Charter's Anonymous

[LittleSilver]

I thought I'd start a thread for all of us who worship at the shrine of Toni Weschler, spend whole seconds analysing cervical mucus, slip over in the shower checking cervical position and spend two minutes every morning flicking their heads from side to side in a valiant attempt to stop a baby pulling the thermometer out of their mouths. Ladies, this thread is for all of us, may it see many many BFPs!

Hello MrsArch! So do you know roughly where you are in your cycle at the moment?

Welcome MrsArch. Just fyi, you can link your FF chart to here if you ever want another paiur of eyes on it.

Thanks for the welcome, everyone! Hippy no I'm not remotely offended you find my description of myself as fat and hairy funny - I know I do! I should have added 'short' in there as well... Perhaps I need to change my name to something hobbit related?

So exciting to read about pregnancies, and sorry that there have been some MCs too. This baby making thing is bloody hard work, isn't it?

I've put in my recent cycles into Fertility Friend but none of the other info like temp etc. When I look at the charts it says there is no ovulation data - I'm assuming that's because I've not entered other signs in? Or does it magically know I'm not ovulating? (Hope not!)

Also - a bit of a personal question: how do you assess cervical fluid? I couldn't find any info on this when watching the teaching videos on Fertility Friend. I thought they'd be frank about it, but I thought it was all a bit vague. I mean - should I be having a bit of a rummage and see what's on my fingers (sorry...) or just see what's on a tissue? Sorry to ask this, but I just want to know!

Also also also... Should I be using those ovulation tests that you pee on as well?

You'll be happy to know I'm borrowing The Book from my friend very soon, so won't have to pester you all so much. Do feel free to ignore me in the mean time.

And thanks littlesilver for suggesting I join you all!

No, no, questions are what we are all here for. We may not know the answers but we will have a jolly good try!

When you say you are just putting your "cycles" into FF, do you just mean bleeding info? If so, no, FF can't tell if you are oving from that. Need temps as well plus Cf and ideally CP info as well (cervical fluid and cervical position, sorry)

I assess CF when I do my CP check, unless I'm in the shower, in which case it's tricky. Whether you check internally or externally doesn't really matter as long as you are consistent in what you are doing (though can hold up my hands to susally checking externally unless I am desparate to find EWCM, in which case I'll check internallY!)

If you have a look on the TCOYF site (lovely girl, no sense of humour though), they have a photo gallery of CF pics. Don't surf and snack during that one.

Ov sticks, well, you could if you wanted to. Do be aware thought that they DON@T predict ovulation necessarily, they detch LH surges, which can happen without oving, or happen in lots of little surges several days before you ov. Either way, I'd be looking to other signs before an OPK, also checking temps very carefully afterwards.

Umm, anyone, have I missed anything?

Good luck!

Oh yes, don't worry about TMI on this thread; we can talk about CM until the cows come home!

beachtent if you've just put cycle dates into FF it won't know whether they are ovulatory cycles or not. It would need cervical mucus/temping data to guess at ovulation dates. So if you have that sort of data then add it in, otherwise just start from now, but previous cycle data will help with average cycle length calculations etc.

Assessing CM... Well, I couldn't see enough by looking on the tissue so I would wait until I had one of those "eew I have wet pants" moments and then dash off to the loo. I'd use my middle finger to wipe some off of the outside of me and then do the stretching between fingers trick to look at stretchyness/colour. Other people try and collect CM from their cervix, but I couldn't face it found I could assess it enough with, um, "exterior" collection. Hope that helps!

Ovulation tests - up to you really. It's worth being aware that they have some intrinsic problems. They do not detect ovulation, they detect the LH hormone surge that causes ovulation. They assume that you only have one LH surge a month, and that the LH surge is always followed by ovulation. Both assumptions are not always correct. The LH surge can also be very short and if testing daily it's possible to miss it.
Also they in theory tell you that ovulation is expected in the next 36 hours, which is quite vague.

That said I used them a bit and found them helpful to double check against other symptoms. However, if other symptoms implied ovulation was soon, but OPK didn't, I would disregard the OPK result.

If you're using them I recommend the internet cheapies (search Amazon you can get 30 for about a fiver).

Good luck!

x posted completely with you silver. We seem to be in perfect agreement

I usually go by what's on the toilet tissue unless I'm getting fed up with waiting then I have a rummage!!

I like OPK's - nothing like a good old line to encourage me. But as silver says it needs to be followed by a temp rise a few days later to confirm ov has occurred.

I'm on day 26 of my cycle but only started taking temps in the past week. TCOYF highly recommended.
CF is easy to spot (though only get a small amount of EW - alot of more 'globby' stuff) but unless i have a very low pre-ovulatory temp, i don't think I've ovulated as my temps in the past few days have stayed around 36.3/36.4/36.5. Based on CF alone, I would think I ovulated on day 20/21 but obviously not accompanied by higher temps. but I've yet to temp a whole cycle so early days I guess.

Well good evening ladies just casually dropping by... xx

hi guys, we've been away for the weekend, & you've been very busy on here, so sorry for the loong catch-up!

choccie I think you just have to SWI until you are absolutely sure you have O'd... if it drags on you may need to get some tips off hippy!

I had a fever one month, and had about 25 days of EWCM before my body finally gave up trying & I got my period. The next cycle I O'd really early (CD11 rather than the usual CD16) - so make sure you're paying attention next time!

littlesilver I've tried checking cervix position before, but just got myself confused. However, I read somewhere the other day that you should only do it once a day as it moves around throughout the day (which may explain my previous confusion!)

danilou I once fell pg around CD45, and a friend of mine has cycles around 6 months long and she has a beautiful 6yo daughter, so don't give up hope!
I snore sometimes too, so perhaps that's why my temps are so wobbly!?

