down, almost every single post she makes on Facebook has hashtags like #pregnancybrain, #pregnancyproblems, #newmomlife, etc.  I'm just like...okay, I get it.

[Deleted]

Still no surge detected for me yet (although my temp has gone up, but I think I might have a cold...or be getting one). DH ended up making a last-minute decision (like, sitting-in-front-of-the-airport kind of last minute) to not go on his company trip, because he feels "crummy." We don't know if this is because he's caught a bug or if his Crohn's is flaring (I'm hoping for the bug, because if it's a flare, then that means his current medication isn't working properly anymore), but in any case...

The long and short of it is, on one hand, if I get my LH surge the next couple days, at least he's not out of town. On the other hand, unless he feels a bit better when the surge happens, it's not like we'll probably do anything about it anyway. And regardless of my complicated TTC feelings, I'm bummed that he's missing a trip he usually enjoys overall and that he's feeling icky, because that's never fun.