Those of you ttc with irregular cycles...

[digitalgirl]

How do you know when you're ovulating?

I was temping when ttc ds, but now we're ttc #2 and co sleeping with ds it's just not practical to temp. So I'm looking out for ewcm and checking my cervix position.

I don't bother with opks as I've had 'false positives' with those in the past.

Thing is I'm clearly mistaking semen for ewcm so I'm thinking I'm fertile pretty much whenever I've had sex. We're trying for the blasé just have sex when we feel like it but tis difficult to be spontaneous with ds around and in our bed - a certain amount of planning goes into maintaining a regular sex life.

My last cycle was 37 days. The cycle before that was 23 days. Before that I had a miscarriage at 5 weeks (according to the scan) but it was 11 weeks since cd1.

So with cycles anything from 23-37 (pre-pregnancy I'd had cycles as long as 40-50 days) it's a long old slog. Just wondered if there was anything else I could be checking so I could have some idea as to when to expect my period.

I'm cd27 today and cervix is so high I can barely reach it, it's been getting rounder and higher since Thursday when prior to that it was low and pointy. However cm is only creamy not ewcm. And I've been having cramps for the past 4 days. Am I alone in having such a long build up including days of cramping prior to ovulation?

DG

Such problems are often caused by hormonal imbalances. Have you ever been checked out medically to see if there are signs of polycystic ovaries (a common cause of such problems) or thyroid imbalance. Both can cause irregular periods to arise. Having false positive results with OPKs (did they show positive every day you used these?) could be another indicator of a hormonal imbalance.

With such irregular cycles you may not be ovulating regularly if at all (it is quite possible to have periods without ovulating).

Would not actually bother with checking cervix position as this may cause you more stress in the longer term. I would instead go all out to establish the underlying cause with a gynaecologist (are you under the care of such a person?) and work from there. If the underlying cause is one of the above it can be treated.

Have you tried a proper fertility monitor like Clearblue? It's much more sophisticated than OPKs and it caters for people with irregular cycles well. It monitors your hormones from the start of your cycle so it can pick up rises and falls over time which indicate high fertility/ovulation.

I have ridiculously irregular cycles (my last one was 79 days! The previous one 58). This kind of long cycle means no ovulation at all. Between my two kids I was experiencing the same thing - I took a small amount of Clomid to induce ovulation and used the Clearblue monitor - it worked a treat and I was pregnant within one cycle.

Thanks ladies, haven't considered going to a gynae yet because of my mc in November. If I have been pregnant recently then I have ovulated recently - and that was while breastfeeding when my cycles were between 6-10 weeks long. So assumed they would ask me to wait a few months before having any tests.

I've always had longish cycles, but managed to get pregnant with ds and then again last nov so am blindly assuming that I am ovulating just never the same time each month.

Before ds I did go to a gynae about long cycles but by the time they got round to doing the day 3 and day 21 tests I got my bfp. So the reasons behind my long cycles never got investigated and tbh I don't mind that they're long as long as they're fertile.

How have you found using the cbfm? Do you get more than one peak as your body makes more than one attempt to ovulate? If so did you find that stressful?

When ttc ds I was using digital opks in one cycle. I got a smiley face one weekend. After a week of negatives. Tested again the next day and it was gone. So assumed I had ovulated. Two weeks later, no bfp and no af. A further two weeks later I got my period. So am assuming I got the luteal surge but no egg. hence I don't use them anymore - isn't the cbfm based on thus sort of testing?

Checked my cp again this morning and it's still very high. So am continuing to have regular sex until it changes again. If no change after a week I'll do a test. I'm quite good at guessing when I've ovulated in hindsight but would quite like to be better at knowing at the time.

Perhaps will go to gp after this cycle and see what he recommends.

DG

If you have had consistently had long cycles I would ask the GP about this sooner rather than later. Blood tests can be done to see what your hormone levels are like. Both PCO and thyroid problems should be checked for.

A day 2 test would be very useful to measure and compare your LH against that of your FSH. Both LH and FSH are v important as they kickstart the ovulation process, if these levels are awry then ovulation can be affected

An important point to remember also is that these tests can actually be also done according to calendar days so you don't necessarily have to wait until the next period.

The CBFM detects estrogen as well as LH so you get lots of advanced warning of ovulation - I think that's why it is so helpful.

I generally assume if a cycle goes on for more than 50 days, no ovulation has taken place.