Please help me understand cervical mucus

[Sharlene87]

Hi all,
Please help I'm so confused..
We are trying for another baby I'm having to do homework this time as my daughter was a one hit wonder..
I had my period as usual 5days..
3/4 day later I had stiff gummy stretchy mucus I thought ovulation? But then 7 days after my period I had slimey stretchy mucus for 1.5 days but 10 days after my period I had light pink spotting that lasted a couple hours..
Does this all sound normal? Which one was ovulation?
It's a confusing mine field on the Internet and I'm more confused now than I was before 🤷‍♀️🤔
Thank you for reading 😘

Hi, ovulation usually happens around 14 days after the first day of your period. Obviously that varies but that's the general 'rule. Hope thst helps! X

Hi Op,

Thick gummy mucus is non fertile mucus! Fertile mucus is more watery/milky in consistency.

If your cycles around 28 days, you normally ovulate on day 14. My cycles are 24 days and I ovulate on day 10.

Hope this helps.

Hi OP. Fertile CM starts as watery then becomes similar to egg white in consistency, so it sounds to me that what you describe as slimy and stretchy was your fertile CM. I usually ovulate a couple of days after the egg white CM.

The pink spotting you experienced may have been related to ovulation, but it also may have been something else, eg after vigorous sex etc.

It may help you to monitor your CM throughout your cycle to get to know what is normal for you, as it can vary amongst women.

If you have the slimy, wet stretchy kind that stretches more than an inch without breaking, that's the EWCM (egg white cervical mucus) that precedes ovulation and is an important fertility sign.

The gummy kind, even if it can stretch a little, will break before 1" and isn't nearly wet enough.

Hey OP, I was OBSESSED by cervical mucus when TTC. Mine never seemed to follow a pattern and it was never, ever stretchy - just watery. But there was never very much of it and I was convinced that I was infertile even though I ovulated regularly. Anyway, long story short, this is what I learned:

1. Everyone swears by CM to track ovulation but for me it was a total headf* and NOT the best way of doing it. I much prefer charting my BBT and weeing on sticks: they're a lot less subjective.
2. This article is really helpful as it addresses misconceptions I certainly had: www.readytogroove.com/blog/2016/07/06/confused-about-cervical-fluid-you-dont-have-to-be/#.XQhPNIgza1s

DEFINITELY read this article - it really helps! It also says definitively that fertile CM is not always stretchy - mine never was.

1. I also found another article helpful in which a doctor said, "yep tracking CM is stressful and subjective. If you're having regular periods then just have sex regularly and relax."

I fell pregnant in a couple of months despite what I thought was crappy CM and I promised myself I would pass on my wisdom to other people who were stressing about the same thing! Hope this helps! xx

Hi @BaweB I know this is an old post, but I wanted to thank you for that link which I found very helpful. I was getting slightly concerned that I don't seem to follow any kind of pattern with CM, and it definitely helped a lot. Thank you.