OPK confusion

[toomanyflatwhites]

Feeling so confused between IC tests and CB advanced OPKs! We haven't really been trying properly for #2 for long (a few cycles) and as we don't really DTD enough (because: 2 year old, work full time, etc etc) I wanted to try and track to make sure we hit the target when we do. I bought some IC strips but hadn't had any luck with them - mostly because I was testing really inconsistently - so decided to bite the bullet and buy spendy advanced digital ones this cycle.
They arrived late (thanks Amazon!) so I tested first on CD16 which I thought would be high fertility - got a blank circle. Loads of EWCM since the start of the week and had started to get slightly darker lines in the ICs so I was surprised but wondered if it might be because it's a new test?
Anyway I managed to pee in a cup at work yesterday afternoon and got the attached photo - almost positive, no?
But again this morning got a total blank on the CB digital. Just started using the Glow app alongside FF and both had me down for ovulating today, but it clearly isn't happening yet. But how can the IC show a v close to positive and then the CB is blank?? Anyone else had similar?

I think you're supposed to start using the cb digital on a certain day because the first day you test it reads your lh levels as a kind of base line. Then looks for a rise based on that original reading. So if you took your first test when you were having an lh peak it's never going to pick up a rise above that.

If that makes sense?? 🤔 It's too early for my brain to explain it haha

Trust the cheapy tests as they just show what they pick up with no messing 😊 Good luck!

Yes I did wonder about that! But then having trawled MN I saw that some people said they use ICs and then switch to digitals when they get towards a positive test - so is that a thing? Of course am now panicking that I am actually not ovulating especially as my temperature hasn't gone up either

If they are having a slow increase in lh then switching to the digital would still work I guess. Did you have a sudden peak in lh on the cheapie?
Have you done another this morning?

I don't temp so not 100% sure when the rise should come. Is it after lh peak or after egg release? It can take up to 36 hours for egg release after a positive opk so maybe you'll get a temp increase tomorrow?

No temp increase until today when it was slight - and suddenly today got a flashing smiley - but the EWCM has disappeared and ICs showing less of a line since Friday - it's no less confusing, only more so!! Can you trust a flashing smiley if you don't have any EWCM and pretty sure it's all been and gone?! Not that we have even been able to try over the weekend as been staying with my family and now the 2 year old is snoring on the bed next to DP and I'm downstairs, not exactly ideal conditions for TTC

The ewcm being more abundant in the run up to ov is fine. You will still have some where it needs to be it's just not as obvious. I never used to see any and still conceived so don't worry about that.
I'd guess that the temp increase is because the egg has been released. Odd that you're now getting a flashing smiley but ic's are fading though!!
Sperm can live for up to five days so as long as you dtd Thursday/Friday you should stand a chance and if your two year old permits (they always have such good timing 🤣) you could try again in the morning.

Very odd cycle for tracking but all you can do now is wait and fx you get a nice bfp at the end 😊 Good luck!

Thanks so much! Yes super odd cycle for tracking and who even knows if we are in with a chance - hoping to get a solid smiley at some point and more chances!!! And yep - the toddlers seem to know, right?!

The trick with the Clearblue advanced digital ones is to start testing several days before you expect to ovulate - it takes the levels on the first day as baseline, so the first day of testing is ALWAYS an empty circle. Then you get a flashing smiley when it detects an oestrogen rise, then a static smiley at the LH surge, ~36hrs before ovulation, after which temperature rises. So unfortunately you probably confused it by starting testing around the time of ovulation! The info that comes in the pack tells you what day to start testing, I think it's cd7 for a standard 28 day cycle. On I get the flashing smiley I tend to test more frequently with cheapies and if I think I get a positive on them I confirm with the clearblue. Worked for DS1, fingers crossed for a DC2...!

Thanks @QueenRefusenik! I think I have basically buggered everything up and just get MORE confused at the days go by - getting he flashing smiley on the CB and an IC this afternoon was an absolute negative, not a hint of a line - so I assume as I suspected that the window is firmly closed for this month, despite what the CB test says?! Mind you, I checked back and I conceived DD somewhere between days 20 and 22 - I'm on day 20 now - so I know it's not impossible, just seems really unlikely that I could still be fertile without any CM or lines on an OPK 🤔

If you don't follow the instructions on the CB sticks then there is no point in using them. Ignore them this month and go by the ICs. If your fertile CM has gone now then you aren't fertile anymore, ovulation normally occurs on the last day of very fertile CM, which is the very slippery kind (stretch is less important than slip). You can carry on having sex in the mean time to be safe if you want (as recommended when following the SMEP). If you are temping then I would highly recommend the Fertility Friend app, it is by far the best TTC app out there, and particularly so if you are tracking BBT data. Good luck!

Despite seemingly messing up last month I was incredibly surprised to get a BFP on Saturday! Now just keeping everything crossed that it all works out!

Woo that's great news!! Congratulations 🎉🎉🎉