Can someone explain OPK’s to me?

[xTinkerbell]

Currently TTC baby 2. Baby 1 was conceived quickly so didn’t need to work too much about it all.

Decided to try OPK’s this month because anxiety had me worrying I wasn’t actually ovulating (despite no reason to actually think that).

Not been off the pill long so only really had one proper cycle which was 25 day’s. This cycle I had a faint line on OPK CD9, forgot on CD10 then dark lines CD11 & 12, back to faint lines today on CD13.

Is it normal to have 2 days of dark lines? When does this likely mean I ovulated? I don’t really understand

Hi @xTinkerbell ! So opks are good at predicting that ovulation will happen, but they can't tell you for sure if it has. Opks measure the LH surge - your brain releases a Lutenising Hormone to tell your ovaries to release an egg. Ovulation typically happens around 36 hours after this surge, which means about a day and a half after a positive OPK. It is normal to have 2 days of a positive opk and it just means you've a strong or longer LH surge so it's easier for you to catch. Peak conception time is the days leading up to ovulation. Sperm can take 2 days to travel to the Fallopian tube, so dtd as much as poss in the week leading to ovulation. The only way to confirm ovulation has actually happened is by measuring your body basal temperature (bbt) which will dip just before ovulation and then spike on the day of ovulation. I hope that helps!

@Fifi1086

Thank you very much that was exactly the information that I needed. We have been DTD every other day anyway because I didn’t want to fall down the hole of becoming obsessed with OPK’s so we should be covering ourselves. Just after using them for a few days I was curious on what was normal and when it was likely that I ovulated.

Thanks again!