When exactly do we ovulate?

[Hobbermittens]

If we are charting, we can determine that we O'ed on a certain day. Since we can really only know for sure in hindsight when it happened, how do we know WHEN we ovulated, exactly--the time, I mean? For example, if I O'ed on CD14, and I DTD on CD14 in the PM, was it before or after O? Is there any way to know?

[Cinss]

Unless you get O pains, i don't think you can pinpoint it that closely.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-VKgdhfNpY


BBC NEWS | Health | Ovulation moment caught on camera (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7447942.stm)

[atomic sagebrush]

We don't. Unless you're Tom Cruise and can afford your own personal ultrasound machine. :p

Even with O pains, you can't tell. You can get O pains before, during, and after ovulation. A lot of times, you actually get worse O pains on the side you don't ovulate from because it's swollen with eggs that didn't release while the other ovary released its most mature egg and it can kind of relieve the pain.

[atomic sagebrush]

Man the ovary in the video clip just LOOKS painful!!

[Mochagirl]

What about cervix changes? I know over on IG they're always trying to predict the exact moment for O+12, but it's been so many years since I was swaying IG-style that I forget. Does the cervix change and become firmer and closed right at ovulation or 12 hours afterwards? Or does that all vary from woman to woman anyway, making O+12 impossible to determine?

I'm SO thankful I'm not dealing with the stress of timing on top of everything else this time - that was soooo stressful when I was swaying with ds3 3 years ago.

[Hobbermittens]

My cervix doesn't close up right away, and my EW is still there a little, too. That's what confuses me so much. Unless FF is totally wrong, I tend to go by that and my temps. I usually get a temp dip on O day and then a rise the day after. But I guess I just wonder if I get the dip, and I know I will O that day, will it be 12 hours AFTER the temp, 18 hours, or what? I guess what I am really wondering is, did I time my BD right, or was it late? When people say to DTD on O day, is ANYTIME that day good? Or what?

[atomic sagebrush]

What about cervix changes? I know over on IG they're always trying to predict the exact moment for O+12, but it's been so many years since I was swaying IG-style that I forget. Does the cervix change and become firmer and closed right at ovulation or 12 hours afterwards? Or does that all vary from woman to woman anyway, making O+12 impossible to determine?

I'm SO thankful I'm not dealing with the stress of timing on top of everything else this time - that was soooo stressful when I was swaying with ds3 3 years ago.

I am ONE BILLION percent convinced that the cervix closes/hardens at different rates for different women and even varies from woman to woman each month. I've been paying attention to my cervix for 4 years now and I have found that some months it stays soft for days after I've Oed and other times it goes hard before I Oed. I've gotten EWCM days after I Oed and some months I didn't get any EWCM at all. Plus, remember how some of us are getting pos OPK for days after we O and others are getting these quick surges that are over in the wink of an eye? It just shows that every month is different hormonally and it probably has to do with a gazillion different factors, even things like how well hydrated you are that we don't even take into consideration.

I think that the whole "O+12 cervix" thing is wishful thinking. What else on the human body behaves like that, where it's exactly the same amount of time for each person every month??? Same old IG logic - how do you KNOW you BD 12 hours after ovulation? "Because my cervix was hard" How do you KNOW that your cervix gets hard 12 hours after ovulation? "because that's when O+12 is."

[atomic sagebrush]

My cervix doesn't close up right away, and my EW is still there a little, too. That's what confuses me so much. Unless FF is totally wrong, I tend to go by that and my temps. I usually get a temp dip on O day and then a rise the day after. But I guess I just wonder if I get the dip, and I know I will O that day, will it be 12 hours AFTER the temp, 18 hours, or what? I guess what I am really wondering is, did I time my BD right, or was it late? When people say to DTD on O day, is ANYTIME that day good? Or what?

I do not think there is any way to know at all. I think it's different for every woman every month. That's why I like the blue swayers to err on the side of getting pregnant and BD at pos OPK instead of trying to time it closer to O - if you wait too long, you'll miss the egg all together.