Someone explain pregnancy tests to me please!

[mountaingoat83]

I know that's such a silly subject line :D but I honestly hadn't really thought too much about how they work until now!

Myself (37F) and DH (35M) have just started TTC after getting my copper coil removed. I've got a fairly standard 30-32 day cycle - about 8 months ago I did have a 41 day cycle after starting work in a new office full of women #pheromones

Whilst we were waiting during the three months of lockdown for the GP to be able to remove my IUD after lockdown I thought it might be useful to do some BBT tracking using Clue, which sort of indicated that I might be ovulating at around day 18-22 of my cycle.

Cue this month when we first started trying and my expected ovulation week coincided with that week of heatwave and it's sent my temperatures all over the place with no indication of when I might have ovulated (typical!).

So I tested on day 30 because the pregnancy test I bought was describing itself as being 99% accurate - but I'm assuming this is if you have a 28 day cycle and you ovulate on day 14?? I've been reading up on this far too much and I'm thinking even if you did ovulate on day 14 but implantation took 12 days, you probably still wouldn't get a BFP on day 14, right?

Anyway the test was negative and I've done two more since (including this morning - day 36 - all negative). Some things I've read say to test after you expected to finish your period and some say wait as long as 10 days after a missed period so I don't know what to think now!

Currently have very light orangey-brownish discharge (wow, who knew I'd be talking about my secretions with a group of strangers on the internet ) after about a week of lots of white discharge. Not sure if boobs feel weird or if I'm imagining it! I've been feeling a sort of pressure/light cramping in my lower abdomen and I can definitely smell all the things. Might be some imaginary/non-imaginary nausea too!

I did fall pregnant a few years ago but did not continue with the pregnancy :( but now I find myself comparing everything to that time. I did have a similar discharge but it took me about two or three weeks to realise I'd missed my period and to test - by which time the test came back as an immediate B F P. I don't know if I just need to leave it for a week or so this time and see what happens!

What's the latest you've had a negative test even though you later turned out to be pregnant?

Hope my ramblings make sense!
MG

Wow, you have just started TTC and you are frantically temperature checking and testing!

You need to relax, and have regular sex then, if your period doesn't arrive, then test. It takes most people 6-12 month sot conceive. It isn't unusual to take up to 2 years. So, unless there is a reason for urgency, take a step back and stop obsessing.

To answer your question more specifically, most tests work best from day one of your period onwards, using early morning wee. Of course some do work earlier than that, but that is normally the way to gte your best result.

Hi OP, it would be very unusual not to get a BFP 14 days after ovulation if you were pregnant. I know it happens to some people but some tests like FRER can show positive results from 9 dpo. Is it possible you ovulated later than you thought? Testing on day 30 wouldn't show anything if you had ovulated on day 26 for example.

With your cervical mucus, do you know what to look for to indicate ovulation? The optimum is like egg whites (so clear and a bit stretchy). Would you consider using ovulation sticks that you wee on?

I have longer cycles too so I know it can be tricky when most advice is tailored to the perfect 28 day cycle.

Test should be done at least 2-3 weeks after the unprotected sex. Best done after your period is due if you know when that is. The test measures hcg levels in your urine so if you test too early the levels may not be high enough yet

can you not just have regular unprotected sex? I never did any tracking or testing and managed to have 2 children.

@steppemum @dementedpixie I'm pretty sure the novelty of all this will wear off soon I think it's just that until now I've spent the whole time trying not to get pregnant combined with being one of those people who likes to do ALL the research and load up with information! Also the fact that my period is nowhere to be seen (possibly as a result of me stressing about it lol) is making me really want to know what's going on - the rational side of my brain is saying I just need to wait and see

@Teakind I'm not quite at the CM-checking stage (I figured I had enough to 'worry' about with the BBT tracking etc). It's annoying that I've had lovely temperature graphs for the previous three months and then this one I literally have no idea when or what happened . I'm trying not to think about it too much - if I hadn't already had a thermometer at home I probably wouldn't have been able to get hold of one (apparently they sold out at the start of lockdown) so I wouldn't even have this information available. I think I'll probably wait a few months before considering the ovulation testing kits.

I ought to add that I was an egg donor a few years ago and my AMH was off the scale (they got over 40 eggs from me second time round ) so I'm fully expecting to still be super-fertile. Who knows!

Also worth noting, a heatwave shouldn't send your BBT all over the place. Are you taking your temperature as soon as you wake up? Around the time of ovulation there can be fluctuations. As you get more used to BBT it does start to become easier to see what's happening - it's more about overall trends than individual data points.

It depends on the test sensitivity as to when it can pick up the increase in human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). But from ovulation, it takes around 8-9 days for the egg to implant and from there the HCG levels build up. So, a typical cycle has a 14 day luteal phase, day 15 is the day your period is due, so you've had 6-7 days for HCG to build up. This is all based on the typical though, luteal phases can be as short as 11 days and still support a healthy pregnancy or as long as 18 days; implantation can take slightly longer than 9 days but is generally around then.

