Good to go or wait?

[Sharlo53]

As the subject says...first month tracking ovulation so totally new to it. Good to crack on it wait another few days?

Go if you want to..theres no harm in it but the test is negative, the test line needs to be as dark as or darker than the control line probably a bit longer to wait, do you track using any apps? I used ovia and found it really helpful

No but will download Ovia now, I thought these were similar to a hpt and once there was two lines etc. Thanks for your help x

These are mine yesterday and today, looks like I’ll ovulate tomorrow. LH tests/OPKs will show a line getting darker as the luteal hormone increases, but aren’t considered positive until the test line is at least as dark as the control line. But as you’re most fertile in those couple of days running up to ovulation, it’s best to DTD a few times over those days, as the test gets darker.

Yeah they are way different to pregnancy tests where a line is a line, these have to to equal or darker, the apps really helped me pin point when to test and when i should be ovulating though and im pregnant now so it does help alot!

Thank you both so much! I was holding off posting as I didn't want to seem clueless but we all have to start somewhere.

@Sharlo53 it can be quite confusing reading them at first, this is my first cycle with the test strips, used clear blue digital before. I just looked at a load of pictures on google images so I knew what a positive looked like, I’ve also started doing them quite early in my cycle so I know what a negative looks like, I’m testing twice a day & keeping them all for comparison plus it gives me something to focus on, I’ve also been temping for about 4-5 weeks. Goodluck

See if I had done my research properly I should have done them like you have so I know what to be looking out for. Thank you for that advice, I feel a bit better about things now. It really was like a minefield to begin with x

Download the app premom. It gives you readings for your tests. Peak should be above 1 but my peak were always about 0.80. That looks about 0.1 to me. The app will store the pictures of the tests and give you a graph and tell you when ovulation will be occurring. Once it starts getting darker (say 0.3) then start doing 2 a day, then when you get close to peak (say 0.5) do 3 a day. If I didn't do this I would miss my peak as mine were super fast. You want to test between 10am-8pm. Good luck!

@MsChatterbox thank you so much for that, super helpful! X

@MsChatterbox surely you can’t aim for an exact peak though anyway? And there’s no need. The egg is there for 12-24 hours but you want the sperm to be there ready and waiting, and it can be waiting a few days. As long as you’re having sex enough over the period, once a day or at least every other day, that’s as accurate as you can be?

It’s all trial & error really, I’m just about to go into cycle 6 so obviously a lot of errors on my part lol

@BufalloCauliflower no you can't. But mine would go from faint to peak to faint over the course of a day. So I would recommend someone tracking for their first cycle to do what I did and then decide for themselves from there depending on how long the opk will stay positive for. If I tested once a day I could not realise I peaked at all and not dtd!

@Sharlo53 no problem!

@MsChatterbox oh I see what you mean! Apologies. I was thinking super specific ‘better DTD at 4.30pm sharp’ approach 😂 yes it can weirdly change even in one day. I’ve been doing BBT for years as it was my contraception first (Natural Cycle) so added OPKs on top of already pretty good data, which most women won’t. Your advice is exactly right.

@BufalloCauliflower lol can you imagine 😂😂. Right hubby you need to get home I've peaked 😂