Do you truly know your ovulation date ?

[TTM123]

New to all of this. But how do you know your ovulation day? I always see comments where people have ‘POAS 9DPO’ I am on two apps and they are two different dates two days apart... I know some people can tell from symptoms and CM etc but surely ovulation dates vary every month? May be a stupid question so sorry In advance!

Lots of people will be using ovulation test strips (either ClearBlue or cheapie ones) which tell you when you’re getting the hormone surge indicating ovulation is about to happen. The apps alone will probably be assuming you ovulate 14 days before your period starts, which may or may not be the case.

If you want to pinpoint the date (as accurately as possible) then you'll need to track your BBT and use ovulation tests. Apps alone will be a best guess

That makes sense ok thanks. So when you are in the TWW do you count the assumed ovulation day as the first day or the following?

@TTM123

That makes sense ok thanks. So when you are in the TWW do you count the assumed ovulation day as the first day or the following?

You assume the ovulation day is the day after your peak

I used cm. I had six days of watery cm. My best guess is I ovulated on day 5 and research says cm dries up around 24hrs later. It’s just a guess for me. I could be out by a day or so.

So if I got a peak smiley on Wednesday I might assume ovulation is Wednesday or Thursday. So Friday I’d probably have as 1 day post ovulation (I’d look at other factors).

But yes it can vary every month and you can’t be 100%. Some people have had blood tests which show.

Hi OP.

It really depends whether you are just using apps where you record the date of your period and then the app estimates your ovulation date, or whether you are actually tracking your ovulation more scientifically.

I always know when I ovulate and even managed to spot my first postpartum ovulation the other week. I started doing ovulation tests most days once my son was about 10 months old and then a couple of weeks ago I noticed what looked like fertile CM on the Wednesday and Thursday and on the Friday I had a positive ovulation test. My CM turned white and sticky on the Sunday so I'm about 95% certain I ovulated on the Saturday. I'm now spotting, so my first postpartum period is on its way.

If you just use an app it will tell you that you are ovulating either on day 14 of your cycle or 14 days before your period (if it has a few cycles worth of data) which may be completely inaccurate depending on when you actually ovulate in your cycle.