Can anyone help with my chart please?

[coffeeplastic]

Hi everyone! I've just registered here after lurking for a little while. For some background: I am 29 and TTC my first. I had my Mirena coil removed on 18th September so this is my first month of charting and TTC. It is also my first month of being an absolute crazy lady and obsessing over temps, heart rate, and any tiny little twinge or change in my body!

I had no AF with the Mirena coil in and have been on hormonal BC since I was 15, so unfortunately I have no idea what is normal for me. I don't even know my normal cycle length. I was using OPKs for the first half of the month but never saw a positive (though it got a tiny bit darker a couple of days) and I stopped once FF thought I might have ovulated. However it only guesses at my ovulation if I disregard one dodgy temp (which admittedly was taken at 2am after 2 hours sleep before we got on a plane to go on holiday!). And I'm just a bit cynical about the interpretation, I'm not sure if my temps look a bit iffy...

Can any of you ladies take a look at my chart and tell me if you think I ovulated and just what's going on? I've also been tracking my heart rate from my fitbit in case any of you are good at interpreting that too! I'm pretty sure that my heart rate dropping last couple of days is a no-no for a BFP even though my temp is still up a little...? FF claims I'm 15dpo but I just don't feel like AF is anywhere close.

www.fertilityfriend.com/home/6a5a33

I really appreciate any help, I know I'm a bit all over the place but this is all new to me!

Looking forward to getting to know you all and joining in the supportive atmosphere! xx

[Peanutty86]

This chart looks anovulatory to me, however there is a difference in the first half to higher temps in the second half. How do you temp? Orally? Are you using a BBT? I personally don’t and won’t take my heart rate as there are so many factors playing into this and it’s just additional stress a TTC woman doesn’t need, that’s just my opinion.

[juneybean]

A lot of open circles makes it harder to interpret but with the RHR dropping I'd say you were out. Sometimes my temp would stay up until the day of AF.

You look like you only DTD 3 days before ovulation....not wanting to pry into your sex life but any chance you could do it closer to ovulation next time?

[coffeeplastic]

Thank you for your responses, it's really appreciated!

I temp orally using a BBT. I already know for a fact I did a pretty poor job of temping this month - travelling, being off work, DH being away, it all made for really poor sleeping patterns and inconsistent temping times. I was hoping that there might still be some good info to be gleaned from the chart but I'm still hoping next month will be more stable.

Please don't worry about prying - if I'm posting my BD habits on a forum I'd say you're more than welcome to comment! You're right, I realise we don't really have much chance of conceiving this month. The initial plan was to make sure we DTD when I got a postive OPK (as well as fairly regularly) but that never happened. So as I never knew when I ovulated (even now, no idea) it was hard to time it right. I also hardly had ANY ewcm this month which would have been the other clue to get busy (the tiny bits I logged I had to go looking for, sorry for TMI) which is sort of why I'm wondering if I even ovulated at all.

[juneybean]

I think the SMEP plan says to DTD every other day if possible then I think more around ovulation (not sure entirely, I'm gay and have to inseminate so don't have free access to sperm )

[coffeeplastic]

Yeah we definitely need to step it up for conceiving, you all make good points :). Mainly at the moment I'm worried that Mirena coil has messed up my ovulation. Ain't gonna matter how much we DTD if I am not ovulating :(

[Foreverretro]

I had my mirena coil out on 4th September and I've not ovulated yet as far as I can tell and have had no bleeding.

I've read that although it happens straight away for a lot of people sometimes it takes 3-9 months for ovulation to normalise after having one removed.

Try not to worry straight away, I know it is easy to get crazy about it (believe me - my first month was a nightmare and time is dragging so so so much... it's horrendous just bloody waiting to ovulate!) but if you can try and just chill out for a couple of months then hopefully things will start to happen for you. That's what I'm hoping for for me anyway!

Good luck :) x

[coffeeplastic]

Foreverretro - I'm sorry to hear that your cycle isn't back to normal yet, but I have to admit you have put my mind at rest quite a lot. Even though logically I KNOW it can take a while to get back to normal after Mirena, it seems that everywhere you see people saying "Oh I conceived within a month of having it out". It's easy to overreact when you're a worrier like I am!

There is really no time pressure on us and you're right, I will take a leaf out of your book and try to relax about the whole thing.

Fingers crossed that you will ovulate soon! Good luck x

[Foreverretro]

@coffeeplastic honestly I know exactly what you're going through - the thing that people keep saying to you when you have the coil out is "don't forget you can get pregnant straight away" so it's so easy to assume that will happen!

I was stressing over every detail and then I started reading Expecting Better by Emily Oster and it has calmed me a lot - I've only read up to the TTC bit so far (because relevance!!) but I'm a numbers person and the statistics have helped me a lot!

I'm far from relaxed about it really, and I am obsessive about checking CM and taking my BBT for any sign of ovulation but I have accepted that these things happen in their own time... for now!! We'll see where I'm at in another month or 2 haha!!

[coffeeplastic]

Yes exactly! I just assumed all would be straightforward for me right away, even though I KNOW all the statistics on TTC and how it takes up to a year for healthy couples (like you, I'm definitely a numbers person!).

I know I won't be able to stop myself obsessing a little bit (honestly I have an embarrassing number of graphs monitoring all my symptoms) but I guess we just need to keep reminding ourselves that it's normal to not be normal at this point!

I haven't heard of that book, I might have to look into it! I'm halfway through Taking Charge of Your Fertility so might have to keep devouring more relevant literature.

Hopefully in a month or two we'll have forgotten all about this craziness and have our BFPs!