Pos OPK, atomic question please!

[CattyPad]

Hello,
Me again...!
Just looking for reassurance..!
I did an opk yesterday and got a faint line, but An hour after it was dark, which I guess is a false positive? Today it looked positive but not super dark, so will retest in a while.

Bit of info, I am on CD15, DH did FR on CDs 9,11,12,13 and 14, so only 5 times :( and my PH has tested 5 for the last 5 days. Today there was no CM so I couldn't test.

Should we dtd tonight?! Or FR today and dtd tomorrow?!

And there is a new moon on Virgo tonight :D

[atomic sagebrush]

Well - if you're in a big hurry to get pregnant, then have an attempt now and then again in 4 days' time.

if you prefer a better sway I'd wait till tomorrow and hope for true positive (sorry I'm not quite following if you got a positvie or not?)

[maidentomother]

Can you post pics with the days/times they correspond to? It is/can normal to get a positive one time of day and a negative at another. Also urine concentration plays a role so keep an eye on how dark your urine is.

Was your darkest OPK yesterday darker or lighter than your darkest one today?

[CattyPad]

Thank you so much for your replies. Well I am not too sure I got a positive either, my opks are ebay cheapies you see!

My "false" positive yesterday was darker than my true positive today. And the urine was darker today.

Would it be better to FR today and dtd tomorrow? I am gonna opk again now and I can,post pics of the one earlier and this one. Sorry if this seems a stupid question, I am new to opks :(

[CattyPad]

20566

The one on the left is earlier today, looks positive right? It was about 6pm and darker urine. The other one was 9pm lighter urine and looks negative?! Confused!!

[CattyPad]

Hello,
Not sure if you guys saw my last post with the pic? Bumping just in case.
I tested twice more yesterday and both were negative.

Do you think that pic above was a false pos as the three tests after were negs or did I miss O?
Thanks :)

[CattyPad]

Bump....please....! Could I have missed ov going by those pics?
Confused and disappointed here... :(

[atomic sagebrush]

Sorry, I can't guarantee quick responses except in the Custom forums!! :nails:

I know it sucks, but honestly you can't tell that much by the darkness of tests or when they go dark and how long they stay dark for. You'll ovulate 8-48 hours after that first positive regardless of whether you get a darker one later on. All the darkness of the tests indicate is how much LH is in your urine. It's a lame technology really but it's all we got. :)

SO what the important thing is, is that you are in with an attempt every month that passes, and you want it to be before ovulation occurs, not after. If you get something that is nearly positive, it's fine to have an attempt then. Both 2 and 1 day before ovulation are good odds of conception. What I don't want to see you guys doing is hemming and hawing about whether your OPK is actually positive or not, in the meantime you ovulate and are out for the month. :/

Having your attempt precisely at pos OPK - it really doesn't matter - the reason I say one attempt at pos OPK is to make it EASIER on you, not because I want you to slavishly stick to that. It's fine to have an attempt a little before or even the day after a pos OPK if that's how it is easiest.

[CattyPad]

Hello atomic, sorry to be so insistent, i was kind of desperate :/
Well ever since monday when I posted that pic my opks have been getting lighter and lighter :( i honestly thought it was a false pos opk cause when i tested two hours later to confirm it looked neg :(
Ah well leason learnt!
I think we are gonna dtd tonight in case there is anything left lol...!

I am just so annoyed with myself after all the FR which to be honest was quite stressful lol!

[atomic sagebrush]

No,not at all, I was just explaining. :)

I know we talked about this a little bit but I have no qualms about you guys losing the frequency stuff. God's honest truth - I made them up 3 years ago, based on some sperm studies, but they aren't working. I really don't want you guys to feel this need to stick slavishly to something I basically pulled out of my tush, that was nothing more than an educated guess and now is best viewed as an experiment that has not really worked out.

[maidentomother]

LH levels fluctuate throughout the day. Most women's LH will peak in the afternoon, so it's common to only get positives then and negatives in the morning and at night. My darkest OPKs are around 3pm and are MUCH lighter at other times of day. It sounds to me like you probably just had a short surge - though I'm not clear on whether you had 2 positive OPKs over 2 days or just one? What CD are you on currently and how long are your cycles usually?

I would personally just BD every 4 days starting immediately, for the next 1-2 weeks, if I wanted to be sure I didn't miss O this month.

[CattyPad]

Thank you maiden, i am on cd18, my cycles were 33 days but lately more like 30/31. I had only one pos opk but as it was dark urine/dehydrated i thought it was false...i tested 2 hours later and it was neg you see...so i got confused, still dont know if it was a pos, but all opks since have got lighter and lighter.
Doyou think that was my O? I am so new to this.
I am sorry if i am being a pain!!

[maidentomother]

Not a pain! Unfortunately, I have no way of know whether you Oed or not with any certainty. If you were temping and charting cervical mucous, cervical changes etc I could make a good guess. It is possible it was a false positive bc you only had one...how much lighter was the OPK 2 hours later? Was it almost positive or nowhere near?

I think you should keep tesing with OPKs and if you want to TTC this cycle, keep BDing every 4 days.

[atomic sagebrush]

WSS!!

[CattyPad]

Thank you maiden, I appreciate your reply :)

The only "positive" I had is the one I posted the pic of on the 25th on this same thread, I was on cd15, take a look if you can please, on,page 1. The day before I had a negative but left it on the bathroom and an hour later was a lot darker but I dismissed it as it was neg at the beggining?

