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  1. #1
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    Shettles method of timing for boy and girl Part 1

    HOW TO PREPARE FOR SHETTLES - please read the How-To for both genders because this method requires a working knowledge about what NOT to do as well. You may also want to read the O+12 section for the same reason.

    You will need OPKs (ovulation predictor kits) and a basal body thermometer, OR a fertility monitor. It is helpful to be charting your cycle on Fertility Friends http://www.fertilityfriend.com/ as far in advance as possible and you need to be familiar with the various types of cervical mucus. If your cycles are super regular and you already feel that you know what your patterns of CM are like, you don't absolutely need to chart, but it's best to chart for at least a month in advance just to give you an idea. http://www.gardenoffertility.com/cervix.shtml
    http://www.beautifulcervix.com/cervi...tos-of-cervix/

    With a cutoff, you can get away with charting only one month in advance. Try to take special note of how many days you have EWCM, how far in advance of ovulation it begins, and in fact just make as many notes as you can about the patterns of CM that you have prior to ovulation. If you are in a big hurry, buy a fertility monitor, they are very helpful with cutoffs (much more so than O+12)

    The "Three Primary Fertility Signs" referenced in the excellent book, Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler http://www.tcoyf.com/ and OPKs/fertility monitors, will be the key to pinpointing when you ovulate.

    In addition to the TPFS, you should also use an ovulation monitor/OPKs, and the data from previous cycles to help you determine when exactly you ovulate. Ovulation pains can help but should not be relied upon.

    TPFS #1 - WAKING (Basal Body) TEMPERATURE: Take your temperature first thing in the morning and track the information on Fertility Friend. However, if you are woken up a lot in the night, wake up a different hours every day, drink alcohol, regularly forget to take your temperature, or even are just really cozy under the covers one day or chilled another, your temps can be screwy. That's why you need to chart, because you MUST observe your temperature trends on a day-to-day basis over a few months, and not just here and there, to truly understand what's going on. Also, be aware that temps don't warn you that you're ABOUT to ovulate, they only warn you AFTER you already have. And, for a very small percentage of women, temping is ineffective (but you can still use CM and position to tell ovulation).

    Before ovulation, women's waking temps average between 97 and 97.7. After ovulation, your temps will sharply jump to 97.8 and higher and will stay that way throughout a pregnancy (you can tell if you're pregnant just by your temperature staying high for 18 days after ovulation, and if your temps drop you can tell if you're pregnant just by your temperature staying high for 18 days after ovulation, and if your temps drop suddenly that is not a good sign even if you have gotten a BFP).

    Please note - the temps jumping up indicates that ovulation HAS ALREADY OCCURED. You can't rely on your temp shift to predict ovulation because by the time the temp goes up, the egg is most likely already dead by that point. That's where OPK's come in (more about that in a minute).

    Some people may want to try taking a second temp in the evening (in the months ahead of your attempt) to help them better envision when exactly they ovulate. This has advantages and disadvantages, because your temps will not be reliable in comparison to your morning temps. Keep the two sets of temps separate and don’t be tempted to compare the two. They will follow similar but separate patterns and cannot be compared to one another.

    CERVICAL MUCUS - As you get closer to ovulation you will observe that your cervical mucus begins to get wetter, thinner, and stretchy, like eggwhite. Each cycle will be different, but for all of us, every cycle, the closer we get to ovulation, the more fertile our mucus becomes. (link) Here are links to a couple of amazing, but very graphic sites where you can see actual photos of the female cervix throughout the month and you can see the difference in mucus quality. http://www.gardenoffertility.com/cervix.shtml http://www.beautifulcervix.com/cervi...tos-of-cervix/

    Immediately after estrogen peaks and begins to drop, your progesterone will start to rise (your body assumes with every cycle that you have become pregnant and raises progesterone as a result.) Your cervical fluid will change abruptly. Even just a couple hours later the eggwhite mucus will have been replaced by a drier, more creamy CM, and if it was creamy to start with it may even be replaced by a sticky, dry mucus. (keeping in mind that for a girl, you WANT creamy CM, and for a boy you want eggwhite).

    The downside of using CM is that if you are taking supplements to dry up CM (to sway pink), particularly antihistamines, you may not even HAVE any CM to check and you‘ll have to rely on the less-reliable sign of cervical texture to help pinpoint ovulation. And if you're taking Robitussin/Mucinex (to sway blue), you may have so much CM that it's impossible to tell where exactly you are in your cycle.

