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2007-04-28 - 10.51am��previous entry��next entry
From predictable to "what the heck is going on?!"
At LAST I can write an entry!!!! I have wanted/needed to update so many times over the last five days but the computer broke so I couldn't! It was driving me craaazy!!
Okay. My previously smooth-and-predictable post-chemical pregnancy cycle went all unpredictable on me!!! I had that dip down from my flat temps of 36.1, and then the dip stayed for a second day (the same low temp). That day I wasn't sure if I might have felt ovulation pain on my RIGHT side (I never ovulate from my right ovary, seriously. I know of like a dozen occasions in my life. My left ovary is really dominant), so I charted it (link to my chart down there on the left if that might help make this waffle a little less complicated to understand!) and waited to see a temp rise. The next day I DID see a temp rise, but it was still only 36.2 - normally a pre-ovulatory temp for me. So hmmm. The "ovulation pain" was a maybe because I do have a UTI so I could have been confusing my pain-types! It lasted a few hours and then went, so I wondered... I checked my cervix that day (haven't been doing that because of my UTI, though I've really wanted to, so I could see what was going on!) and it was still fertile. All this time I was peeing on OPKs and getting negatives (as in, no indications that I was about to ovulate), so I figured I had missed the LH surge the day before I started using them, or something.
And I have had CRAZY EWCM this cycle. Crazy. TEN DAYS straight!!! Some of those days I knew it was not the best quality stuff so I probably wasn't at the peak of my fertile patch, but it still confused the heck out of me for staying so long! Even after possible ovulation signs, like that maybe-ovulation-pain, and the rise in temps. The next day I had another temp rise, but only to 36.3. That's usually a "maybe" temp - sometimes I CAN get that temp before ovulating, though more often afterwards. My EWCM was pretty poor that day, and with the other signs I felt that I probably ovulated two days before, or maybe early yesterday. We have actually been abstaining this cycle - wow, that has been difficult!! But with my UTI and our decision to try to avoid pregnancy this cycle, it seemed to be the only way to do it! Most of my fertile patch, I was too sore from the UTI to consider any parsnips, even though my hormones were bugging me otherwise! So once I felt that I'd probably ovulated and I was less sore, we did have parsnips.
Then the next day I had another temp rise, but only another 0.1 degree to 36.4 (curiouser and curiouser!). My chart gave me a coverline, with ovulation on the last day of my low dip 3 days before, but with those ANNOYING dotted crosshairs because it couldn't explain the lack of positive OPKs and the continuing EWCM. Tsk.
Although. I know an OPK is only positive when the test line is as strong as, or darker than the control line. A fainter line than the control line is still a negative. But I just wondered something. I got no line at ALL on the first two OPKs. It was like looking at a negative pregnancy test - no matter how hard I squinted, there was definitely NO line! The next day (I test late in the evening), I got a strong line, but not quite as strong as the control line. I didn't have to hmm and haw, it was definitely not as strong. I DID wonder if I had missed a LH surge earlier in the day though, and maybe I was looking at the tail end of it that evening or something. I know it's possible, because I see discussions on it at FF all the time. Next day the OPK was blank again, all but the faiiiintest line. So I wondered at the time if I had had a LH earlier in the day on CD20 - the day I checked my cervix and found it fertile, despite a rise in temps.
Anyway. I charted it negative, of course, because it was. I began to wonder if I was having an anovulatory patch after all.
So the NEXT day (2 days after the parsnips) my temp rose again by ANOTHER weird 0.1 degree (to 36.5) - definitely in post-ovulation territory now, so at least I felt sure I HAD ovulated, I just didn't really know when! I have never had such a slow rise after ovulation before! It's so weird. FF then changed my ovulation date to the day BEFORE the parsnips! But I figured we had the parsnips late in the evening and an egg lives for 12-24 hours after release so we were probably okay.
Today my temp is up to 36.7, yay! Good post-ovulatory temps at last! :) Buuut, FF changed my ovulation date AGAIN this morning, to CD21 - the day we had parsnips. Oh dear! I am so frustrated with the UTI, because it meant I couldn't check my cervix and that would have given me a much better idea of what's going on. Although, having said that - yesterday evening I checked my cervix and it was TOTALLY WEIRD! I have no idea what's up! It was in such a strange place and position, also firm (like, NOT fertile), but open (like, FERTILE baby!!). Or it could be open because I'm about to get my period. But it's way too early, even with a very short LP, and anyway I haven't got my period. I got a temp rise again this morning too.
*sigh*
My body is being so weird! Who knows when I actually DID ovulate! If my hunch about the possibly positive OPK is right though, that means I may have had a +OPK the day before my chart says I ovulated, so that would ring true. And the EWCM finished the day I supposedly ovulated too, so that's another supporting factor. But the parnsips! On that very day, AGAIN! I don't know what to think. Part of me thinks that actually I wasn't fertile at the time of the parsnips, and it was too far after ovulation to have a chance of pregnancy. I would be able to say much more for sure if I had checked my cervix. But I just didn't FEEL fertile, you know?
