When exactly is the first day of a/my period?

[Rockbird]

Can't believe I'm even asking this at my age fgs.... We are just about to start ttc dc2 (not this precise moment, I have got time to write this!) and am contemplating my cycle and all that jazz.

It tends to kick off with vvv light spotting, then a day of brown discharge then it all kicks in the next day. So which day is day one? I know I should be getting DH in a half nelson often and oft right the way through the window of opportunity but it would help to try to pinpoint ovulation a little. Would you count it from the first sign of anything at all or the first gush?

DD was a first attempt baby so I didn't get a chance to worry about all this...

TIA

[Bleatblurt]

Spotting definitely isn't day 1. Not sure about the brown discharge though. Do you need a pad on that day? If it's just there when you wipe but you don't fill a pad then I wouldn't count that day either.

[Rockbird]

Thanks, ok well that helps. I think it was whether to count spotting as day one that was really the issue. Discharge looks like old blood or something. It happens every time and only for that day so I'm not concerned about that, I don't think!

[lilysma]

As far as I know, Day 1 is the first day of red blood. HTH

[SuziKettles]

I'm charting using www.fertilityfriend.com and according to them CD1 is first day of "red flow" (I hate the word flow for some reason). So presumably the first day it's more than a slight discharge.

Turns out I've been getting it wrong for years as I always started counting from the first sign of any blood.

[Rockbird]

That's what I was doing Suzi. Thanks everyone. Red flow it is