ovulation stick not detected ovulation!

[helips]

Me and dh have just started ttc baby no 2. I've been using ovulation sticks and am a bit confused. My cycle is normally 29/30 days long so I started using the sticks at around day 12. On day 12 the surge line was dark but not as dark as the test line. But then each day after it has been really light and I've got to day 16 and can hardly see the line. Does this mean that

a) I just haven't ovulated yet?
b) Might not ovulate this month?
c) Ovulated earlier than tested?

If the answer is c isn't it a bit unusual to ovulate so early in the cycle?

When I was trying for ds it took ages to conceive but if I remember rightly I think I did conceive earlier in my cycle. I was certainly surprised that I got pregnant that month!

TIA

I would hazard a guess at c) but I'm no expert... just done a lot of reading about OPK's. Also just because you get a line, it doesn't necessarily mean you've ovulated. It indicates the rise in hormone which should if it rises high enough release an egg... if not your body might try again... and eventually it will give up, the womb lining has got thick enough and you'll have an anovulatory bleed (which to you seems no different to a period). Hence sometimes you might get a line but it's not as dark as it should be to read a positive result. Given that 29/30 days isn't much longer than an average cycle it would suggest you HAVE most likely ovualted... however maybe it is earlier in the cycle as you suspect. Next cycle I would be ultra cautious and start on Day 9 so you get the full picture of the lead up to what you saw on Day 12 (assuming you are regular) and take it from there.

c) sounds most likely, especially if your cycle is usually regular at 29/30 days.

Agree with Weegle - start on about day 8 or 9 next cycle and go from there. Have you tried temping? That's the best way (without blood tests) to pinpoint whether or not you have ovulated.

btw I rarely get a line that goes as dark as the test line so I usually take the day of 'darkest' line as the day of my LH surge. I think this can happen because the actual surge can be quite short, a matter of a few hours, so it's easy to miss the 'peak' of the surge.

If you are ovulating on around day 12/13 and have a 29 day cycle that should be good as you have a nice long luteal phase which is supposed to aid conception. Good luck!

Thats interesting, didn't realise it would be so easy to miss the peak of the surge, they don't tell you that in the instructions!!

I will definately test earlier next month, is so annoying though as even though me and dh have only just started trying I'm already feeling impatient! On well, we did the deed last night and I will keep going in the hope that there is still a chance with conceiving this month, you never know!

What is temping? never heard of it before.

Also, don't know if this will effect ovulation but ds is still having one breast feed a day, could that mean I ovulate later? Heard somewhere that breastfeeding can give you a shorter luteal phase but to be honest don't really know what that means either! [bit thick emoticon]

helips... i have the same prob.. normally 30 day cycle and today ff has said i ovd on day 11... i too had lines on opks days 11,12 and 13 but i assumed i would of ovd later in cycle.... am confused and worried that i missed my crucial dates

helips - temping is when you take your temperature first thing each morning before you get out of bed. Your temperature will raise slightly after you have ovulated and stay high until your period starts - sounds a bit mad but once you see it plotted on a graph you will see the pattern. If you conceive your temp will stay high. It is important to use a basal body thermometer (you can get them on ebay for about £3, and I think you can also get them in chemist shops). Also important to take the temp before you have eaten/drunk anything as this can affect your mouth temp.

Your luteal phase is the time between ovulation and period starting - if you conceive this is when the egg implants.

If you sign up to this site there's tons of info and they will plot your chart for you (it's free, unless you want to pay for 'vip' membership with more features)
Fertility Friend

This site also has a lot of info about opk's and pregnancy tests:
peeonastick

Oh bubblebell, it's so frustrating isn't it. What is ff though? I feel like there is so much terminolgy out there that I don't know about. I have only ever used ovulation kits but have come to the conclusion that they are not overly reliable.

Thanks Carryonconceiving, that is very useful. I take it that fertility friend is what ff stands for!

Yes FF is fertility friend! (You get used to the terminology when you become obsessed by ttc!)

I've only ever used the cheapy opk sticks off ebay (it's the cheapest way to do it) - they work okay for me most of the time but I've got a regular-ish cycle and usually ovulate around the same time which helps. I do find that it helps though to test more than once a day around suspected ovulation time in order to increase your chances of catching the surge, which is where the cheap tests come in useful!

helips, I used clearblue opk and it never detected my ovulation. I was beginning to think I wasn't ovulating, but then this mornig I got BFP so I clearly did ovulate but test just didn't pick it up.

try not to worry too much xx

congratulations memoo.... did you have any other ov signs?

I had a 29 day cycle and after months of op tests looked at my bodily changes and changed when I used the tests. I ovulate on day 21- very late. Means only a 1ww but wished I had known sooner that my cycles are squiffy! Now a proud mother of two sons!

This will be far TMI but the only sign I really had was a change in discharge, I've heard people on here discribe it as egg white cervical mucus.

I have a 30 day cycle and this change in discharge happens about day 16

Congratulations memoo!

I haven't noticed any symptoms of ovulation this month, sometimes I notice more discharge (sorry) and feel a bit randy (again, sorry!) so maybe I haven't yet ovulated. I read somewhere that some months you don't ovulate so maybe thats what's happening. Will just have to keep on bonking and wait and see

Ovulation sticks finally detected ovulation on day 18! Just wondered though, does this mean I have a short luteal phase bearing in mind my cycle is 29/30 days or is this normal?

Hello 'the quiet one' I just wanted to check - if you only have a week between ovulating and starting your period does that mean you have a luteal phase of only 8 days? I thought you couldn't concieve with a luteal phase of less than 10 days? My last cycle was 21 days and I think I ovulated around day 14/15 which I thought meant getting a BFP was nigh on impossible!

Oh this ttc stuff is soooo hard!

Haven't heard that before, but then I'm not very knowledgeable on this conceiving malarky! Why is making babies so difficult?!