TTC - July 2026

[Milennialworkinprogress]

Moving from the June thread, baby dust to all!

Wow @2littleonesx that’s amazing! Congratulations and fingers crossed for you! How does your dh feel? You said he said this was the last chance right? What amazing news for you

Hi ladies! Looking for OPK advice if anyone can help!

I’m on cd6 today and my period has now stopped. I’ve never used ovulation strips/tests before, but ordered some easy@home ones to give a go this month.
I normally have a regular 28 day cycle. I have endometriosis though and struggled conceiving my first baby, so I want to be more sure this time.
I would say ovulation symptoms start around cd13 or so but I actually think I ovulate much later - for example I’m pretty sure I ovulated on cd19 when I conceived my LO!

so my questions are: what day would you start testing? Should I test more than once per day? I usually bleed during ovulation - would this affect results? Do I need to get the app?

will obviously research things too but often find anecdotal advice to be very insightful when it comes to ttc/gynae stuff!

thank you!

Yes, book that gp appointment! If it'll help you in the long run, good!

I'm ok! Dealing with nasty mental and physical symptoms but still powering through. My opk levels are rising very slowly. Only DTD twice, even though I said I would be doing it every day - as if! Been busy painting each night 😂

Congratulations! ❤️

I'm sure I've read that it's not advised/recommend (not sure what word I'm looking for) to use opk tests when you have PCOS? Is this a thing?

Start testing after your period to gain a pattern, or wait until cycle day 10- onwards - it's completely up to you.
Usually when the result is getting higher, you test more than once few hours apart.

I've read it's best in the afternoon, or evening, not FMU like a pregnancy test.

That being said I'm sure a surge can happen anytime, even in the morning haha, so do what ever works for you!

Congratulations @2littleonesx , that's fantastic news!

@Fifii I usually ovulate at cd19 and start testing at cd9 or cd10. I try to test twice a day but don't always catch the surge (assuming it happens). Moat recently midday and evening were best but its all a bit trial and error.

I'm 7 dpo today and already having to stop myself testing which I know will just be pointless and disappointing!

@Fifii My cycles are regular too 27-29 days. I don't do them every cycle as sometimes I get quite stressed out by tracking but I normally start around CD10 which I would probably recommend for you too if your cycles are 28 days. You probably ovulate around CD14.

OPKs are only positive when you have a line as dark as the control line, it doesn't matter if there's a second line if it's lighter than the control line. Once you have a line that's as dark as the control line that's your peak and you should normally ovulate within 8-20 hours of the peak. You release LH in the early hours of the morning but it takes a while to be detected in urine so you want to test in the afternoon. Although I know some people will test 2x daily when approaching their peak between 10am and 6pm.

The days leading up to ovulation are as important as the day of as sperm can survive for 5 days in the reproductive tract but the egg only lives 12-24 hours (sorry if teaching you to suck eggs). I'm trying the sperm meets egg method, the idea being the the sperm is ready and waiting when the egg is released.

You can get free apps like premom where you can scan your opk and it will tell you when you've ovulated. Bear in mind though that the only way to be 100% sure is probably ultrasound so just DTD as much as you can in your fertile window. OPKs are a good extra tool to have alongside CM and BBT if you want to use it. I personally find it too stressful adding extra layers of tracking on but I know some people use BBT to confirm O and stop after that. Good luck, I hope your stay is short this time around <3

Hey :)
Trying for baby number 2 - cycle 10 of trying after falling pregnant first try last time!

good luck to everyone! Xx

@Fifii it was my first month of opks this month, I just started as soon as my period stopped because I knew I’d be wondering later in the month if I’d missed it. When it got closer to when I thought I ovulated I started testing twice a day to make sure I didn’t miss the surge. As it happens I didn’t need to do the second test really, but I couldn’t have known that. I actually ovulated at a completely different time to when I thought, almost a week later! So I’m really glad I did it now.
as others have said you won’t know you’ve actually ovulated though without an ultrasound or at least bbt to give a good indication.

Hi everyone, I'm now 8dpo and don't know if it's just wishful thinking but I caved and did a test with fmu and am sure I see something - though could be an evap line. Anyone see anything too or am I seeing things?

