Beginners thread - advice

[URMysunshine4]

Hey all, I was hoping for some advice.

I find myself here after a loss at Christmas and after 2 months of no protection I thought it maybe time to look at tracking ovulation. I have no idea where to start, Apart from using an app to track my periods I am not clued up on how to test for ovulation.

I was hoping for some advice on maybe what to try in terms of ovulation tests etc. If anyone has any words of wisdom I would be grateful xxx

Hey! Sorry to hear about your loss. I started with cheap OPKs the first month I tried them but I found all the squinting at lines quite tricky and couldn’t really tell if I’d had my peak until it was over and I compared to the next day’s test. After that I bought a big box of CB OPKs (the cheaper pink ones without the flashing smiley). I find the digital ones better because it’s quite simple either smile or no smile and no comparing lines. First few cycles you are probably best to test from about CD8 and hopefully find a pattern of when you ovulate. I usually get my peak on CD10 or 11 so I now just test from day 9 which means I only use a few sticks each month (cheaper!). The peak on your OPK means ovulation will happen in about the next 24-36. People generally say FMU not the best for OPKs and afternoon better but you should try and hold your urine for a few hours. I tend to take mine after work so around 6:30. Good luck!

I use the cb fertility monitor, and while it's on the more expensive side, it's extremely foolproof. I decided I'd rather spend more money on this than being stressed out over guesswork. But of course that's a personal decision.

@URMysunshine4 the best way to track ovulation is with the pee sticks!

I'm in my second month TTC and in the first month I did it around the days on the apps
This month I brought the clearblue monitor and it turns out my ovulation is actually 6/7 days later than what the apps had been telling me (and I had 3 different apps!!)

It seems to me there are 3 different price ranges for the pee sticks but they all pretty much do the same thing - depends how much inconvenience you want in your life

1. The cheapest are the strip ones you can get from amazon (easy@home) where you have to pee in a cup and have to soak the strips in the pee for a few seconds - there's an app called premom where you can upload pictures of the sticks and it will interpret it for you (or you can do this yourself by interpreting how dark the lines are compared to the control line) so it can be a bit ambiguous
2. Second option is the clearblue digital ovulation tests which will give you a smiley face when you are about to ovulate 24-36 hours before - this is less ambiguous as its either a yes (smiley face) or no (circle) Plus you don't have to pee in a cup (unless you want to)
3. Third option is the clearblue monitor which is basically the same as the digital tests but it stores all your information for you on a little machine and you can track when you've DTD etc. This is only done once a day with your first morning pee and you have a 6 hour window to do this in It apparently also gets to "learn" your cycle so you have a clearer idea of when your high fertility days are as well as your peak but I've only used this for one cycle so not sure if this will be clearer next month

I also have the Ava bracelet which tracks your skin temperature - you wear it while you sleep and I think it measures the lowest temperature during your deep sleep?
This will show if you have ovulated (temperature rises compared to before ovulation) and gives an estimate of your fertile and peak days

A cheaper way of doing this is measuring your temperature (BBT tracking) as soon as you wake up but you have to wake up at the same time everyday and do it as soon as you wake up I think - so no lie ins on the weekend or snoozing

However if you have to pick one method use the pee sticks as they are more accurate

Thank you all, I have ordered some clear blue tests so will see how I get on 😊