O is for Ovulation

WARNING- if the words ovulation, menstruation, intercourse, birth control, period or baby make you uncomfortable, go ahead and skip this post and look up some YouTube videos or something. Especially if they make you uncomfortable in relation to me in particular, because we are about to get into it.

Last chance...

Ok, I warned you. Chris and I had a plan- I'd get off of the pill...use protection for a few months while my body figured things out...and then in the spring we'd stop using condoms and BAM! Baby time! I wanted an August baby. Obviously, planning is not an option with some people when it comes to babies! And I realize that now.

I got ON the pill when I was 16 because I had very irregular periods (that's the truth, it wasn't just a ploy to avoid getting knocked up) and I heard that the pill helped to regulate you. When I say I was irregular, I mean I would go 2 months without a cycle, but then I'd have a period for like 10 days. Then, the next month it'd be normal. Then I'd skip a month or two..it was all over the place. When I started the pill, I knew immediately that I LOVED IT. On the pill, my complexion was clear...I didn't get any sort of cramps...I knew exactly what day my period would start and when it would end/etc. It was easy. I did change pills a couple of times, but several years ago I landed on YAZ and that was the perfect one for me.

I stopped taking the pill in November 2010 (we continued to use condoms for a few months) so that my body could figure out how to regulate itself without my feeding it hormones everyday. It immediately got pissed off. I didn't have a period for like three months...then I'd 'spot' for a day or two...then I think my first real period was in like February. I was actually excited about it (weird, I know). After that, it was just like I was 16 years old again...I was all over the place and remain that way to this date. It's very frustrating. Most women would probably be excited about not having a period every month, but when you are trying to make a baby and that's all you want, the fact that you don't have a period every month (and thus don't ovulate every month) is very hard to deal with.

You see...if you don't know when you are going to have a period, you can't predict when you are going to ovulate. And unless you happen to have sex within that very small ovulation window (and it 'takes'), you can't get pregnant. That window is anywhere from 1.5-3 days for most women. And for most women, that's a window that happens every month. For me, I have 1.5-2 days on an average of every 45-50 days. And I pretty much have no way of knowing when that will be, except I get some help from two of my favorite tools- the ovulation predictor test and the 'my cycles' tracker ipad/iphone app.



This is the ovulation tester kit that I buy every 30-40 days. I pretty much pee on a stick every single day (except the seldom days I have where I am actually menstruating), and I see a blank circle staring back at me. On the rare occasion that it actually smiles at me, that means that I'm actually going to ovulate within the next 1-2 days, and trust me it's GO TIME.



And this is the 'my cycles' app that I have on my iPad and iPhone. I use it to track my periods (shows a red line at the top of the day), the days we have sex (shows a heart) and when I test positive for ovulation (shows a piece of paper). It also show a green line on the top of the days that it thinks you could be fertile (although this isn't accurate for me). It uses your past months to predict your next few months for you, based on an average. It's not right and I don't count on it, but it IS helpful to know when things have happened and to have my 'records' with me when I see the doctor. You can track LOTS of things on it (such as cramps/tenderness/etc), but I just use it for menstruation/ovulation/intercourse.

So 'most' women ovulate around day 12-14 after the first day of their period. This is when they are most fertile. I've been tracking around day 25-45 (greatly varies, I know). As of today, I am on day 33 and have still not tested positive on my ovulation test. It's frustrating.

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon (dealing with this stuff) and expect to be put on clomid, but we'll see. I'm going straight out of town after the appt, so you fearless readers will have to wait to hear what happens on Sunday or Monday. =)

Thanks for reading! Hopefully we'll hear good news tomorrow...

Have a great weekend!