Congratulations! Hoping this one sticks for you! 💛

Hi! Best of luck this cycle, I am also on cycle 10 but TTC #1

congratulations!

Hi!! Thank you! I am and I’m actually feeling better than ever so do think the illness literally reset me!

I feel I’m a bit behind on your latest update?? So I did try the superwoman by SHREDDY for a bit and that helped I think? But last month I did no supplements what so ever and all my
pms symptoms basically calmed down. I’ve now gone back to just my multivitamin I was just taking when I had my CP but my husband is also taking the male version now too.

Ive also now started running as that is what I did in the 3 months pre my DD conception!

have you gone to the GP? How long did it take with your other pregnancies?

Thanks so much everyone! I think after the initial shock wore off he has come round to it, just nervous and hoping they stay put! Xxxx

My AF has arrived right on time. That's the tenth cycle of trying with no success. I feel so down. It just feels like it's not going to happen for me at this point.

@Jigglemonster i see it!
you’ve inspired me to wait until 8dpo too because I know I was going to cave at 7dpo before

Oh I’m so sorry @Maomee it’s so difficult dealing with the disappointment for a few days.
have you spoken to your gp? You’re still within the normal realms of how long it takes though so try not to be too down about it, I know it’s hard

Thank you for your kind words.
I know it's still technically in the normal range that most people conceive but I can't help but feel something is wrong as we've always timed things so well almost every cycle and I do usually have heavy and painful periods which makes me think something may be wrong.

I am going to have an appointment later this month where I can discuss this more and we're still waiting for my partner's semen analysis come back so we are beginning to look into things. I'm just scared that things are going to take much longer than we'd hoped. I think another part of it is the fact we started trying when I was 33 and I'm 34 now .at this rate I'll be at least 35 when I have a baby if I ever do, and it now looks likely it may be even later. Just so worried about any underlying problems and the fact these things only get worse with time .

Sorry to vent 😭 I just don't really have anyone to talk to other than my partner and he gets upset too.

Vent away! It’s hard when you can’t talk to people irl about it and it’s all just in your head. I used to always say I don’t mind if it takes a year or more as long as I know eventually we’ll get there, the waiting isn’t the hard part it’s the not knowing!
Hopefully for you it’s just bad luck so far that will change soon, or it’s something easy to fix.
and the chance each month is pretty low really anyway, sooo much has to go right to get pregnant! It doesn’t necessarily mean anything is wrong.
fingers crossed for some helpful results for you when the analysis comes back and with your appointment, all you can do is keep trying until then.
I’d say though most of my friends had their first at 35/36 if that helps even a tiny bit, I think you still have plenty of time

Hi all, 9dpo - does anyone see anything? I don’t think so but also have line eyes 🤣

I see something!

Thanks for the encouragement! Will get on to the GP.

Sorry to hear you are suffering! That’s sounds really hard. Dont push yourself to dtd when you’re not feeling well. With the Lh tests being so low you probably don’t have to worry at the moment about missing it! What are you painting? Are you renovating?

With the PCOS and Lh tests, I have read that too. However they do seem to work for me in that the surges in Lh do coincide with other signs of fertility eg EWCM. I just have more than one surge per cycle (three this cycle!) as I seem to fail to ovulate a lot… so go though a lot of Lh tests as I keep testing throughout the month in case there is another surge!! Guess everyone’s bodies are different though.

So glad to hear you are feeling better! That is excellent news! Have your cycles settled down? I remember they were a bit all over the place in terms of length?

Running sounds good! I need to do more exercise really. Just trying to find the energy at the end of the day when I just want to curl up in bed! But, you are right, I’m sure exercise contributes to general health and so a healthy cycle.

Maybe I should try getting DH on something too. He is so rubbish at remembering though 😂

I haven’t gone to the GP. Just feel it’s unlikely to do anything as I already have children and so they won’t help! But, as shown on a thread linked above, I might be being unduly pessimistic. It probably depends a bit on health board too and can’t find a lot of whether ovulation induction is offered or not by mine. But I think I will get an appointment booked ( though they probably won’t be able to see me for a month knowing my GP!)

First pregnancy was 7 months, 3 cycles. Second pregnancy was 2 weeks after getting the coil out! So this is my longest TTC attempt.