OPK's - worth it or stressful ?

[ecossegirl91]

Hey there

I am starting to try for baby #2, I was super lucky last time around for baby 1 that i fell pregnant straight away after stopping the combined pill (microgynon) - I never had a true period after my withdrawal bleed.

I came off the pill again (same brand) in August, last pill was 14.08 and withdrawal bleed began on the 18th. Hubby & I basically then dtd every day / every other day from the day the bleeding stopped as I had no idea where in my cycle I was, or when it would return and that approach worked 2 years ago (although we know we were lucky and fortunate).

My first true, natural period has arrived today (18/09) basically 4.5 weeks after stopping so although not pregnant, I hope that this is encouraging though I know it can still take time for cycles to settle.

My question is, for the next few cycles, is it worth using opk's or continuing just dtd often from like CD8 (SMEP method basically, but we will probably keep dtd way past ovulation just cos, well why not haha!)

Or are opk's more stressful and if we are dtd often enough then chances are we should, hopefully catch, at some point, all being well?

sorry just to add my age, im 33 now, and was 31 for baby 1.

You’re exactly me!! 31 first baby, 33 pregnant now. I had my IUD removed in July, had a withdrawal bleed, 1 period and got pregnant this cycle. Personally I used OPKs because I felt like for me having the info helped, although if you’re DTD that regularly it won’t make any difference to your chances.

For info, we managed to DTD on O-3 and O-2 this cycle, and it worked, so every other day should cover you!

and yes it can take time, personally I didn’t find opks stressful, but I DID find early pregnancy testing extremely stressful. The faint lines stressed me out, and not seeing it darken as quickly as I thought it should really got to me. I think it turns out the brand of test I have is just showing quite light for me, but I took so many tests waiting for it to darken

Oh wow @MrsKurz very similar! I hope I’m as lucky as you and can catch this cycle! We are on holiday this month so perhaps will skip the opks for now and maybe start them later in the year if no joy! But fingers crossed 🤞🏻

My period just started, so I’m happy at least now I know for sure I’m out this cycle.

moving on to October TTC chat !

Yeah you’re still super early in your journey! We definitely don’t DTD as often as you so that’s definitely another reason I did OPKs 😂