Help with Clear Blue OPK and TTC pink and timing

[atomic sagebrush]

There is something called the secondary estrogen surge that occurs midway thru your luteal phase and it can make your OPK go positive. Your body releases a burst of estrogen that helps to maintain the uterine lining and this can "trick" the OPK into giving a false positive. So sometimes people will O early and either miss it (since it's earlier than they expected) or it's one of those annoying false negatives where the hormone in your urine isn't detectable but it's enough to trigger O by the amount in your blood******, then 5-9 days later whammo the secondary estrogen surge occurs and then that does show up on the OPK.

OPK suck, unfortunately they're the best tech we have. :/

[downundermumma]

Oh gosh, thank you! Good to know! I'll start tracking a bit earlier and if we bd e4d next month anyways, I shouldn't have to rely on the OPK as much anyways.

Thanks so much again, you're such a wealth of information!

[downundermumma]

Sorry one last question Atomic, I cannot find instructions for e4d for a pink sway, do you mind linking this to me? Thanks!

[atomic sagebrush]

I don't really have that written up as such in essay form, since it's new and I don't totally trust it yet.

You can do e4d two ways. One is having attempts on the 4th day, so you'd BD every 4th day. You'd start on the 1st day (just starting it the day after your period) and then count 1,2,3,4 and have attempt on the 4th day. Or, you can stretch it one more day and have it on the 5th day. Most people do it on the 4th day, this ends up in the worst case scenario to be an attempt on O-3 and O Day.

The advantage of the 4th day is that it does boost odds of conception more - there is no chance you won't be in with somewhat of a viable attempt. But the 5th day, while lower odds of conception, may be better odds of pink.

[downundermumma]

Thanks so much for clearing that up for me!

[MamaT]

I hope this is replying to the forum and not a private message. This is my first ever post, so I hope I’m doing this right. If not, I apologize! My DH and I are TTC a girl. We BD on the 16th and my CB OPK showed solid smiley this morning (the 18th). Should we BD tonight or is that too close to ovulation?

[atomic sagebrush]

Hi Mama T! Yes this is the forums!

The rule of thumb in this situation is to consider what YOU want from your sway this month.

If you want the best chance of conception but possibly lower odds of pink, have another attempt.

If you want a better chance of pink but (definitely!) lower odds of conception, stick with the attempt you've had.

And if you really can't decide, then flip a coin and do what the coin says.

It's going to be a longshot for you to conceive with that timing but it is possible. If you would like to split the difference, what you can do is wait till tomorrow and then have an attempt. That way, if there was anything left from the first BD on the 16th, it will have had a shot at the egg, and if there isn't, the next BD will have a chance.

At the end of it all it's totally up to you and you have to do what you feel comfy with.

[MamaT]

Thank you for the helpful info. What would you recommend for next cycle if trying for pink? I just don’t know when we should stop BDing. I don’t really know when I ovulate. I just go off of my peak fertility on CB OPK.

[atomic sagebrush]

I'm not really following your question, when to stop BDing?? (ETA I read another question you asked in a different thread and figured out what you meant, and responded there - this was actually a timing question)

When you're totally sure you have ovulated (many of us can tell this based on decreased libido, dried up CM, and mood shift) it is fine to stop BD as you can't catch the egg more than a day after ovulation has occured.