Then from day 16th onwards I hardly had any cm in case that means anything. And all my opks have been neg since.

Today I had some cm again. And today I had a neg again but we dtd anyway as we hadn't had any attempts this month :( :( I am on cd20, my cycles are about 30/31 days at the mo.

Sorry for the long boring story ;)

[CattyPad]

What's wss? ;)
And, what's a short surge, do you ovulate after one anyway? X

[atomic sagebrush]

What's wss? ;)
And, what's a short surge, do you ovulate after one anyway? X

What she said! I was agreeing with Maiden.

A short surge just means that your body clears out the LH quickly so your tests are only positive a short time. Yes, you still ovulate. the LH surge is a message that your body is sending to itself and it gets the message even if is is one whisper vs. shouting the same thing again and again.

[maidentomother]

Okay, I understand it all now; I'm used to looking at charts where all the info is laid out graphically and I'm a bit slow trying to piece together the picture from words alone! So thank you for patiently explaining everything. :) It sounds like you had an almost positive on CD14 then a positive on CD15. Did the negative 2 hours later on CD15 still had a strong second line, just not dark enough to be positive? Like more than half as dark as the control line? Or was the test line very faint/blank?

Along with CM drying up, I'd guess you Oed around CD16. However, it is still possible you didn't O then and will O soonish. Swaying is notorious for delaying O. I'd keep on BDing every 4 days just in case you didn't O already. You can keep testing with OPKs once daily (I'd test at the time of day you got your one true positive) if you want the insight, but if you find it stressful I'd drop testing.

Btw, I find this stuff really interesting, not boring in the least! I also have a very short and also 'weak' surge (I don't get true positives), so I know how frustrating OPKs can be, especially when swaying. If you want to give OPKs a try again next month, I suggest a different, more sensitive brand of OPK that will hopefully give you some more advance warning and show gradual darkening as your surge approaches. Wondfos from amazon or CVS/Walgreens brand generic OPKs are the most sensitive to my knowledge. But if you decide to forget about OPKs and BD every 4 days to avoid stress, I think that's wise, too.

[CattyPad]

Thanks you both so much, I am learning tons!

Maiden, the pic of my two opks from day 15 are on this thread.
My cd14 opk was neg, but looked positive a few hours after, hence me dismissing it....!

I dtd'd on cd20, DH had FR'd 6 times up until cd15, then abstained (not on purpose, just kind of happened) until the dtd on cd20, if I miraculously had o'ed would that be a good or bad sway lol! What a mess for my first attempt huh!

[maidentomother]

I looked at those OPKs again. Definitely switch brands, those don't look sensitive enough for you.. I do think you probably Oed around CD16. The OPK on CD14 you described that later turned positive I would consider an almost positive.

As for FR/abstain, I don't think that matters in terms on swaying. But if you Oed CD20 or later, which is always possible, then one attempt is great for pink.

And while one attempt is certainly important for swaying pink, lately Ive been more and more convinced that diet is the by far the strongest factor. So much that doing the LE diet well and multiple attempts likely sways more than one attempt & eating a boy-friendly diet.

[CattyPad]

Thank you, you are so kind to take the time to explain everything to me :)

Well this is the thing, I am not dieting, BUT, we have very little meat, I keep losing weight lately (I guess from chasing my DS) and we keep joking we are malnourished lately as it's the summer and we keep taking sandwiches to the beach then having light dinners, red meat just once per week, hardly any potatoes, ice cream or yoghurt once per day...am also on a fibre supplement prescribed by my doctor. Is that any good?

As for opks I think I will ditch them once they run out....as they drive me insane and that's not good huh lol!

[maidentomother]

That sounds quite pink friendly. :) If you cant/wont do the diet, one thing you can do is limit overall fat and in particular saturated/monunsaturated/omega-3 fats (butter/high fat dairy, olive oil, coconut oil, red meat - these are best avoided or consumed small amounts). Just paying attention to & reducing fats in addition to limiting overall caloric intake, which you're already doing, can do a lot to sway. Limiting meat/protein is also great!

[CattyPad]

Thank you :) I guess I should tone down my addiction...cheese lol! ;)

[maidentomother]

Or just eat low fat cheese/small amounts of fattier cheese. I LOVE cheese, too. We've got to get SOME protein & fat, after all. :D

[atomic sagebrush]

I really don't want anyone doing more than one attempt if they can possibly avoid it. :)

also do not think FR or abstain is doing anything that can be relied upon.

[atomic sagebrush]

YOu don't have to do the LE Diet to the letter to get the benefits of diet swaying pink. :) Any changes you make in the direction of lower everything, only help you TTC a girl.

I have an essay on the types of fats here: http://genderdreaming.com/forum/gender-swaying-general-discussion/39013-skinny-fats-pink-blue.html

[atomic sagebrush]

Thank you :) I guess I should tone down my addiction...cheese lol! ;)

When I got my last two boys I ate(or had been eating for like 5 yrs before, since I stopped doing that when TTC my 4th) either 1/2 c nuts or 4 oz mozza or mild cheddar cheese every morning for breakfast. When I TTC my daughter, I skipped breakfast and ate cream cheese occasionally but mostly American cheese and Velveeta. And anything I didn't absolutely NEED cheese on, I would skip it. Like burritos - normally I would have put cheese on them but I just dropped it and had beans and salsa or bean/rice/salsa mix when I was feeling ambitious.