One more AF question...

[smjmekg]

How can you have a 28 day cycle if you start the same day every month? Lets say like me you get AF on April 21. If you are due on May 21 the number of days between Apr 21 and May 21 is 30, and the number between May 21 and June 21 is 31...so are you not supposed to start the same day every month? Because I always say I'm supposed to start the same day every month, and I usually start the same day I ended the month before...this cycle stuff is confusing the h@$l out of me...I don't know how to guess when I'll start and when I ovulate...I can only assume sex every other day between AF is the best way to get pregnant.

[cmoretti]

I think after posting this thread several times and getting great answers you need to stop. Stating the same thing over and over again isn't helping anyone. I feel like you are wanting a certain answer. Since you aren't getting the answer you want, you are going to keep trying until you get the answer you want. Really, between what I have told you and what Mumita has said you have all of the information you need to find out when you are ovulating. There is no shortcut. You get the average like Mumita said which is about 30 days. Count forward 30 days from day 1 of AF, then count backward 17 days. This is the day you should start taking OPK's . This along with doing BBT charting will tell you everything you need to know. Yes, it takes time but it is the only way.

[Mumita]

I don't think you are understanding yet.  Just grab a calendar and count the days.  When you are taking birth control you are suppossed to get your AF the same day every month, but when you are off birth control you have to get an average of cycle length to know when it is that you are going to get your period.

After you have a baby your cycle changes, actually your cycle changes throughout the year.  Actually when I got pregnant last summer my body was perfect cycle, then I started keeping track of my cycles and I found out that NOPE some months it was 30 other months it was 34 days.

You have to do the math, otherwise you are going to be guessing forever how your cycle works.
Usually if you are clockwork regular then you will get your period the same day or the next day the next month from the FIRST DAY OF YOUR PERIOD, not the last day because it doesn't always last the same ammount of days. So calculate your cycle using the First day of your period always even if it gives you a cycle length of 40 ok?
If you say that you started your period April 21st and it ended april 28th and then your next period is on May 28th then that means that your cycle is 37 days long.....So you would be ovulating 17-12 days before your next period. which would be  May 11th - May 16th would be your fertile window.  So in other words, you ovulate on calendar day 20-25

I don't know  how else to explain it.

[smjmekg]

When I conceived my son it was exactly fourteen days after the first day of AF.

This is where I'm getting confused. I have an irregular AF, although I'm not sure how irregular yet because this is my first cycle after b/c. How many days would my cycle length be if I started the same day I ended on the previous month? Well, I can't say that's the day I would start every month...I can start the same day I started the month before (Apr 21/May 21/June 21) all the way up to starting the day I ended the previous month...So Apr 21 was my last, it ended Apr 28 so May 28 is when I could start this month, or any day in between. After I had my son AF started two months later, each month AF would come a week after the day I started the month before...six months after DS was born I got on b/c for two months,. I stopped mid cycle on Mar 29 and got my first AF Apr 21.

[Mumita]

Well yes and no.  My calculations are based on the length of the lutheal phase which is the length of time from O to AF.  Usually womens' lutheal phase is from 12-17 days long.  Many women calculate it wrong because they think that O is 12-17 days After AF which is wrong.
My lutheal phase was short, only 12 days, so I would ovulate on cd 22, but my cycles on average were 34 days long.  The key is calculating  your average cycle length and then count backwards 12-17 days to know your fertile window.

Does that make sense?  I hope that it does.  It took me a while to get it right but once I did, I was pregnant and my conception dates are right on according to my ultrasound dates.  I also used an OPK during my "fertile week" so I knew exactly when I ovulated during that week and I also paid attention to my body's signs.

[Vic85]

The only problem with that is you are then assuming that everyone will ovulate in the middle of the cycle. I only say this cos i'm one of those stupidly awkward people who ovulates really really late in my cycle (about 3-5 days before af is due). Tho its great way of calculating it all- i'm gonna try it once ive had this baby cos i never know from one month to the next wen my af is due-the only reason i know i ovulate late is cos of my dates that the midwife gave on all 3 of my pregnancy's have been 2 weeks wrong every time (each time i get to my dating scan i'm two weeks behind my original dates)

[faith2086]

great lay out. u just basically gave me my fertile days.lol. even though it was for."smj"

[Mumita]

