Being more accurate for ovulation testing

[Pinkgiraffe34567]

Hello all,

We have been trying to conceive for a while now and so far I have been using cheap OPKs to roughly predict the day I will ovulate, and not doing anything else.

Usually I will have a darker line for 1-2 days of my cycle and I know that ovulation happens in the next 24 hours after that.

We’ve been DTD every other day in my fertile window on the basis that sperm can live for several days waiting for the egg, but I wondered if I can more accurately predict when ovulation happens?

Are there OPKs that give a reading as opposed to just a line? Is there a way of knowing exactly when the egg comes along?

Thanks all

If you use them with an app like premom, you can take a photo and it gives you a number. Might help identify a 'high' from a 'peak'. Saying that, it's still impossible to know exactly when you ovulate following the peak.

As you say, once you get a positive OPK (with the line equal to or darker than the control) you can expect to ovulate in 12-24 hours. You can also confirm ovulation by taking BBT, as your temperature rises by at least 0.3 centigrade above your pre-ov average. They say the best time to DTD is the 3 days in the run up to ov, ovulation and predicted ov+1 (presumably to cover all bases if the predicted ov day is slightly out).

Thanks I wasn’t sure about the temperature checking because I could be warmer because it’s a warmer day so unsure of the accuracy tbh. If you get a warmer temperature one morning does that mean that you’ve ovulated and the egg is there ready to get fertilised.

Thanks I might try that app. I think a lot of TV programs and films make it seem like you can exactly pinpoint ovulation. In the film ‘maybe baby’ she calls her husband home from work because she knows now is the exact time, I mean how did she know that?

I think Maybe Baby is just fiction 😉. Sadly it’s not possible to pin it down any more accurately than “probably within the next 24 hours”. But it’s the days in the run up to ovulation that are the most important - so the sperm’s waiting when the egg drops, as it were.

With BBT it’s more about the overall pattern than each individual temperature. Whilst illnesses potentially affect it, the weather won’t make much difference to your BBT. The important thing though is to get a thermometer that measures to 2 dp (you can pick one up for about a fiver from Amazon) and to take the temperature before you sit or stand up so it’s as close as possible to your resting temperature. Here’s my chart from the cycle I got pregnant.

Congratulations on your pregnancy.
Thanks what app is that? I might try it myself.

I use Fertility Friend - it takes into account the data you input much better than other apps I’ve used and the graphs are super clear.

Definitely BBT charting - I find even with weather varying and my not being consistent with the time, it still gives me a clear pattern and helps pin point ovulation.
but - unless checking with ultrasound you can’t know for certain.
some people are anomalies and can ovulate before LH peak and before temp shift in some cases, there’s a lot of variation, but the you van generally hope to pin point it better with both OPKs (and something like premom app to track the surge) and BBT charting, alongside cervical mucus and signs like ovulation pain

Thanks il look into that one

It’s not possible to pin point exactly when. At the point you have a positive ovulation test it’s roughly 24-36 hours later, I always just used easy@home ovulation tests and have a 1 year old & 6 month pregnant bump to show for it!