Am I ovulating?

[Anonymous]

We are TTC and I am not sure I am ovulating. I bought a ovulation monitor (it tests my urine each morning) and for the last 2 months I never reached "high/ovulation," but i still get my period every 28 days or so. 2 years ago after getting off BC I went to GWIVF because i had really long cycles (more than 70days long). One cycle of clomid did the trick. Approx. 1 year after the birth of DS1 i resumed my cycle - which has been regular ever since. I think i am ovulating - but i am confused by the ovulation monitor. Maybe I should get some bloodwork? I do not want to TTC for months and months only to learn later that i have not been ovulating.
Thanks!

[Anonymous]

A really easy way to know if you are ovulating is to take your basal body temperature every morning first thing in the morning every day with a basal body thermometer starting with the first day of your period (=first day of your cycle). Enter your temperature every day on the fertility friend website (www.fertilityfriend.com): fertility friend has a free software that will automatically detect based on your temperatures/chart if you are ovulating and if so when. If you are ovulating, you will clearly see it on your chart: your temps will be significantly higher for about 2 weeks after ovulation and fertility friend will indicate on your chart on what day you ovulated. If you do not see your temps staying high for about 2 weeks, that means you did not ovulate and fertility friend will not indicate ovulation on your chart. On fertility friend, you can see examples of ovulatory charts and anovulatory charts in the chart gallery so you can see how it looks like/the difference. Fertility friend has a complimentary membership (completely free) and also a "VIP membership" that you pay for but the VIP membership is not necessary, the free membership is sufficient: it will indicate for you if you ovulate and if so when.

[Anonymous]

If you want to do bloodwork, the blood test you need to do is a progesterone level test (the amount of progesterone present in your blood will tell if you ovulated). The problem is that the progesterone level blood test needs to be done 7 days after ovulation and since it seems that you don't really know when you ovulate, it might be difficult for you to know when to get the test done. You might want to do both the chart and the blood test if you do see ovulation on your chart 7 days after ovulation.
Also, I do not mean to scare you, but just because you have a 28-day cycle and you have your period does not necessarily mean you are ovulating. It is possible to have your period and not ovulate. As a matter of fact, I have a friend who always has 28-day cycles but still has PCOS and does not ovulate every cycle. She became pregnant after taking Clomid.

[Anonymous]

Are you charting? Using the info in the book "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" helped me conceive both of my children. I have really long cycles, and it helped me understand the quirks of when I ovulate.

[Anonymous]

Agree with the above recommendations. TCOYF is so fascinating!

[Anonymous]

Definitely start charting. Use fertility friend. It's a great resource. You will learn so much about your cycle as you chart. In fact, once I'd charted for long enough when I wasn't TTC anymore we could use it for birth control.

[Anonymous]

PP - how long have you been charting as a birth control method? I have yet to find a really satisfactory method (who has), so may try that when we're done TT&C, but I have to admit it makes me a little nervous . . . .

[Anonymous]

PP here. I charted for probably 3-4 months while using back up birth control before going to it full time. That method worked for us for a long time (about a year) before we decided to have kids. And, when we were ready to have kids we got pg on the first try because we knew the what my fertile window was.

I'm now 5 months postpartum and just got my first period back. My GYN said that once I've had another period I can start charting again for another 3-4 months with back up birth control before going to it full time again. (She said to wait one more cycle because it's common to get one period postpartum and then skip a few months before another one.) I think it's a great method of bc if your cycles are pretty stable.

[Anonymous]

12:42 here...we used charting for birth control, too, for about 7 months before we tried to conceive. We just used condoms during my fertile time. We didn't use it between babies for birth control because while I was nursing my periods were really irregular (as were my sleeping habits!), so we didn't want to chance it.

Just a note to say that while using TCOYF, both our babies were conceived on the first month of trying. I know a lot of that is luck, but I was amazed.