It really isn't that hard.  Grab a calendar, every time you get AF you mark it on the calendar and count the days from the first day of your AF (not the last day) until the first day of AF the next month.  Then when you have 3 months marked at least then sum the dates from each month like this:
Month 1 was 30 days, month 2 was 29 days month 3 was 31 days, so = 30+29+31= 90 then divide by how many months you have so divide by 3 = 30.  So your average is 30 days each month.
Then to calculate when you ovulate you count backwards so from the first day of your period you count 12-17 days back and that should give you the 5 days a month when you should be ovulating.  So from lets say  April 21st, so count 17 days before it would be April 4th-April 9th anyday in between those dates is when you ovulated, which during that week you use an OPK to see which day exactly you are ovulating on.

Ok, so now lets say that you ovulated on April 6th, that would have been 16 calendar days from your last AF (if your af was on March 21st).  So if you calculate it right then your fertile week in May is May 4th to May 9th.  Use an OPK during your fertile week.

[faith2086]

i have a few examples to give. i had got my period nov.6-then dec 6. exactly around the same time.then came new years morning it switched. yeah what a way to celebrate 09.with a period. any who. it came back jan.28 but was three days instead of 6. then feb.28 but it was 3 days. then i got it march 24 three days. the april 20 for two days.mine was like thirty days apart then became 27 days apart. why i dont know. its shorter in bleeding days and shorter in daily counts for the month.any who. maybe ur find.they do have a mind of there own.sometime you can look for more discharge to tell if ur ovulating. or take your bbt.good luck

[Grandmatobe]

If you start on the same day every month, I would consider you to have a 30 day cycle.  Some months have 30 days and some 31 (except Feb, of course), so if you add up all of the days in the year and divide be 12, you get 30.42 average days per month.  Therefore, to make things simple, if you always start on (let's say) the 21st, then I would use a 30 day cycle for your calculations.

[smjmekg]

I'm a ball of confusion right now. If I start the day I end on the previous month, how many days is my cycle?

[smjmekg]

I was just confused, because with DS they calculated my conception/due date on a 28 day cycle, and I was wondering because when he was born he was given a maturity level of 38 weeks, when he was born at supposedly day one of 39 weeks, since I posted this I've used 3 or 4 pregnancy calculators and they all say I should have been due on July 10 for a 28 day cycle, so DS was born at the latest 38 weeks 6 days. It's confusing me because I don't know if his due date was accurate, I tried a 30 day cycle and his due date would have been later, on some by almost a week.
On the 21st thing I'm expecting AF to start the 21st but since it ended the 28th, I should be starting the 28th of May if my cycle goes like it did before I got pregnant with DS and before I started b/c after having him...that's how it usually went. The day I ended one month is the day I started the next. So now that I'm ttc, I don't know when I ovulated/if I missed it and I don't know when to test to see if I am pregnant.

[martikadragoon]

by the way... my info on the "leuteal" phase may be a bit off, I'm tired and going from memory... so the other ladies... Feel FREE to correct me!!! lol.

[martikadragoon]

So are you saying that you start Apr 21st and then expect AF on May 21st?  Or do you start the 21st and start AGAIN the 21st of the next month??

Every woman's cycle is different. it sounds like you have a 30 day cycle average... that means your gonna ovulate approximately 16 days into it or so... So yes, sex every other day.  And by the way.. 30 days IS normal. If you have your cycle less than 14d apart I think or more than 40 apart... then it's considered off...

because if it's too close together, your leuteal phase isn't long enough to support a pregnancy (when the baby nestles in) and too far apart means it's tough to figure out your ovulation time...

Also, you can go online to buy a kit of pregnancy tests and Ovulation tests. if your unsure of when you ovulate you take a test in the A.M and in the P.M. because it's easy to miss your LH surge. An ovulation test if it's positive means you'll ovulate within 12-36hrs.... Plus... don't put too much pressure on your man. Have fun. sometimes guys physically don't have the energy to go every other day... my DH works full time and is exhausted 1/2 the time so we go around 2 or 3x a week. TMI SRRY!!!

What I did was monitored things myself (DH KNEW and wanted a baby also) but I didn't tell him when it was time... I just jumped him randomly or put something sexy on. :)

Try Preseed also... walmart carrys "preConceive" if you don't want to order the stuff online. :) It mimics the environment of healthy CM (cervical mucous) which will allow the sperm to survive longer... In the right environment they can live around 5 days. :)