Mind or body controlling ovulation?

[Joffy]

I'm new to the ttc thread and was wondering if anyone had any ideas about this.
I took nearly two years to conceive my ds and only did so after charting for 4 months.
We are now trying again. I always had 28 day cycle, AF starting almost on the hour but as soon as I started ttc ds, I went to 35 days. The same thing happened this time too - I had 28 days for months, then month we started ttc, went to 35 days, with high temp on day 21.
Have been ttc for 5 months but dh is away a lot with work and has not really been here at right time until this month. Wierdly, this month I am on day 29 and haven't even ovulated yet/ my temps are still low.
Now I am wondering if my mind is stopping me getting pregnant because deep down I don't want to be. I had a quite traumatic time at ds1's birth, as I was induced and he wouldn't feed. I have recently been thinking a lot about not being able to bf him and still beat myself up over it.
Is that what they mean by stress delaying ovulation? Can my mind stop ovulation or is it unstoppable if it's going to happen?

[OldieMum]

I'm not a medic, but I have been doing some reading in public health. I think the link between stress and ovulation is more about generalised stress potentially affecting one's ability to ovulate, rather than there being a clear, direct link between thinking negative thoughts and ovulating. I do hope you manage to relax and get want you want, however.

[808state]

Hi,

The main factor that controls ovulation is your hormones. The two that are very important in this regard are LH and FSH as an imbalance of these two can be indicative of hormonal problems.

Temp charting can be in itself stressful to do over time and can be a misleading indicator of imminent ovulation. You can have a blood test done to see if your hormone levels are okay.

Have you talked to anyone in a professional capacity e.g your GP about DS's difficult birth?. This may help you.

It was not your fault in any way that you were not able to breastfeed your son.

HTH

Hawaii

[Joffy]

Thanks for your replies. I don't have much faith in my GPs. They weren't sympathetic or interested when I was pregnant! Immediately after the birth I said I would never have another one and even wrote it down so I wouldn't forget! Now I've changed my mind because I want ds to have a brother or sister but I guess I'm still a bit worried about it. i know I need to relax but that's one of the hardest things to do when you have trouble conceiving!

[OldieMum]

If you think you may have a medical problem, you should try to get some advice, perhaps from another doctor. or a fertility clinic? I know how useless it is when peeople tell you to relax about all this, even if there is evidence to suggest a link between stress and ovulation. I had to have 6 IVF cycles in order to get dd and no amount of relaxing would have helped, I'm sure. You may find the following book helpful - 'Overcoming Infertility: a compassionate resource for getting pregnant', by Jansen. It explains the causes of infertility, and fertility treatments, in ways that are understandable for a layperson.

[OldieMum]

And don't beat yourself up about bf. There are lots of other ways to take good care of a child and I bet you are following them.