    CERVICAL POSITION AND TEXTURE - Throughout your cycle, it is natural for your cervix to move higher and lower in your vagina and to be softer/firmer. (see above links if you want to help envision what these changes look like) Prior to ovulation your cervix will be firm, low, closed, and nonwet, which helps keep any foreign substances from entering the uterus. Around ovulation, your cervix will “SHOW“, that means it will be soft, high, open and wet (thanks to TCOYF for this handy acronym.) in order to allow CM to flow through and pregnancy to occur. This is the least reliable of the primary fertility signs because many things can affect the way your cervix looks and feels. Intercourse, pressure from stool in the rectum, even swelling from checking your cervix too much can all make it harder to judge what is going on. WARNING - Make very sure your hands are scrupulously clean when you check your cervix.

    OPKS - These are little test sticks that detect LH (the hormone that makes the egg burst from the ovary)which surges prior to ovulation. You can buy them at many places online, drugstores, and even at the Dollar Store!! Start using them about three days before you expect to ovulate and follow the directions on the package to use and read them. You will ovulate between 8-48 hours after you get a positive, on average, 32 hours after, but you will get a 'fade in pattern' of sticks growing slightly darker as the LH surge approaches that can happen a day or two in advance of a truly positive OPK. WARNING - unlike with pregnancy tests, you do not use FMU (first morning urine) for OPKs. You should test in early afternoon for best results because that’s when the level of LH in your urine is highest.

    OVULATION MONITOR - You can use an ovulation monitor to help you determine when you ovulate. This is a post in and of itself so I will just mention it for now. The different brands work in a variety of ways so just go off the directions that come with your monitor.

    USING PAST CYCLES TO UNDERSTAND FUTURE CYCLES - IF your cycles are very regular, you can sometimes use your past charts to determine when you typically O. This is terribly unreliable, but it can help sometimes when you have very little CM, and it DOES help you learn the ropes of your body - you’ll be able to make the correlation between CM and cervix texture and in retrospect, it will help you understand the pattern that your body seems to follow.

    OVULATION PAINS - aka mittelschmerz. Charting and monitoring your past cycles can also help you understand the different types of o pains. You may feel achy and tender before ovulation, followed by a sharp pain, popping, or twinging sensation at ovulation when the egg is released, and then cramping after ovulation as the Fallopian tubes contract to move sperm towards the egg and the egg down to the uterus. O pains will be felt on one side only unless you are ovulating from both ovaries that month. Further complicating matters is the fact that many people have cramps and tenderness in their uterus during ovulation as well. Don’t rely on them, but they can be a helpful secondary sign.
    Last edited by atomic sagebrush; February 13th, 2011 at 09:14 AM.
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  2. #2
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    PART TWO

    HOW TO DO A CUTOFF

    FOR PINK

    Firstly before you do anything, you must decide between a couple of options. Firstly, lower your husband’s sperm count, either abstaining for a minimum of 7 days prior to your cut-off attempt (not prior to O!) and preferably longer - many people have their husbands abstain for the entire cycle - or else by doing frequent release (and I mean FREQUENT - every day and preferably twice). You may even want to have him release once the morning of your attempt and DTD again later to further reduce sperm count. (this method relies on both timing and lowering sperm count to sway) OR secondly, you could DTD every day from AF until you decide to do your cutoff, stopping BD 2-3 days ahead of when you expect to ovulate, or when you get a positive OPK for a shorter cutoff of 8-48 hours depending on how long after your LH spikes. (This relies primarily on timing but your husband's sperm count will be lowered by DTD every day and it may help you get pregnant faster).

    Regardless of what option you select, try to go as long as you possibly can without having a female O and taking supplements to reduce CM is a great idea.

    4-2 days BEFORE your Peak Day of EWCM, you should DTD. Your Peak Day will be the day you have the most EWCM, usually the day you ovulate though the peak EWCM usually shows up a few hours in advance of ovulation so it may work out to be the day before. The Peak Day is usually the LAST day you have EWCM, you will be drying up by the next day. According to your previous month’s chart, you may notice that one-two days after your Peak Day, you will observe a temp shift, meaning ovulation is over for the month. You really can only tell this in retrospect, which is why charting ahead of time is so useful, you will be able to realize when in your cycle your Peak Day is.

    If possible, make your attempt in the morning. Sperm count/quality is lowest in the morning.

    Do NOT DTD again until you’re sure you’re no longer fertile. Use a condom until you have had three high temps on your chart.

