The most stupid question ever about ovulation

[TigerseyeMum]

We are getting in a pickle here with regards to timing for ovulation

When we first started ttc, my G said 'Most women have a 28 day cycle therefore they ovulate half way through on day 14'.

I have a 32 day cycle. Now. Is ovulation likely to be 'half way through' on day 15, or day 18 which is 14 days before the end of the cycle???

So far we have tried to cover all eventualities (and I know, ovulation can occur at wildly varying times).

And are there reasonable ways of testing for ovulating? I have a thermometer and some OPKs but not sure how to use them.

Sorry to be thick, this baby-making business is a bit alien to me I am good with dog training and horrible teenagers, but babies

[ShowOfHands]

Taking Charge Of Your Fertility is a very good book and I believe the Fertility Friend website comes with a recommendation.

Basically, when you ovulate is probably pretty fixed for you to within a couple of days. When this happens is peculiar to you but generally most people with have a luteal phase (time between ov and period) of between 10 and 16 days. So chances are you ovulate between day 16 and day 22 somewhere but there are always exceptions to this so you can't rely on it as pure theory.

There are some natural signs in your body that you are about to ovulate such as an increase of cervical discharge (it has a stretchy, egg white type consistency), increased libido, subtle hormonal changes, some women feel aches and cramps low down, sometimes one sided.

To temp you have to take your temp every morning before getting out of bed. What you'd generally expect is that when you ovulate your temp will leap up noticeably and stay up until either you get pregnant and it remains high or your period arrives and it drops back down. But to get the most out of temping, I'd recommend a book/website for the basics.

If you have no fertility issues though and just want to a relaxed approach that covers your bases, sex every other day or every couple of days within your cycle is more than enough for the average, fertile woman.

[ciwi]

Hi, I am sure someone on here will be a bit better than me at advice but most people ovulate about 14 days before thier next period so i think you are more likely to ovulate around day 18. I find opk's work for me but not everyone does, if you use them you should test in the afternoon and try and make sure your sample is fairly concentrated so dont drink lots of water beforehand, when you get a positive you will most likely ovulate in the following 12-24 hours (this is what the instructions tell you to do anyway) I personally test first thing in the morning and if i get a positive check again in the afternoon to make sure it's a true positive. you are best to swi before a positive opk too so try to swi every other day leading up to ov to make sure you catch the egg!

[eurochick]

I agree with the other answers. Ov is likely to occur 10-16 days before your period. The luteal phase (time from ov to period is fixed for most women regardless of the length of their cycle, e.g. I have a 12 day LP but my cycle varies from 25 to 30 days).

I use OPKs and test around 2pm, trying not to pee or drink too much in the 3 hrs before that. Since I have been using them I have only not got a positive one month and that was when I had food poisoning so was going to the loo more often than every 3 hrs so I think I just missed it. I also temp, which is helpful to get to know your cycle. However, it can only indicate ov AFTER it has happened by showing a temp rise, so it is no good for letting you know when to swi. A lot of people use fertility friend to chart. It is free and when you sign up they send you a number of daily lessons teaching you the basics of charting.

But I agree that if you are just starting to ttc, try to have sex every couple of days through the cycle and enjoy it! I would only advise getting technical if that hasn't worked after a while.

[bruffin]

I used to have 32 day cycles. When I was pregnant with ds the scan showed he was small for dates so they moved the due date by a week because they thought I ovulated 14 days before end of my period rather than 14 days after it started.
He was induced at 38 weeks because of pre eclampsia but he was not that ready to come out.

[TigerseyeMum]

Hmm, thanks, we have been trying for a year now and timing it to cover most bases mentioned above. I have the book mentioned and FF but I get lost in all the reading

SWIing every couple of days for a year sounds like fun but is getting a bit tiring

I may move on to the OPKs and see if can get anything more definitive. As I have endo it may be that I am not ovulating at all, though I do get 'signs' as mentioned.

It is such an inexact science.

[TigerseyeMum]

And, we tend to do it from day 10 then every 2 days up until day 16 ish, so maybe we have been stopping too early (though at times we have had a last ditch attempt and still nothing).



I'm knackered just looking at my calendar

[eurochick]

If your LP is at the shorter end of the range, you have almost certainly been stopping too early. And I know what you mean about swi getting tiring after a while!

[TigerseyeMum]

I think we have been stopping too early :(

I get super-frisky around 13 days before my period so that's usually my best sign.

Thanks everyone, I shal go through my books and charts again this weekend and maybe work something out a bit more scientifically :)