can someone explain the mensrual cycle to me in plain simple trems please?

[lizandlulu]

cause i get confused easily about it!

when the mucus inside your vagina becomes like egg white, does that mean you are preparing to ovulate and how long after this time are you ovulating for?

Can I point you in the direction of the Charter's Anonymous thread? We're a lovely bunch

EWCM often indicates you are about to ovulate. Not always though. However, if you check CM in conjunction with cervical position and temping, that will give you a very good idea of if/when you ovulate.

CD1 is the first day of AF (also known as the Red Tide of Doom, for those of us who are less twee!)

You can ovulate at any point in your cycle. Some people will tell you it is ALWAYS CD 14. They are talking rot. It may of course be CD 14, or CD 9, or CD 22. The bit from menstruation to ovulation is called the follicular stage, this ends at ovulation. You are most fertile on the days leading up to ovulation and the day itself. The bit between ovulation and your period starting again is called the luteal phase.

Seriously, get hold of Taking Charge of Your Fertility and have a read. It is eye-opening and empowering in about equal measures.

HTH.

Ok, here's a summary...

Day 1 of your cycle is the first day you have red blood. Your cervix at this point is low, hard like your nose and slightly open.

At some point after that your body gears up for ovulation. Cervical mucus gradually becomes more plentiful and then becomes more slippery and eggwhite-like. As ovulation approaches your cervix rises higher in the vagina and opens. It feels more like your lips than your nose. At ovulation your cervix may be unreachably high.

EWCM is a sign of impending ovulation because sperm can live in it for ages. But some women get days of ewcm before they ovulate. This is a good thing because it gives sperm a better chance of survival and in optimal conditions sperm can survive to fertilise the egg for up to 5 days (although 2 or 3 days is more likely).

When you ovulate the egg lives for 24-ish hours, during which time hopefully it is fertilised somewhere in the fallopian tubes and makes its way to the uterus where it implants.

After ovulaton, your cervix closes and gets lower in position and harder. The EWCM stops although you might have other mucus (white, sticky stuff for example) instead.

And that's it really.

I have to agree with the recommendation for Taking Charge of Your Fertility. without meaning to sound like a zealot that book quite literally helped save my life.

thanks, thats very helpful!

EWCM is like a spermy M1 motorway as well, other varieties of cervical gunk are like A and B roads - but EWCM is designed to stitch the little critters up so they all get the hint and head in the right direction (I have a theory my husband's usually just curl up somewhere for a nap and a read of a book). Your body basically produces it in the run-up to when it reckons you're going to ovulate (sometimes that gets delayed for various reasons) to make sure the assault team are lined up in position and ready to go when the egg's fired out of the starting blocks.

So basically Period > lead up to ovulation > ovulation > 2 weeks of frantic boob prodding and symptom spotting (I'm being honest here!)

snorts atemptyshell**

my boobs do nothing, not a thing. they only time they have ever hurt or felt different is just having dd when they felt like they was filled with hot stones