how to choose date for 21 day test if you are irregular...?

[mumtosammy]

hi, first time posting, wondering if anyone can help!

I?ve been ttc #2 for 14 months, my little one is 2 years, 7 months. I have just been to the dr to ask about checking that everything?s ok (I?m 35) and she?s said we should do a blood test to check I?m ovulating. She said I should book a blood test for day 21 but I explained I?m not that regular ? varies usually between 28-37 days.

So she said I should make my best guess? but it could go on for months, trying to guess the timing . Does anyone have experience of trying to do this? Or any better advice from a dr on how to investigate ovulation with slightly irregular periods?

Also, does anyone know what comes next after the blood test , if it shows no ovulation?

I've done the clearblue fertility monitor for 2 months and got no positive result.

I know stress is not good for conceiving but I know I?m starting to get stressed about it now?

Any advice gratefully received!

I'm having my Day 21 test tomorrow. My GP said to do it literally on Day 21 - ie 21 days since the start of my period. My cycle was 35 days last month, but prior to that I hadn't had a period since December due to TOP, MC, and a couple of D&Cs so we're not sure what's normal for me yet!

If it's a few days 'too late', apparently it won't be a problem as they can still tell if I've ovulated. If, however, it's too early, nothing will show up and they'll book me in again a week later. I'd assume they can do the same for you .

Re what they do afterwards, for me they said they'd just repeat next month as it's not actually abnormal to not ovulation every month. There are tests they can do around Day 3 that show something as well - not entirely sure what they're for, but my GP said she'd do those if this one doesn't give a positive result, and then do the Day 21 one again. It might be different for you thoug - I'm only 24.

If you can work out how long your luteal phase is, that tends not to vary from month to month by very much. At least that is the theory...

So if you work out your luteal phase is 12 days long, and you track your cycle until you ovulate, you know your day 21 bloods should be roughly 5dpo.

I have reasonably inconsistent cycles but can usually work out when I'm ovulating from monitoring my temperature. I've only ever had a few positive OPKs - they are not massively helpful.

My luteal phase does vary a bit, but is usually around 12-13 days so I just plumped for 7 days before 12dpo. In the end my LP was 13 days but I think the day 21 test is fine up to 8 days before AF.

Does that make any sense? Usually the variable bit of a cycle is the follicular phase so if you can nail how long the luteal phase is, you should be ok for working out when to do day 21s.