I started vaginal temping just over a week ago, but the bloddy battery on the thermometer has died (it was an old one) so I can't report back anything useful.

beachtent - I have the thermometer you linked to on amazon & it's been good or me. I've bought some pre-seed, but haven't used it yet - I keep meaning to ask if anyone's used it & if so, how much?!
As for assessing CM... once you get the book all should become clear! When I first started charting I used to 'rummage' but I now do the same as silver

babyV - glad to hear you're feeling sick IYKWIM! . I've had a particularly un-stressful life this month, so can't think of anything which would have stopped me Oing...

I'm still confused by my chart this month, but have kind of given up this cycle now & am focusing on next time. My temp dipped on sat, so I thought I was going to have an early period, but it's back to 'normal' today, so perhaps it was just a weird one?

to all the bumps, hope you're all drinking plenty of fluids in this lovely hot weather?!

oh and "Hi" to MrsArch (sorry for being rude & missing you out ) my DD is 20 months old and I will be 38 in november, so we are practically twins!

Ladies..... Another question about the online fertility friend charting doo dah - I know I've only entered in my menstruation data, but it's telling me I'm ovulating today but I still have my period. That's got to be wrong?! I'm thinking it doesn't like the lack of CF and temp data? (Hope so... otherwise I'm totally confused). I do have an irregular cycle, which may also have confused it.

Also, if you have a retroverted uterus, does that make checking the position of your cervix different or harder? (I have one of those!).

Also, do any of you pay for the advanced membership on fertility friend, or is the standard enough? Standard seems very comprehensive to me!

Also bessie - I think the pre-seed lube had a review on Amazon that said not to use more than an inch at a time. hope that makes sense!

Sorry Littlesilver and spiltthetea - I read your posts last night, ingested them, learn them by heart, but never replied to them - sorry! Thanks for being so comprehensive in your answers, I really appreciate it! I do love it that we can talk about CF in such detail and we've never even met (probably!). I love mumsnet!

beachtent Welcome. If you click on 'Your homepage' in FF you can set it so people can see your charts anonymously. They give you a link you can send so we can see your charts and advise based on what we see. I am surprised FF is giving you an ovulation date without temps......

I pay for the VIP option: I love being able to overlay my charts to compare month to month (e.g. see mine here) and the enhanced search function is great too (i.e. search for charts that match my pre-ovulation temps etc). The list of extra features are here - most of which I would now feel lost without. Having said that, for straight charting purposes - I think the free version is totally fine.

I also use a CBFM instead of sticks. On one occassion my CBFM LH surge alerted me to possible ovulation so we SWI just in case. Ovulation was later confiemd by charting. If I only charted, I would have missed it because it happened earlier than usual. I'd have been devastated to waste a month (I'm 39, on a deadline towards considering IVF, and every single month matters to me), so with that experience I personally won't rely 100% on charting alone.

Having said that - I won;t stop charting either because I need the reassurance and confirmation that I did ovulate, and that the CBFM is doing what its meant too!

bessie I use pre-seed and we quite like it. Use as much as you need and if you need to. I did conceive in December using it although I am not sure I believe it improves odds. We also tried one called 'conceive plus' - external lube which you can buy in boots. I really didn't like it - found it very sticky. Weirdly, I also prefer the single use pre-seed applicators to the tube which I found very liquid and it got everywhere. But you maybe need to try both and see what you prefer.

Sorry I can't read through more but posting this when I should be working!

choccie what does CFBM stand for?

CBFM = Clear Blue Fertility Monitor - I love mine too for the exact same reasons choccie said

choccie & beach thanks for the pre-seed info. I also found the boots stuff to be quite sticky & yukky, so I hope this is better.

So would the cheapie ovulation tests not have detected possible ovulation in the same way the CBFM did? I see from reading about it that it charts your whole cycle - so do you have to test every day? Doesn't that cost a fortune?!

cheapie OPK's do work. I had a positive on a boots OPK yesterday so decided to put the cheapies to the test. Used one of them and it also gave me a good strong second line.

When i was trying before i never got a positive on an intenet cheapie and I began to wonder if they were just a bit of cardboard that they flog you. But no they defo do work. And are sooooo much cheaper.

beachtent, I used cheapy OPKs at first but found they didn't detect my LH surge. I was only doing them once a day though and I think it is possible to miss the surge occasionally that way.

I then bought a CBFM and found that very reassuring as I knew I (and FF) were interpreting my temperatures correctly. Also, as with choccie, one month I ovulated on CD10, and without the CBFM, I would have probably missed the opportunity and not swang at the right time!

But as hippy the internet OPKS are so much cheaper, so they're definately worth a try.

Hmmm. Interesting! So the cheapie tests we're all talking about are these ones, right?

btw what does OPK actually stand for? (Sorry I know I'm probably being particularly thick - can you imagine what I'm like when I'm pregnant?!)

Yep, those are the ones. OPK = Ovulation Predictor Kit (I think..)

OMG - I hadn't realized how cheap the cheapies were!

I saw once (on TCOYF i think) someone had taped all hers together so she could see the line get darker throughout her cycle...

FYI - you start POAS for the CBFM at the start of your cycle & do it for at least 10 days... sometimes you might have to do another 10 sticks if your cycle is long, but it is usually only one pack of 10.