Really confused with clear blue opk! Ttc girl!

Hi everyone,

Not sure if I've posted in the right section or not but I've been using the clear blue digital opk for two months last month I got 2 days of flashing smiley faces followed by the solid smiley on day 3 (cycle day 14) - last month was a practice run as I've never used opks before so this month I tested a bit earlier as I didn't want to miss anything so cycle day 11 was negative and I expected to get the flashing smiley on the morning on cycle day 12 (same as last month) only it was negative again, I re tested about 3 hours later and got the solid smiley face so we dtd about an hour after, by the evening I tested again (I have two monitors) and it was completely negative, I didn't hold my wee so I thought maybe it was too diluted I tested this morning and now I have the flashing smiley face, I'm so unsure as to what is going on? Can anyone help.
Thankyou
☺️

Are you getting this on two different monitors?

It's totally possible to go right to solid smiley but this sounds more like a misfire. You did exactly the right thing having attempt, and now I want you to start BD every 4 days from here on in to cover in case of delayed O. The attempt you had yesterday will cover you for the next few days, but count every 4th day starting from that attempt and have another attempt until you're 100% sure you've ovulated (even if htat means going all the way thru till next AF!)

Yeah I have been reading way too much today! Haha and I got the empty to solid smiley on my reader I've always used and then opened the new packet and got the negative, flashing smiley and the a solid smiley on the new reader so I thought what you've just suggest, even though I'm sure it's my mistake by using two different readers I thought to be safe seems as we dtd on the 3rd to do it again on the 7th? And continue every 4 days x

Yes you can't switch the readers in the middle like that. The Clearblue detects CHANGES in hormone levels and so the new reader can't detect any change, it thinks you're starting off earlier in your cycle and it can tell your fertility is high, but it can't know if this "high" is higher than it was before (meaning, peak) or if it's still going to go UP from there (meaning, peak is yet to come.)

Most people will run the e4d every 4th day, so 3rd and then 6th but you don't HAVE to do it that way. You can stretch it the extra day and go to the 7th, will be lower odds of conception, but possibly better odds of pink. Totally up to you, and it's fine to do one thing this month, and change it up in the future.

Yes you can't switch the readers in the middle like that. The Clearblue detects CHANGES in hormone levels and so the new reader can't detect any change, it thinks you're starting off earlier in your cycle and it can tell your fertility is high, but it can't know if this "high" is higher than it was before (meaning, peak) or if it's still going to go UP from there (meaning, peak is yet to come.)

Most people will run the e4d every 4th day, so 3rd and then 6th but you don't HAVE to do it that way. You can stretch it the extra day and go to the 7th, will be lower odds of conception, but possibly better odds of pink. Totally up to you, and it's fine to do one thing this month, and change it up in the future.

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Hi atomic, could you please have a look at my chart as I have posted on a few different forums that do a lot of charting but haven't put that we are trying for a girl so I don't think they can really answer my question properly!
On the morning of cycle day 12 I got an empty smiley, followed by a solid smiley at around midday so we dtd not long after that, however the FF chart has said that I had already O'ed by the morning of the 3rd before I got my +opk? I kind of feel that I actually o'ed cycle day 13 but that doesn't match the temps that I've put in? We've done what you said and been dtd every 4 days but I am so confused as I know I didn't miss the peak as my 8am test that day was negative! And somehow if I had and didn't get my +opk until after I've ovulated did we miss out chance? I'm not sure if you can answer this or not? Thankyou x

I manually put in my own lines to say that I ovulated on cycle day 13, but when I put it on the default setting it moves the lines back a day to day 12 x

Well, you can have false negatives on OPK if the hormone in your urine is not the proper concentration. And with most strips, 8 am will be negative no matter what since the hormone peaks in the middle of the night and then takes till midday to come out in the urine. It's totally normal to go from totally neg in the morning to positive at mid-day and honestly in future months I'd not even bother testing in the morning.

The thing with charts like this is that you can have one temp that throws the whole thing off. So take that first low temp - let's say you just had a freaky low temp that day for some reason (not related to hormones.) it happens. So then that confuses the FF algorithm and it gives you crosshairs on the wrong day.

But I can't tell from here if that WAS a freaky low temp or if it was a totally correct temp and you did O more in line with the OPK. I THINK you Oed earlier than that chart says, but I can't pin it down to the day. Just not a chart that I can easily read for certain.

We could prevent this in future by doing e4d all thru the month, then no matter what you're in with an attempt - but it's fine to give it a few months with one attempt at pos OPK too!

Thankyou for replying! Even if I did O cylce day 12 like it says! Hopefully I haven't missed my chance? As at 11:30am I still had a solid smiley and probably dtd around 12, so I could have still caught the end of something? All of this stuff is confusing! Yeah I think next month we will just go e4d I will probably still use the cheaper opks because I like to know what's going on - all though ironically using them has caused more confusion than if I hadn't used them at all lol! Thankyou for replying x

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This is what it does when I put it back to the default settings, does that look more accurate to you? This is my first month charting so I don't have a clue! �� Maybe I did O before my +opk who knows! I just hope I was in with atleast a bit of a chance x

As a general rule, when you get a positive OPK around about the time when you're supposed to, it's not likely that you will have Oed before that. So since you did get a positive OPK at the appropriate time I'd put more faith in the OPK than I would if you'd gotten it at CD 8 or CD 18.

