Anxious overthinker hoping to connect with your wealth of knowledge and positive attitudes.

[PoppyGirl222]

Hey everyone. Firstly thanks for choosing to read this and even more so if you’ve chose not to skip on past. I’m naturally quite a shy girl and after months of watching from the sidelines i decided to bite the bullet and sign up. I’m 38 (i know i’m pushing it age wise but i’m gonna give it my best positive shot). I fell head over heels in love later in life at the age of 36 and we’d love a little one together. We’re getting married December 2027. Anyway you probably don’t need to know that lol….rambling sorry, joys of anxiety. We decided to pull the goalie in December but this month i used an opk to just see. I’m not expecting to have been pregnant yet or anything but you all know so much and i’d love to know how the opks work? Mine went from so so light to bright overnight then pale again over the next night very quickly (3days). Do i stop trying now for this month because it’s lighted a bit or is there still hope this month, like does it fade even further or is it just the two levels of shade. They’re clear and simple and also the one step ones from Amazon. Thank you all so much for any help you may give me. xx

Some people have very quick peaks on the tests, so I'd say that's your positive (looking at the green). You should test twice/three times a day leading up to ovulation if possible and you'll get a better idea of it getting darker and then peaking. I think ovulation happens 8-20 hours or something after your peak so if your peak was yesterday it's probably happening today, and some people like to try today and tomorrow to cover all bases.
Since it's your first time testing you could keep going for a few days to see if that was definitely your peak.

Wednesdayonline
Thank you so much for taking the time to help me. I didn’t think of testing it a couple of times a day i guess i was treating it more like a pregnancy test in the mornings. That actually does make sense now you’ve said it. I’ll get the hang of it i’m sure but it’s daunting the first time because even though i’m seeing things i still wasn’t sure what exactly i was looking at iykwim. So, you think do the business again tonight and tomorrow too (like properly not just see where we end up kinda thing lol sorry tmi) and then go about it after that just for normal fun? I’ve my fingers crossed for myself this year, i suppose if it’s to be it'll be. Thanks for being so nice x

Yes I'd plan for tonight and tomorrow to do it properly! Mine is the same as yours, I usually having barely any line until day 18, peak on day 19 and then by day 21 it's gone again! So I test multiple times on days 17-21 just to make sure I've caught it :) good luck!

Wednesdayonline
Thank you. We did it tonight and we’ll do tomorrow too. We only started dtd on the 1st the other times would’ve been too early to count but next month should we be doing it earlier do you think? Obviously we do it other times for fun but we’re specifically doing it “properly & with purpose” lol during the fertile window. Are you trying like me too? Sorry if that’s too personal. My first test done 1/1/25 is actually day 9 which seems earlier than everyone else’s i’ve read on my travels. Does the day tend to change? I wonder does it matter if you ovulate earlier than other people? My period is regular as clockwork 27 days on the button. Gosh there’s so much to learn. x

There is a really good app called Premom and you can get the Premom strips to match on Amazon and input the data on there. I fell pregnant last month and it was only the second cycle using them! the first month we tried constantly, before during and after ovulation - period came. The second month I felt like I was ovulating, did a strip it was positive! So tried that day and the next…positive pregnancy test! So even if you just do it once or twice in that fertile window (a couple days before and after your positive test) that should be enough. Also a lot of people say to do it the days leading up to ovulation so the sperm is waiting for the egg. Hope that helps xx

Awww congratulations that’s awesome. Wishing you all the luck & happiness with your pregnancy. Hope that’s me one day. Oh great thanks i’ll look that up. That worked really quick for you that’s so brilliant. I worry my age might be against me, 38. I track my periods on a random period app the last 10+ yrs and i know it’s not a prediction of ovulation but it’s strange how it clumped everyone together as ovulating day 14. I peeked day 10. This is only the first month i started testing it. So does the day change? We did it the day before when it was light, the day of & the next after that because the line was really dark then only a little less dark and for the sake of it we did it again last night because the line was faded a bit but still there so thought it couldn’t hurt lol. It’s strange maybe it’s just me but i feel weird saying to him “right now be time”. Obviously we do it for fun throughout the month but it feels weird having to be “specific” about it these 4 days. Maybe i’m overthinking it. x

My period is due on the 19th of January so who knows, fingers crossed 🙂 we might be lucky.

@PoppyGirl222 thank you! The first month I ovulated day 27, it wa Amy longest cycle ever, then last month (when we were successful) I ovulated day 14! So don’t worry about which day you ovulate i don’t think it matters X

@Fashionlover123 It must be so exciting to be pregnant. I wish for it so much, it’s all i’ve ever wanted and honestly i thought i’d never get the chance then love found me. When are you due? Is cycle day 10 very early tho? I’m totally clueless to all of this. Anything i’ve learned i got from watching from the sidelines of this forum. Everyone on here has so much knowledge. I have a cycle of 26/27 days from one month to the next, been like that since i was a teenager and period lasts 4-5 days. Don’t know if that’s all good or bad but i suppose you gotta play whatever hand you’re dealt and hope for the best. I read about the two week wait, i take it that is literally what it sounds like (you wait two weeks from now) there’s no early signs of “oh i think i’ve done it right this time”? x