How do I know if I make enough EWCM?

[Ladynic]

A little background to start, I just became a member on here but have lurked here often in the past. I love this forum in particular because everyone seems so nice and supportive, and Atomic is so knowledgeable and helpful. So I decided to sign up and post my question here. I signed up as "Trying for a Boy" because being over 35 and not having any children yet, what I'm really doing is just trying to increase my fertility overall ( I read on here that the boy sway is much better for improving overall fertility). Basically I would be happy with either gender but I really just want to make sure I get pregnant and have a happy, healthy baby.

My question is about EWCM. How do I know if I have enough to successfully become pregnant? I ask because I was thinking about trying Preseed or Conceive Plus this cycle, but read on here that it can do more harm than good if you already have adequate amounts. So I guess I'd like to determine how I know? I do get it starting 5 days before and have it every day through O (sometimes drying up on O day, sometimes not), which I guess is good for being over 35, but I don't know if it would be considered know large amount. I don't have gobs of it but I can always find some during those five days. It is stretchy and thin and clear. See, this will be my third month trying and we were unsuccessful the other two months, albeit the timing wasn't great (only O-4 on the first month and O-3 and O-2 the second month, he travels a lot for his job so we have to go with when he's here). Our timing should be great this cycle and I just want to do everything I can to make our odds great. So I guess I'm trying to figure out if I make enough EWCM naturally or if I need to try the Preseed or Conceive Plus.

Also to add to my confusion I seem to be one of those women who has "low ionic strength". I've tried measuring the ph with strips but the colors don't change and don't match up with any of the patterns on the guide of the bottle. So I don't even know if my ph is good. I do get in the alkaline range for the urine and saliva, so I think that probably means I have an alkaline body chemistry, and I wouldn't think I'd have alkaline body chemistry but then have acidic ewcm but then I don't really know.

Any guidance on how to tell if one makes enough good quality EWCM would be much appreciated.

Oh, one more thing, I've tried Evening Primrose Oil and green tea but both seemed to actually lessen the amount of EWCM I make so I don't take them anymore. I do use plain guafenesin though and that seems to have a good effect.

[atomic sagebrush]

You have enough. I would TTC without the Preseed or Conceive Plus. The number of people who are not on high dose fertility medications and/or are severely anorexic who have poor EWCM are very few and far between and if you're getting anything for 5 days before O you are alllll good.

It takes fully fertile couples 3-6 months to fall pregnant. I concur the reason why you did not conceive is that O-4/O-3 cutoff (those are quite low odds of conception!) So please don't worry that this indicates poor fertiliy - not only were those not great attempts but additionally, some months just aren't THE month, just how it goes, unfortunately.

It's great you guys can be in with excellent attempts this month!!

Don't worry about pH. I am of the opinion (based on 8+ years being on swaying sites) that the only people who ever have "acidic EWCM" have NO EWCM and are testing pH of jellies or lubes or not around ovulation when everyone's vaginal discharge is acidic. It is very, very, very unlikely that any woman making EWCM for 5 days has acidic anything LOL. We have found no correlation between pH testing and the people whose sways succeed or not. We've given it up because it didn't help us at all to test. So don't worry about the ionic strenght thing, and PLEASE do not take the supplements designed to "fix" that because they are dangerous and may actually harm you and an unborn baby.

LOTS of people have reported the same with the EPO (I am barely ever using that any more!) and green tea. Just skip em.

[Ladynic]

Thank you so much Atomic, I feel very reassured by your response. Wow, I didn't even know there were people who took supplements to try to "treat" low ionic strength! I just figured it was just a difference in biochemistry that made it so you can't really test ph but didn't affect actual ph. Good to know that if I see that somewhere NOT to try taking anything for that!

[atomic sagebrush]

YOu're very welcome, happy to be of help!