    The point is that you’re trying to DTD as far as possible from ovulation but still enabling conception to occur. You may notice a few days before O, that you go from having virtually NO CM to having a creamy CM. If you chart in advance, you may see a pattern develop where the creamy CM is around for a day or two before the EWCM - you CAN use this CM pattern to do a cutoff. Just plan for your attempt when your CM is creamy and hasn't turned to eggwhite yet.

    OPKs to conceive a girl are really not that helpful for STRICT cutoffs, because by the time you get an LH surge it’s usually only 8-48 hours before O (average of 32 hours). But, if it’s helpful to you to use them and you’re not quite as concerned about timing, then DTD IMMEDIATELY after getting a positive. If you have a very regular cycle, start testing a few days before you expect O and if you have a more irregular one, wait until your CM starts to get wet (that way you won’t waste a bunch of expensive OPKs).

    There is also a technique called the "Fade In Pattern" (thank you to babydust for suggesting this) If you start checking with your OPK's a few days in advance of needing them, you may observe a pattern where the OPK's begin to get darker as the LH spike nears. By crossreferencing with your chart, you may be able to use the darkening OPK's to determine how many days in advance of ovulation you are when your sticks start to get darker and you'll be able to use that info to plan a 2-3 day cutoff. A second way to use the Fade In Pattern (again thanks to babydust) requires the use of a digital monitor. Use the regular opks and watch them as they begin to darken, and begin also checking with your digital monitor. When regular opk's are almost, but not quite positive and the the digi opk is still negative, make your attempt then - IF you have checked on your chart and this is truly 2-3 days in advance of ovulating for you.

    The Fade-In Pattern requires a bit of practice and it is not consistently effective for everyone every time. But the good thing is, even if you don't see your fade in for that month's attempt (meaning you suddenly have a positive on your OPKs or digital monitor and you were trying for a 2-3 day cutoff), you can always hold off on your cut-off and try for an O+12.

    You can also use the fertility monitors that test for estrogen or chloride ions in addition to LH (such as Clearblue Easy) because they actually will give you advance warnings that you are gearing up to O before you have the LH spike. They are expensive though. Just use them as you would the Fade-In pattern -chart for a couple months and keep track of how long it seems to take you to ovulate in comparison to what the monitor tells you and then once you have a good feel for it, use that info to time your cutoff.

    ABOUT 3-5 DAY CUTOFFS - Dr. Shettles thought that the longer the cutoff, the better. And this would ~seem~ to hold true with the idea of low sperm count swaying pink because most of the sperm would die off in that time. But longer cutoffs have had mixed results and some even believe that more boys are conceived with a long cutoff. No firm scientific evidence exists to support or debunk this idea. The truth is, 3-5 day cutoffs WILL prevent a lot of people from getting pregnant at all.

    For BLUE

    Firstly you need to do whatever it takes to raise sperm count overall and to produce copious amounts of EWCM to help as many sperm as possible survive.

    Feel free to have sex with female O as much as possible during the early part of your cycle (days where your CM is dry). Then as soon as you see ANY CM whatsoever, even if it is sticky or creamy, DO NOT have intercourse on those days. DO continue to try to have as many female O’s as possible during this time, and your husband should ejaculate every 2-5 days to keep his sperm count and quality optimal. Optimal sperm count is achieved with intercourse every 2-6 days with intercourse every 2-4 days seeming to achieve the highest numbers of heathy and viable sperm.

    Ejaculation from intercourse yields much higher sperm counts than masturbation, up to 70-120% more sperm than through masturbation, there is also a 25-45% greater amount of semen released and the sperm are healthier and more mobile. So if you are swaying blue and are tempted to try at-home HT, you may not want to, simply because your husband's sample will have lower sperm and semen than it would be if you had DTD.

    And be very careful about (sorry this is a bit gross) not cleaning the vaginal area much when you shower in the days leading up to O (do not bathe). You want as much EWCM as possible onscene to help as many sperm as possible to survive.

    For the actual cutoff itself, you are trying to time intercourse as close to ovulation as possible. A few hours before, a few hours after, but no longer than 4 hours after you ovulate should you DTD. Sperm quality is also best in the afternoon/evening as opposed to the morning.

    Anyway, if you have them, look at your charts to determine how many days of EWCM you usually have. Take note of the Peak Day and have intercourse on what you believe to be your peak day. Most advise to DTD only once. Do not DTD unprotected again (you CAN use a condom although it's probably best just to abstain because the condom itself may kill sperm) until you're certain you're no longer fertile and you've had three high temps on your chart.

