Thoughts on timings?

[Headswim]

Hi there, just looking for any advice on getting timings right for conception. Sorry for dumb questions! We have been trying almost a year now. I just turned 37, he's 35.

This month I tried the Clearblue Advanced Digital OPK - it's the purple one - I got a flashing smiley face on Thursday and then solid smiley face on Friday eg saying that I am surging and then managed to DTD on Saturday afternoon. Does that sound like good timing? We don't have loads of sex due to work and lifestyle, although when we do it's great

Dr Google is saying that you normally release egg 24-36 hours after surge, then the egg stays around for 24 hours. Is that right? Excuse my ignorance

I haven't been tracking ovulation that closely and obv this new kit gives a new level of detail eg difference between surging vs just presence of hormones - and mainly we DTD before ovulation rather than during... hoping maybe slightly later will work for us.

In the meantime decided to be more proactive and checking ourselves into fertility clinic this month for tests. X

Sounds like you've got it just fright from what I've read over the last few months xx

Sounds late to me. The ovulation sticks pick up a surge, but that could be either the beginning of the surge or the end. So the egg could be released 12-36 hours from surge. You need the sperm waiting for the egg, otherwise it wont fertilize and settle for implantation in time.

You need to be having sex at flashing smiley until 24hours after solid smiley.

The highest numbers of pregnancies come from conception 1-2 days BEFORE ovulation rather than day of ovulation/day after

Really you need to be DTD every other day when you have a flashing smiley and definitely when you get EWCM and the FIRST day of your solid smiley depending on when you get it? Definitely if you get it in the morning but if you get the solid smiley in the afternoon I would say you've got the following evening as well

Clearblue digital to pick up the surge later than the cheap tests (ivf clinics won't let you use them) and because they are so expensive people only tend to test once a day in the morning when in fact most surges happen in the afternoon so you could miss the start of your surge by 12 hours

An egg CAN stay viable for UP TO 24 hours but realistically it's more like 12

Also sperm have to go through a little known process called capacitation before it's even capable of fertilising an egg and this can take up to 10 hours so you see how you can easily miss your window

Looks like I am out this month then! The challenge is that we don't have loads of sex. But anyway thank you for all the info that's all good to consider

Personally I don't think you are out.

We used clear blue advanced digital in August and because of timings we didn't manage to DTD as much as we would have liked. I got a static smiley on a Monday but didn't manage to DTD until Tuesday night I get ovulation pains so I knew I was ovulating Tuesday afternoon/evening and then middle of August I got a BFP. So I wouldn't rule yourself out you could have caught it early enough and ovulate late like I did.

Good luck x

If you've been trying for a year at 37, I'd consider a GP appointment tbh. Likely you're fine and simply not having enough sex from your description but worth starting that ball rolling.

Personally I would have done it Thursday & Friday. Try not to worry, you may be fine x

Ok thank you everyone! I did get ovulation pains on Saturday evening. So fingers crossed.

Booking a fertility appt tomorrow as advised x

Hey everyone ttc for number 3 , got my solid smiley Sunday morning at 5am. We had sex two hours previous so like 2.30/3am. Haven’t had anything since so say technically it was Saturday night/early Sunday morning. I had 7 days of flashing smileys. But we dtd everyday from Thursday. Think we did enough to catch? Or should we have had sex yesterday evening (Sunday) thanks for all the advice

Sounds too late to me. I think the last day of flashing smiley is the best day. Best chances of conception are two days before ovulation.

I’ve got pregnant last two months from dtd on that day, sadly both ended up being chemicals but that day has worked for me both times.