Anyway. So apparently I am now 3 days past ovulation. I'm not sure about that. Yesterday and the day before I have had increased appetite, and 2 days ago I felt really weepy at TV shows and stuff. That's awfully soon after ovulation, if my chart is right. Last night I felt distinctly hormonal and moody and irritable. I know I was tired and it could have been that, but it felt hormonal to me. Like PMS. But again, I would HOPE that's too soon after ovulation, because otherwise it might spell a reaaaally short luteal phase for me this cycle :(
FF's intercourse analyzer (!!) has given me a "good" chance of pregnancy this cycle, with the timing of the parsnips. Yesterday it said "low" though, because it thought I had ovulated the day before the parsnips. I don't really feel like putting my trust in FF's analysis of my chart this cycle! I think it's guessing and that could mean it's completely INaccurate about when I ovulated. So I don't want to pin any hopes (or fears?!) on what it says. I think it's still entirely possible that I had ovulated and my lil egg had snuffed it WELL before the parsnips. The annoying thing is that I won't be able to know for sure how long my LP is this cycle, because it's anyone's guess as to when I ovulated, and thus how many days after ovulation my period arrived, when it comes.
The pregnancy thingumy says if I conceived this cycle, my due date would be January 16th 2008. That's my mummy's 60th birthday! :) But I am NOT going to think about things like that, this time! The chances are low, and I don't want my emotions doing that yo-yo thing along with my hormones this cycle! It's hard to come down from that afterwards, and I'd rather avoid it if the chances are slim (HOW much is this like an exact repeat of the stuff I was saying just days after Matthew was conceived?! Hehe!).
Yesterday I felt a weird sort of central pressure low down in the pit of my abdomen. I don't know what's up with that, but I charted it because I might want to refer to it again in the future or something. I DO still have this rumbling UTI, and I know I probably really should get on the antibiotics by now, but I'm still not. I saw my doctor on Monday, and she said not to take the antibiotics (yay!) but to keep drinking plenty of water. I haven't got any cranberry juice! I'll buy some today at the weekly supermarket trip. She said that if my symptoms start getting worse or it's still hanging around by the end of the week (ie, yesterday) then I should probably get the antibiotics and take them. My symptoms have been slow to improve, but they really have improved loads. I am still getting symptoms though, even though they're mild, and it's Saturday. Hmmm. I am taking prenatal vitamins and a mega dose of Vitamin C every day. My fluid intake has slipped a bit the last 2 days though, tsk. I'm getting just under 2 litres a day, and I was getting about 3 litres of just water before that. Anyway. I do feel a lot better.
Okay so what else was I going to say? Ohhh, thank you for the guestbook messages!!!! I'm so excited about my new guestbook!!! :)
In answer to Andrea's question - I NEVER (ever!) get 3 hours of sleep consectively! Well, except like midnight till 3am or something, but not at a good time for temping. I know the rule is that you have to get 3 hours of consecutive sleep before temping in order for your temps to be accurate for charting, but I have chosen to IGNORE that rule, because otherwise there is no way I can temp. I wanted to try it and see if my charts were readable with my crazy waking when Arthur was a baby. He woke every 30 minutes to 2 hours as a baby, seriously. EVERY night! I just chose a time that I would always temp, no matter how much sleep I had just got beforehand, and stuck to it for a while to see what those temps looked like on a chart. Sometimes I got 30 minutes of sleep before temping, seriously! Other times maybe 2 hours, but never longer. My charts were a little rockier than before having Arthur, but ultimately perfectly readable and accurate enough, because I could clearly see a biphasic pattern to show ovulation. So I continued without worrying about it!
I chose 6am to temp after having Arthur. This time I am temping at 8am because that's when Neil gets me up so that he can get ready for work. I always wake to nurse Matthew when he wakes for the day, and then hand him over to Neil to take downstairs (lovely Neil!). He wakes at varying times, so sometimes I am awake at 6am with him, and other times not till 7.15am. And then I need to get back to sleep after Matthew goes downstairs. It doesn't take me long, but it adds to the time a bit. So I NEVER, EVER get even 2 consecutive hours of sleep before temping this time round. Sometimes it's 30 minutes. But as you can see, my temps are stable and have a clear pattern. I know some women don't have that stability if their sleep is wacky, so I guess I am lucky that I do. Try it and see, and don't worry too much at first about the amount of sleep you've had. Just try to pick a set time (maybe if Roman wakes at a set time in the early hours? Or set the alarm - ugh!) and see how it goes for a while. You might find you have a perfectly readable chart! Or a rocky one, but still one that can tell you when you ovulate.
Well, I'm sure there was more, but I can't think of it now. I'll update again soon, if there's anything useful to say, or if FF changes its mind AGAIN, or if I get my period, of course!
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