I seriously doubt you Oed before the OPK.

Ok thankyou! I hope not! Thankyou for replying x

Hi atomic, I've been having a think about the message you sent me regarding the e4d and I was wondering if you could explain it to me? Because I thought every 4 days would be from say the 1st and then 5th as it would be 4 days from the last attempt but it would actually be the 4th right? I was wondering could you not end up with two attemps in the fertile window say 0-3 and then O day itself? I will have been on the diet 11 weeks by our next attempt as I'm pretty sure I'm not pregnant this month and the diet is fine for me but the exercise is getting a bit annoying now! Lol! I will keep doing it as I feel it's something that is really positive about my sway but the thought of another month after this month is unbearable lol! Hope to hear back x

I was also going to use saw palmetto this coming month so I think the e4d is the best option seems as I've read a few things about ovulation being delayed by it x

If there is anything left from the O-3 attempt, it will fertilize the egg before the O Day shot can capacitate. If there isn't, if all those sperm are dead, then the O Day shot will be all that is left.

Keep in mind this is the "worst" case scenario. The odds are 2 to 1 that you"ll have one attempt on O-1 or on O-2 (the odds of anything being left from O-4 or O-5 are vanishingly slim)

People can have attempt the 1st and 5th as you put it. I'm fine with people doing that and in fact I encouraged it at the start (especially as an option for people who are starting off with it first month, and not switching over to it after several BFN) but the whole point of the e4d for most people is to boost odds of conception past one attempt at positive OPK. It doens't do that if you don't end up with the O-3, O Day as your "worst" case.

The straight truth is that there is no way to both boost odds of conception while maintaining the strictest pink sway possible. It is distantly possible, yes, that O-3 and O Day may end up being 2 attempts. Not super likely, but distantly possible. It's even possible for O-4 and O Day to end up being 2 attempts. But the thing is that if you want to keep one attempt, have one attempt at pos OPK and call it good. If the time comes that it's time to start relaxing, and that is totally fine and ok to do, but this is how we do it and still get good results that way, if that makes any sense. :)

Yeah it does thankyou for clarifying that for me, I think I will do the e4d just because I have never used the SP before and I don't want to completely write off the month if O happens later than I expect it to x

I am possibly the most unlucky person ever haha! The vitex/ saw palmetto delayed ov by two days so I had "set up" e4d as the cycle day 11 as a O-1 but what actually happened was 0-3 and 0 day! There was more than 72 hours in between each attempt though so I'm hoping it will still class as one attempt? X

But I don't want you guys to try and get it to come out on a certain day anyway. I want you to put it out of your head and let whatever will be will be. O-3 and O Day is ok for the reasons I described above. Don't worry about if it was one attempt or not, no one can know this, the fact is that e4d has good results so just roll with that.

Yeah I understand what your saying, by the time it got to the O day BD I already knew it was more than likely gonna be 0-3 and O and then I got my temp shift this morning to confirm it, hopefully it will be enough but I'm feeling a lot more relaxed this month doing the e4d than I did last month using the opks so I will continue the e4d if this month isn't our month! Thankyou for all your help x

You're welcome! Good luck!

Hi atomic! I just wanted to let you know that I got my bfp yesterday at 10dpo! I just wanted to thank you so much for helping with my constant rambling and confusion over the last few months! I would have been a stressed out mess if I didn't have you telling me to stop haha! In regard to coming off the le diet how do you think I should approach this? Like adding in snacks then meat? I'm usually a massive snacker anyway but I didn't know if it was the right thing to do going straight back to how I used to eat the day after my bfp! The folic acid aswell in taking 3 400 micro gram tablets a day should I be going down to one aswell which on the bottle says the reccomened dosage? I will let you know in a few months if we have a little pink one on the way! Thankyou so much x

Huge congrats!

yes it's fine to normalize now. You may want to take it easy the first few days especially with protein and salt if limiting that, but otherwise it's fine.

No please continue the higher dose folic through the entire first trimester of pregnancy (or you can use your prenatal as part of that) and only at that point, gradually wean back just to the amount in your prenatal.

I was never limiting salt but yeah I've had small amounts of protein over the past few days I still can't believe it happened so quickly! I got pregnant with ds2 after 3 months of trying to I was convinced this would take us a lot longer! Ok that's fine if the prenatals contation 4mg of folic acid would I just take two of the folic acid I've been taking now + prenatal or still take 3? Thankyou x

Oh if your prenatals have that much folic you just switch one for the other.

You are 100% sure your prenatals have 4 MILLIgrams of folic acid, right?? Not MICROgrams?

Yeah sorry I meant micro grams and I think it's 400 micro grams not 4... I must have been away with the fairys when I last wrote to you! X

Ok. If you're only taking 400 micrograms then yes you need to continue the higher amount all through the first trimester and then wean back to the amount in prenatal at that time.

Ok! Thankyou x