EWCM days before ovulation?

[Anonymous]

I've read that EWCM occurs ~3 days before ovulation -- is this true for any of you (esp you charters)? I'm over 35, so I'm wondering if I could have a lot of EWCM on the day I ovulate, rather than before ovulation. I've been googling but am having trouble finding the answer to this.

[Anonymous]

Hmm. I don't think there are any hard and fast rules. I think a lot of time you do have ewcm, it's just up in there, where it needs to be, not coming out. In my case, I would say that my ewcm is usually about 3 days before ovulation. Whenever I see ewcm, I try to have sex that day.

[Anonymous]

I'm not the OP here, but wondering if anyone has ever had a couple days of EWCM literally a good week or so before ovulating? Or does this just never happen?

[Anonymous]

I'm not the OP, but I'm wondering what you do if you DON'T have EWCM... what's the alternative???

[Anonymous]

If you don't have EWCM, try a product called PreSeed. You can google it. It's made to simulate the same PH level as good EWCM and it's helped people I know conceive. Easy to use and not that expensive. Regular lubricants, and even saliva, can potentially kill sperm. Plus, the sperm just can't swim as well if you don't have the correct kind of mucus naturally.

[Anonymous]

I have it for about 4 or 5 days before ovulation.

[Anonymous]

For most women the rule is that your best EWCM is the day prior to ovulation, but you'll usually get it for several days leading up to ovulation and sometimes on the day of or after. The key is to look for the best of it. I generally notice increased mucus on day 7 or 8, but it doesn't really turn into EWCM until day 9 or 10, and it usually ends on day 14 or 15.

[Anonymous]

As with the PPs, I usually have EWCM for about 3-4 days, sometimes a few more, before O. It gets increasingly copious right up until O. On a few occasions (specifically when I was still breastfeeding, and once when I had a really bad flu), I've had EWCM build up to the point that I was expecting to ovulate any day, but then I didn't ovulate (LH never actually surged, and no O, as evidenced by no rise in temp.), in which case the EWCM ceased for a bit after that failure to ovulate, and then resumed again when my body ramped up to try again to O, both times about a week or so later. My EWCM usually vanishes abruptly the day of or right after O.

[Anonymous]

14:35 again. I should add that I'm 37, and this has been my pattern for the last 2 years since I started charting (one pregnancy in those 2 years, just weaned, and now TTC #2).

[Anonymous]

Sorry for the repeat posts, this is 14:35 again. I second the recommendation for Pre-Seed. We used it in our successful (BFP) cycle 2 years ago, even though I had fairly decent (copious, stretchy, etc.) EWCM, just to up our odds.

[Anonymous]

This is very naive but I'm new to all this. Is there an 'invasive' way to test this, or is this just normal discharge you're analyzing, based on what you see in the bathroom or whatever?

[Anonymous]

You can do it either way, and it partially depends on how much CM you produce. If you're squeamish, you can try to gauge from whatever is at the outside and on your undies. I am not squeamish, and have my (CLEAN, JUST WASHED) finger up my hoo-ha pretty much daily in the days leading up to O, to get a sense for how much EWCM is there. Just before O, that's not necessarily necessary, as the EWCM (unless you don't produce much/any) can be very flowy and will be right there on the outside/tissue/undies, along with a "lubricative" feeling.

Highly recommend Toni Wechsler's book, Taking Charge of Your Fertility, if you want to learn more about natural family planning, charting, all the signs of fertility, etc. Brilliant book if you are the type of person who likes to have all the details and info. at your fingertips (pun intended).