Confused about fertile period - help!

[Moomin]

I've been ttc since January, some months more dedicated than others and so have been using a basic ovulation calculator on babycentre.com, based on my pretty regular 27 to 29 day cycle. I've also been noticing when the "egg-white" mucus appears, which falls in the period predicted by the website.
I really wanted to get pg this month so we had sex every other day up until 5 days ago. My last AF was on 22nd July and the website calculator said that between 3rd and 8th August would be my most fertile time. As well as the sex since AF finished, we had sex on Monday, Weds, Thurs and Fri of last week. On Thurs night I noticed the egg white stuff and thought that one more on Friday should do it. However, I've just been looking at another website recommended on the ttc4 thread and it states that the mucus signals the FIRST stage of ovulation and you should have sex just before and then for the next few days, every other day if poss. I'm worried now that we stopped having regular sex just at the point when we should have been having more! (We haven't had it since Fri cos we've been so tired!) Have I blown my chances this month? Hope this makes sense....

JUst looked at another thread and everyone seems to think you ovulate 14 days before your AF is due which would mean I ovulated on 5th Aug, which is more promising. But what about the mucus? (Sorry this is so gross!)

That is what my midwife said only yesterday moomin ... that you ovulate 14 days before your period ... regardless of how long your cycle is ... so a regular monthly 28 day cycle would mean you ovulate on day 14 every month.

I used to have a regular 28 day cycle until my m/c last year and then it was between 23 and 33 days ... really difficult to work it out. Funnily enough, the month I decided to put ttc on the back burner and not count the days and work out the mucus etc we managed to conceive! And we only had sex twice so I only have conceived on day 16 or 17 ...
In regards to mucus (lovely topic) I read somewhere that if you really want to work out what your mucus cycle is you should abstain from sexual activity for 3 months as sperm can affect what kind of discharge you have ....
Also someone on Mumsnet told me to have sex every other day for the whole of the cycle (not just around when you think you are fertile) ... you could try that
Anyway ... you might not have blown your chances ... you never know
Hang in there moomin!!

There are good, recent studies that show that women can get pregnant at almost any stage of their cycle. If you have sex every other day or so then that absolutely maximises your chances, according to all the fertility experts I've spoken to. IF you have the energy!

Yes, you are supposed to ovulate about 14 days before your next period. According to the fertility friend website , you can continue to get eggwhite cervical fluid after ovulation because the corpus luteum, though its main function is to produce progesterone, produces oestrogen in small amounts and this may cause you to see some fertile-looking cervical fluid. Hope it did work out for you this month.

Not everyone ovulates 14 days before their period is due. In my case it is more like 9 - 11 days. I only figured this out with the help of ovulation test sticks after months of ttc.

this may be useful. There is also some recently published evidence that some women may ovulate twice in a cycle. It seems that the best advices is still to go for it every other day throughout the cycle, since if you try to time too closely, you could easily end up missing it.

Moomin - I haven't got any experience of ovulating tests etc but did fall pregnant very quickly both times with the 'everyday twice a day method'. Exhausting as it is it did prove a success and is great for the waistline too! Lots of improvisation is needed to stop it becoming dull and a chore but try not to worry if you've missed it this month, just enjoy the trying and who knows next month it could happen. Once the baby is born you'll be glad that you'd filled your boots before as newborns play havoc with sexlife!

I know, Teletubby, this is for baby no.2!! Dh and I had a chat about this after I posted last night. One of the reasons I was getting so wound up was that we'd stopped having sex last Friday for his sake rather than mine - I felt sorry for the poor bugger having done two long shifts Thurs and Fri then there I was ready to pounce Fri night! But I've said he needs to just get used to the fact we'll be doing it every other day if I'm not pg this month and try to be pro-active about it and not like he's doing me a big favour! We used to love our lie-ins before dd came along - night-time is the right-time these days! He's promised to try to recapture some of the old lust that we had before ttc - ironic isn't it?! Anyway, thanks for the posts and links, everyone. Off on our hols on Sat and have bought a test in case I'm late. I'm not too hopeful though, for some reason...

I agree with aloha and bells2. I know that I must ovulate really early in my cycle. It's still exactly 28 days (or was when I used to pay any attention to these things!) but ds was conceived about 5 days after the start of my last period (I know because I was away the rest of the month and wasn't trying to get pregnant). You certainly can't rely on it being 14 days after, but don't know the nittgy gritty about mucus, sorry!

can i join in i am trying for babe 2 and am having no luck babe 1 came after 1 yr and we tried it all legs in the air pillow under bum ovulation tests nothing, then one tuesday mornin 2sec wonder then it happened. My partner is not big on sex, just loves to cuddles thing is as i have explained babies don't come that way,i have suggested the everyother day and i thought he might die.....i think i ovulate twice a month though and you can always expect him to be tired, if nothing happes in the next few moths i am returning to work and only having one child .

Bells2 is right - though all the books say you ovulate 14 days before next period, I don't either. I have been using ov. predictor kits. Can be pricey but they worked for me as I am now 5 weeks pregnant. It's worth starting to test earlyish in your cycle (day 8 or 9 maybe).

Like tamum, I got pregnant 6 days after my period started. Complete accident. It was the only time we had sex the entire month. I have extremely regular periods - 30 day cycle, so the whole ovulation calendar thing is really based on the individual, I think. I know nothing about mucus except that I'm wondering how can you tell if it's the right sort of mucus or something else. Not to get too personal, but I get some sort of bizarre discharge from time to time, which I think has nothing to do with ovulation.

tinyfeet - the "ovulation" mucus is fairly see-through and has the consistency of egg white, in that it's stretchy. Some people say that you can get it mixed up with sperm after you've had recent sex, but sperm doesn't stretch. You're sposed to get it for maybe one or two days around the time you ovulate. I don't go looking for it (!), although you can, by doing a quick "sweep" with a clean finger. I notice it when I wipe myself after going for a wee. Some women get more than others. HTH

Ok. I think I'm probably not very good at identifying these things. Good luck though!

just wanted to say that the mucus observing really can work - especially if you have an irregular/unusually long/short cycle where the counting of days can be harder to do. My cycle is both long and irregular and only when watching out for the see through stretchy stuff (sorry if too graphic) did I actually know when I was ovulating. In fact, the month I fell pregnant we were busy concentrating on the weekend before and then the following Friday I noticed a change in my mucus and made sure that we went for it again....just as well we did!! The early scan confirmed that the alter dates were the crucial, successful ones. Good Luck and stick with it

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