need an ovulation lesson

[gizmo77]

refresh my high school biology here.

so in the days leading up to ovulation, typically the woman's CM which starts out sticky, becomes creamy, then watery, then eggwhite.

then, the ovary pops out the egg, and you have the MOST ewcm? (or does the large amounts of EWCM come before it actually pops).

then after the egg is out for about 12-24hrs it starts to die and cm dries up.

is this correct? my question is, when you suddenly dry up (im speaking for a textbook woman's cycle) is the egg dead already, or lingering around in the uterus about to die? in other words, is it pointless to TTC the day immediately after the copious amounts of ewcm (say if you missed it by accident..is there still a chance) or would that be O+12?

and when the egg is out for that 12-24hr period, what kind of CM are you expected to have (for a textbook woman)?

[rainbowflower]

you normally get the most EWCM before the egg pops out of that ovary - once the egg is out, CM is pretty useless so tends to start to dry up straight away

I don't think the link to EWCM drying up is an indicator of whether the egg is still around or not - that will happen due to the change in hormones caused by the egg coming out and not by the egg itself. If you DTD the day after the most CM you still have a good chance. In most women the egg survives for 24hrs (depending on the egg quality/age), some may even survive for 48hrs.

when the egg is out, you might still have some EWCM, you might have some sticky, you might have none - it depends on the person.

you could always try checking cervix position to see when that becomes low/closed as that happens once you have ovulated

[gizmo77]

ok, next question, when will a reliable ovulation test stop detecting LH? (after O, day of O?)
i heard that LH is released only a day or 2 before O. but when does it stop?

for me, ill have tons of EWCM one day, then the next day one huge glob of it and couple spurts and thats it. so i cant tell whether i O'd the day before or the day of the one huge GLOB. this cycle, unfortunately i didnt have O pains/pressure. and FF cant decide either.

[rainbowflower]

normally the egg is released as the LH falls - but if you have a long surge (with multiple positive tests over a few days) you often OV on the last day of a positive. if you just get the one positive OPK you will normally OV within 12-48 hours, it really does vary.

do you temp? perhaps you could temp for a few cycles so you can learn what your body often does? you will see a (normally big) temp rise in the morning after you have ovulated

[gizmo77]

yeah i temp. ive been doing it since march. and i had some what of a "pattern" but after the l-arg deal i feel like that pattern readjusted. i had O pains and everything to tell me when i was O'ing. fertility friend keeps changing its mind too. i normall get a sharp rise in temp teh day after i O, but this month and last month its just been a gentle rise...? so its now just depending on my other fertility signs like CM. it could be too just a achange in diet, change in my body naturally..etc who knows really. still no way of REALLY accurately predicting O in oct...just a good guess...

[Hobbermittens]

normally the egg is released as the LH falls - but if you have a long surge (with multiple positive tests over a few days) you often OV on the last day of a positive. if you just get the one positive OPK you will normally OV within 12-48 hours, it really does vary.

do you temp? perhaps you could temp for a few cycles so you can learn what your body often does? you will see a (normally big) temp rise in the morning after you have ovulated

I am curious about all this too. I get a slow temp rise after O, so it may take several days of increased temps before I get a high temp, so that makes it all the harder to determine.

I usually get 2 days of +opks, so I am assuming I O on the second day. Is this right?

[atomic sagebrush]

refresh my high school biology here.

so in the days leading up to ovulation, typically the woman's CM which starts out sticky, becomes creamy, then watery, then eggwhite.

then, the ovary pops out the egg, and you have the MOST ewcm? (or does the large amounts of EWCM come before it actually pops).

then after the egg is out for about 12-24hrs it starts to die and cm dries up.

is this correct? my question is, when you suddenly dry up (im speaking for a textbook woman's cycle) is the egg dead already, or lingering around in the uterus about to die? in other words, is it pointless to TTC the day immediately after the copious amounts of ewcm (say if you missed it by accident..is there still a chance) or would that be O+12?

and when the egg is out for that 12-24hr period, what kind of CM are you expected to have (for a textbook woman)?

Haha I wish they would have taught this in HS biology!!! I remember there being a lot more about algae!

Sadly, there IS no textbook woman. The only way you can really get a grasp on your cycles is by monitoring them while temping and using OPK for a few months and even then there is no guarantee that things won't change.

A lot of people never get sticky or creamy CM, they go straight to EWCM. Others never get EWCM (at least in the VJ where they can see it.)

I'm in total agreement with Rainbow in that most people get the most EWCM before ovulation and then once the egg is out, things kinda dry up. Some people do keep having some EWCM after ovulation though.

I am in disagreement about the lifespan of the egg though. NO egg ever lives beyond 24 hours and most eggs live far less time than that (in older women especially, it is unlikely the egg survives that long). The 48 hour window is because it is possible to release one egg that lives for 24 hours and then at the very end of that time, a person might release a second egg and then that egg could potentially live for 24 hours after that.

[atomic sagebrush]

I am curious about all this too. I get a slow temp rise after O, so it may take several days of increased temps before I get a high temp, so that makes it all the harder to determine.

I usually get 2 days of +opks, so I am assuming I O on the second day. Is this right?

That is a reasonable assumption but there is no way to know for certain without having an ultrasound.

[atomic sagebrush]

normally the egg is released as the LH falls - but if you have a long surge (with multiple positive tests over a few days) you often OV on the last day of a positive. if you just get the one positive OPK you will normally OV within 12-48 hours, it really does vary.

do you temp? perhaps you could temp for a few cycles so you can learn what your body often does? you will see a (normally big) temp rise in the morning after you have ovulated

110% Thank you rainbow.

[atomic sagebrush]

yeah i temp. ive been doing it since march. and i had some what of a "pattern" but after the l-arg deal i feel like that pattern readjusted. i had O pains and everything to tell me when i was O'ing. fertility friend keeps changing its mind too. i normall get a sharp rise in temp teh day after i O, but this month and last month its just been a gentle rise...? so its now just depending on my other fertility signs like CM. it could be too just a achange in diet, change in my body naturally..etc who knows really. still no way of REALLY accurately predicting O in oct...just a good guess...

That's all any of us have though, is just an educated guess. Even people who really believe with every fiber of their being that they O on a certain day can be totally and completely wrong about it. O pains in particular are just not a good indicator of ovulation...one of the worst months of O pains I ever had, I ended up not even getting AF that month. It had been an anovulatory cycle with a very realistic fake O.