Ovulation question

[TS45]

Hello,
I have been using OPKs this month. The specific brand I’ve been using is premom. As I’m new to OPKs, I’m a little bit confused.
I’ve been testing twice daily and got my peak yesterday morning (25/08/22). My LH levels started to drop after that and this morning, I’ve had a low reading. I’m not sure what exactly the peak means… Would this mean that I may potentially be ovulating today? I’ve had a really low reading today so I don’t know if I’ve missed my window/chance! Or would the peak mean I ovulated yesterday?

I’ve had EWCM for a week. Yesterday evening I had heartburn and headaches (really unusual for me), a dull ache in my right breast and a slight cramp feeling in my right side. I also had a lot of EWCM. Today I have headaches and my right breast feels heavy, but other than that I feel fine. No EWCM spotted as of yet today but instead have very watery cm (not stretchy).

I’m worried that I’ve missed my ovulation window and will be out for this month. My partner had to work really late on 24/08/22 so we were unable to DTD then! He’s also away all day today for work and won’t be home until 11pm tonight meaning we won’t be able to DTD today either.

I’ve inserted my charts for this month - I would appreciate some guidance of whether this means I ovulated yesterday or whether it’s today. If I’ve missed my window then at least I know not to get my hopes up! My charts show when we DTD (the red heart symbol).

Thank you! ☺️

ovulation usually happens 12-36 hours after your peak. The best days are the days leading up to ovulation as sperm hangs around up to 5 days. Then the egg can be fertilised 12-24 hours after ovulation so day of ovulation is good too

looking at your chart you dtd 3 times in this fertile period so you’re definitely in with a chance

Second PP. Took me a while to understand this but here goes.

Period after your LH surge isn't always the best time to DTD actually, as the window between the surge and ovulation can be really short. If it's 12-36hs on average, and say you're on the lower end and identify your surge a few hours within that window, you literally just have a few hours left before ovulation. So you definitely don't want to wait for a positive OPK to have sex.

Then you have about 12 hours after the egg is released, but after ovulation the sooner the egg is fertilised, the better. Chances of MC increase with every hour of the egg hanging out there (you can look up the stats but MC increases rapidly as the egg ages). So what you ideally want is sperm fertilising the egg ASAP, as soon as it's released. For that to happen, sperm needs to be 'there' and 'ready' - both processes actually take time; it can take up to 10hs for the sperm to reach the egg and get ready to fertilise.

Given all the above, leaving your best DTD effort to after LH surge is not the best strategy. If you're lucky and your surge-to-ovulation period is on the longer side, it can work - but it varies month by month and again, how do you know how much time you have left by the point you get a positive OPK?

So - your best chances of getting pregnant are actually a few days preceding ovulation - e.g. see here: modernfertility.com/blog/research-ovia-study-fertility/. Especially if you have a good few days of EWCM - that's when you want to be having sex.

I'm not rubbishing OPKs - think it's useful to know when you tend to ovulate but it can be misleading for many women, and the likes of Clear Blue won't tell you that. I found tracking mucus changes much more helpful. If your mucus is fertile, it's time to start DTD and keep going until it's gone.

Best of luck x