    A NOTE ABOUT FREQUENT BD THROUGH O - Dr. Shettles believed that frequent BD through O swayed pink because more girl sperm lived and were onhand to fertilize the egg. This may or may not be true, but frequent BD through O or even just around O WILL help you get pregnant with a baby of either gender. (You CANNOT get your desired gender if you don't get pregnant, after all. ) So if you are doing a lot of other things that may make it very difficult to conceive, like drying up your CM and using gels or spermicide for pink, or if you are swaying blue but have fertility issues to begin with like low sperm count or hostile mucus, you may want to give it a try. But blue swayers, keep in mind that if you DTD every day, your husband's sperm count may be lower than it would be otherwise and you may not want to start doing frequent BD until right around O, so as to be more certain that the sperm numbers peak around ovulation.
    Last edited by atomic sagebrush; February 13th, 2011 at 10:53 AM.
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  3. #3
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    great info atomic!!! Thanks so much for this . The only thing I would want to add is trying the "fade in pattern" with the opk's. When you see the regular opk's getting darker, it means that O is soon, it helps to prepare you. When regular opk's are almost postiive, but not there yet...start taking digi opk's. If the digi opk is still -, but regular opk is almost +, that is when I would make my cut off attempt. Hope that made sense! haha

    I have many cycles of charting and it doesn't always work, as sometimes I don't see a fade in pattern, but it USUALLY works.

    If it doesn't work one cycle and you haven't dtd yet, and you already get a + digi opk, then my theory is you could always try for an O + 12 instead. The cycle isn't lost.

    Oh, and this method is for a cut off with abstinance before hand. You could also have Dh release everyday before the cut off as well.

    The other method is to actually dtd everyday from end of AF until you get a + opk. Cut off would be a bit shorter (like 1.5 days), but for some it might be easier. They don't even have to look for a cut off. The only hard part is actually DTD that much!!!

    Just my two cents!
    Last edited by babydust; February 12th, 2011 at 10:33 AM.
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  4. #4
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    THANK YOU! For some reason I could not get into the zone with this one. I will edit the essay to reflect that. ♥♥♥
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  5. #5
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    no problem! Happy to help
    = One little prince! (2008) and
    Two little princesses (2010) (2013) successful girl sways


    (my chart) http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/234f4a

  6. #6
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    just reading through this again, great info! The only thing though is where you say that it's best to dtd in the am since sperm count is lowest then, for some reason, I thought that sperm count was highest in the am and lowest at night? Just checking, thanks!

    Oh and for me, the use of the clearblue digital monitor was great just that it was never ever consistent. It helped me to see that O was near though, so it was good for cross-referencing with my other signs, just didn't follow it exactly cause every month it gave me different amount's of H's and started at different times. But definitely good to use in conjunction with the regular and digi opk's for a cut off. Too bad I couldn't use cm to help me with the cut off. My cm seems to change every cycle, so I don't have a patter with that. But I'm sure some women this will work for and would be really easy to follow.
    Last edited by babydust; March 6th, 2011 at 11:52 AM.
    = One little prince! (2008) and
    Two little princesses (2010) (2013) successful girl sways


    (my chart) http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/234f4a

  7. #7
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    This is another thing where there is so much freaking conflicting info that it is practically impossible to get it right. :/

    I read that those studies were debunked and that sperm count is highest in the evenings and that it's also more motile then.

    "Recent research shows that the best time of the day for sex if you wanted to get pregnant was in the early evening between 5 and 7 pm, when sperm counts are up to 35% higher and sperm are livelier"

    However, testosterone is usually highest in the mornings?? One of those things where we really don't know unfortunately.
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  8. Likes babybluedreamer liked this post
  9. #8
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    ahh, gotcha. cool, thanks for the info!
    = One little prince! (2008) and
    Two little princesses (2010) (2013) successful girl sways


    (my chart) http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/234f4a

  10. #9
    Swaying Advice Coach
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    Hold on, I just reread my essay and what I was saying is, have your husband release in the morning and throw that one away and then DTD again that night so the sperm count will be very low.

    The part in the blue swaying section says sperm QUALITY will be better in the afternoon/evening.
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  11. #10
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    atomic--I thought I read on here somewhere that most of shettle's theories have been debunked. Does a cut off really sway pink and if so how? What is the prime cut off, 3 days?
    2010 2012 2015--home water birth VBA2C!!
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