I decided to use opks this cycle to get an idea of when I ovulate, and if we’re having our attempts at the correct time. I started testing in the afternoon from CD12 and seem to have been getting negatives except for CD14, which is darker than the rest but not darker than the control lines. The bottom opk is ‘fresh’ when the photo was taken, the rest are dried from prev days.
We have also being bd’ing this week just to ‘cover all bases’, but the opks aren’t making any sense to me, did I O or not? Should I keep using them? We’ll continue bd every second day for the remainder of the cycle as we usually do, just in case we don’t miss the egg if it hasn’t come up already (but again, prior to ttc in the previous months, according to the app’s general indication of O, we had unprotected attempts a few days after O as I was considered ‘safe’, and didn’t get pregnant).
I have also had O pains and cramps this week, but don’t know what’s going on with my ewcm. Tmi It’s hard to tell what’s cm or just semen when having attempts each day at varying times. Didn’t use lube(preseed) at all, and bd was still comfortable- meaning there was cm but it was just ‘up there’?
Also, these damn opks are so costly! Nearly $40aud for just 14 opks, didn’t have enough time to order cheaper online again this cycle
Last edited by hurrem; September 28th, 2019 at 03:38 AM.
Gosh at that price I'd definitely stop testing and just keep BD.
From the way you describe your symptoms I suspect you did ovulate and the OPK just didn't pick it up. I almost wonder if the company mixed up the test box and control box, LOL (not relly but kind of!) The control line acts like I would have expected the test line to in these!!!
I would definitely keep testing but would not have you throw any more money away on OPK. I don't find the spendy OPK to be any more reliable at all. Based on symptoms I bet you've ovulated or are about to so I'd just keep BD and skip the testing. Good luck and blue dust headed your way!
Thanks for explaining Atomic. Don’t know why the opks are showing like this, I’ve read that some women have shorter surges so the opk might miss it, it’s why you test multiple times a day to catch the surge, but that’s too costly so I’ve only being testing once a day at 4pm. I’m glad we got our attempts in, but weren’t able to bd on Saturday. We bd on Sunday(cd17) but might have to skip today because of dh’s shift work. I tested an opk yesterday and today just now and got this: (attached pic).
What is my body doing? Why did I randomly get a dark-ish line yesterday but it’s almost gone today?
Last edited by hurrem; September 30th, 2019 at 12:20 AM.
When possible, I"d BD again if you can. It may be that you're actually gearing up to ovulate now (this is within the normal parameters
OPK suck. I wish they didn't, but it's the truth - they're just not the greatest. They do stuff like this (usually in the month we want to try!) IT's not your body, it's just the suckiness of OPK tests. All we can do is take the OPK as they are, without expecting them to be more helpful than they are, and do our best to have our attempts when we're in the fertile window. Sorry, I SO wish they were better!
I actually took the CD17 and CD18 opks at around 2pm, but as you say these things aren't always reliable. Maybe the surge showed up later in my urine even though I may have ovulated earlier, is that possible? It's weird though because the lines were getting faint and suddenly gets dark for a day, and then back to a barely-there line. I also have no fertile cm at the moment, it's back to 'dry'/creamy. Still some slight O pains, but they were more noticeable 2 days ago and last week.
We couldn't BD on CD18, dh had his shift and we had no time to meet That's what's causing me anxiety about ttc every month, because dh's shift change every week, and they don't always align with my fertile days(hence bd in morning and afternoon, not just the night). We will bd today though and every other day this week.
Thanks for answering all my qs Atomic, I'm trying to be patient but then I think about all those who are pg right now, who probably didn't do much at all and just fell, and I feel so envious and down about myself.
Yep there's no timeline where the hormone gets concentrated enough in your urine. It's totally possible to have false negative OPK, where you're surging and it's not being picked up on the OPK.
I promise that you can miss the occasional day and still get pregnant with a boy. I got 3 of my 4 boys with my husband working nights and we definitely did NOT have the 3 attempts at positive OPK like we suggest here. The MAIN reason we do things that way is not because I think it's super important to do that, but instead because so many blue swayers can't give up on Shettles. Very, very few of us with all boys did things that way. I sure didn't! What we (I) did was have regular unprotected sex out of the fertile window, and then when we were trying, we had several attempts in the fertile window - not on certain days, but just when we could (working around our kiddos and hubby's schedule). And that's what you're doing! You are doing GREAT!!! Just keep doing what you're doing, and this will happen!!! You don't have to BD every day in the fertile window, you don't have to BD certain cycle days, you just have to BD regularly and the egg will be caught soon.
Thank you so much for the encouragement Atomic, and for giving me hope that I will have a son
I don't believe in Shettles timings because when I look at all the boy-heavy families around me(including my grandma/great grandma and dh's mum), they didn't time their bd for specific genders. They just had a lot of unprotected attempts over the years, including outside the fertile window because contraception wasn't really a thing at the time lol. Even if I'm not pg this cycle, we will keep the same bd pattern for future cycles and just try working around dh's schedule with morning/afternoon/night attempts. Hopefully the egg will get caught sometime!
It just mathematically can't be the case that all the boys in the world were conceived on O Day since if that was true, there would be scads more girls conceived (according to Shettles) O-4, 3, 2, and even O-1 depending on what version of Shettles you're using. Thanks for sharing your observations!
This will happen!! FXFXFX and blue dust headed your way!
So true, it wouldn't make sense to bd on just one or two days for a boy. Not to say boys aren't conceived-they are-but I've seen more girls born to couples who bd right after marriage or after being apart for some time, where they end up getting that one or two attempt at O.
Btw Atomic, I've been having weird pains in my abdomen today-not quite cramps but just a heavy feeling like I'm being pressed on, and it hurts if I bend over or pick something off the floor. Do you think it's related to AF? I expect her in a week's time. These 'symptoms' are frustrating because I didn't have them at this time of the cycle prior to ttc, where I would only get cramps a day or two before AF.
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