Also, I know it's hard to say but try and enjoy the process! 80% of people fall pregnant in the first year of trying. As someone on month 19, it makes it so much harder on yourself when you put all this pressure on each month. Stress doesn't help the process! Good luck

OP don't listen to people telling you "to relax" or "just DTD" - personally if I didn't track I'd be way more stressed wondering when ovulation happened and I do not have the capacity to DTD every 2 days throughout the whole cycle, so NEED to know when my FW is. People who tell you to relax can shove it, it's pretty much the least helpful thing they could be telling you :)

My FW was during the heatwave too and I 100% had a very clear ovulation pattern, so I'm wondering if perhaps you just didn't ovulate this cycle and you're thinking it's just the heatwave messing with temps? I mean if you think about it, yes you might have been hotter but that still would have been consistently hot that week and still should have seen a dip on O-day? Otherwise I think you're very unlikely to be getting false negatives this late on in your LP.

This not what you asked but...
When we were trying to conceive I bought a little tiny microscope which was backlit.

Every morning before you had anything to drink you put a drop of saliva on the glass and wait for it to dry. As your hormones change through the month and the oestrogen surges just before ovulation, the oestrogen forms beautiful fernlike crystals on the microscope.

Good luck

@PlanBea @Juno231 I kind of wish I’d been tracking my temperatures for longer to see more of a pattern! I’ll try to attach a terrible photo of the Excel graph I’ve made so you can see what I mean I’ve been making sure I move as little as possible in the morning before I take my temperature, literally just reaching over whilst still lying down in order to reach the thermometer! I generally wake up around the same time so there shouldn’t be a problem there ...

@HMBB I’m glad to see there is another level for my current fixation to reach! That sounds fascinating!

@PlanBea hoping it happens for you soon!

As I say at this point there’s a massive novelty / unknown territory factor so the longer it takes us to conceive the less frantic I will be about it I think

@mountaingoat83 hm yes that chart isn't really doing much is it? It doesn't look like you've ovulated based on that. Have you tried using Fertility Friend for bbt tracking? It's free and miles easier than using an excel chart! It will identify O-day for you as well based on the temps.

@mountaingoat83 looking at your chart, I can see a peak in March, April and May but not in June. It could be an annovulatory cycle, or you haven't yet ovulated this cycle. Did you have a lot of stress in June? My chart completely flat lined in March with the stress from coronavirus/new job/moving house.

I totally get it as a data nerd, it's interesting learning about what's going on and wondering why it's not normal. But remember you've only tracked a few months out of years of cycles, so one off month looks like chaos when you can't see that you've undoubtedly had annovulatory cycles in the past and just not noticed them. It happens even to the most fertile of us from time to time! Try not to extrapolate from a one off result

@mountaingoat83 you can just pay attention to it when you wipe after going to the loo. Much easier than temping in my opinion : )

Also, has your partner had a sperm sample? Of course it may be fine but something to consider and I think the NHS advice is to go tests after 6 months of trying at your age (that sounds rude but I don't mean it to! They say 1 year normally but 6 months after the age of 35)

@Juno231I only resorted to Excel because Clue's BBT graphs are a bit naff (I think because the app is designed more as a period tracker than a fertility tracker), I'll look into that other app though! Also I do like a spreadsheet

@PlanBea those lovely peaks in previous months are what's annoying me so much about this month!! I think I'm over the coronavirus stress but from what I remember June was pretty horrendous work-wise so it's not beyond the realms of possibility that my body just thought 'nope'! Also the stress of waiting for the doctor's call and trying to get it all sorted pre-ovulation then stressing about having 'unprotected sex' for the first time ever probably didn't help! I'm such a data nerd and I do sort of wish I'd been tracking this stuff before (I actually bought the thermometer after the previous 'accidental' pregnancy with a view to not DTD with now-DH (then-boyfriend) around my fertile days, but at the time (v early relationship) I was too into DTD to say no (things have calmed down now four years in lol)

Now I'm just annoyed that I (theoretically) have to wait for my period to arrive to know when to start this all again .

@Teakind CM checking is something to consider for next month certainly. We haven't had his sperm checked, we kind of figured that as we got accidentally pregnant a few years ago (when I had the coil in) that his sperm couldn't be that bad! Something else to consider further down the road.

Anyone have input on what happens to BBT in an anovulatory cycle? Should I still see an increase as I get closer to AF? Or might I have ovulated?! Honestly so confused as to what’s happened this ‘month’ (actually now 43 days lol)

Latest BFN of five (every few days since 04/07 was this morning

@mountaingoat83 you might have ovulated just now actually. Pop it into FF - it will tell you!

@mountaingoat83 there's a lot of spikes within a day there.. I'm struggling a little to understand it 🤔 Are you temping a couple times a day?

@Stabal nope just temping once a day! I appreciate my quick and dirty Excel graph isn’t great- just dled FF so in the process of adding my temps which will hopefully produce a clearer graph!

@mountaingoat83 FF is great! Let's see it when you've got it all completed 😊

Well FF seems to think something is going on but then it only has my temperatures to go on... guess I have a 2WW now then ...

Temps are pretty darn accurate - more so than OPKs for instance so I'd have to agree with FF, looks like you finally ovulated! Did you manage to DTD ahead of this new OD?

@mountaingoat83 that's a much better looking graph, in the nicest way possible about your own one 😂 glad to see you've more than likely ovulated 🤞

@Juno231 just about! I think I’d sort of given up by that point but it was our first wedding anniversary on Saturday so... If nothing else at least it means things are happening after a lengthy bit of nothing

@Stabal I’m not taking it personally Excel isn’t known for making pretty graphs automatically lol