Can someone explain the cycle to me?

[lrb]

Embarrassed to say im a little confused..

When you have monthly periods, so mines 28 days.. but is that from the first day of your period or the last?
And.. whens the time to start trying, isit a week after your period or as soon as you finish. As a woman i really should know these things..

Just thinking me being late on my period might just be luck, or something other than pregnancy, and if it is, im worried that i wont be trying when i should and il just miss the dates..

I think thats everything lol..

Can anyone help me please..

Thanks x

 

[jodied]

Hi I will try and give it a go - very new to this myself. The first day of your period counts as day 1. If you have a 28 day cycle the chances are that you will ovulate around day 14 and that is when you are most fertile. In order to check when you ovulate you can buy ovulation testing sticks or a lot of the ladies on here just look out for white discharge (referred to as egg white cervical mucus or ewcm) as that is normally when you are ovulating. If your period is due and hasn't arrived then you could be pregnant and a home pregnancy test (hpt) should work now. If your period (often referred to on here as af - aunt flo!) does arrive then use that as day 1 and start counting. Personally I would be trying from around days 10-18 but depends on each person as I said. Hope that helps and I'm sure others will correct me if I'm wrong or there is anything else you should think about...

Jodie x

 

[LouiseB]

Ok

Day 1 = period starts

Then you count the day until your next period starts which will be Day 1 of your next cycle.

The number of days you count is the length of your cycle.

The generally accepted time of ovulation is 14 days before your next cycle, but this isn't 100% accurate.

So, for example, you have 29 days in your cycle. Your period starts on Day 1 and you should ovulate on day 16.

If you have 28 days in your cycle you should ovulate on day 15.

Sperm apparently can live in your body for upto 72 hours (3 days), but to be safe lets say 48 hours (2 days).

So, my personal advice would be to start ttc 6 days (3 sessions of sex) before you expect ovulation and then another after wards for good measure.

If you can fit in more sex at 48 hour intervals all the better but i personally found it very hard to be enthusiastic about sex for longer.

PS. I also might mention that i have only just started ttc to a don't know how well my methods pan out, but the theory behind them is ok

 

[lrb]

okay, so lets see if i get this..
for example.. i came on 16th april..my period completely finished on 21st. next time i came on was the 14th may,(which is my last period so far) which would be 28/29 days inbetween my next period? so 30th april..day 15 would be the first of my ovulation?
Have i finally got it?
Only thing is tho, im still waiting for that period..2 hpt negetive, blood test negetive, but still no period. Going to go have more blood tests done to try figure out why, but i wish/hope i was pregnant..

Thank you both for your help, hopefully ive finally got it!!
x

 

[Geminiblue]

Hi - yes sounds like you got the calculations right.

My periods can be all over the place and I went a couple of months without one and then last 4 months I think have been 21 days so I ov early, The time I went for a couple of months with a period was no reason at all. Sometimes it just nothing to worry about even though I was obviously really worried as I wasnt pregnant. Fingers crossed for you xxx

 

[LouiseB]

16th April = Day 1
14th May = Day 1

And i count 28 days for that cycle.

Day 15 = 30th April = ovulation.

Yes - i think you've got it!

There is no "first day" of ovulation though. Ovulation is only one day.

So you would have expected you next period on 10th June, making you like 53 days or 7+ weeks overdue.

Hmmm. I think that all you can do is assume that you are not pregnant based on aall the tests and wait for it to show.

If you are in fact pregnant, you should be about to feel it by about 17 weeks and see it by 20 weeks depending on your body fat.

 

[lrb]

hi geminiblue, what so u actually went like 2 months without one and it turned out to be nothing?

Thank you louise i think you have finally explained it all to me, i thought that you had 1 week of ovalating, not just the one day so ud need to make you ud have sex few days up to that date and after aswell? and to make sure, more than once on that day?

Isit worth me buying ovultion sticks to check that iam ovulating?

x

 

[LouiseB]

There is basically a 4 day window to conceive.

Sperm lives for 3 days inside you.

The egg lives for 1 day.

So, if you ovulate on day 15 you can conceive by having sex on days 13, 14, 15 and 16.

However, because sperms lives for over 48 hours you only need to have sex every 48 hours.

So you might only have sex on days 13 and 15.

I personally would advise sex on days 11, 13, 15 and 17 just to cover all bases in case ovulation is a little bit later than you think.

This month i had sex on day 12, 13, 14, 15 and 17.

It isn't an exact science and if you have no ovulation symptoms (i get stabby pains) then you might want to have sex even more times - but it is harder than you think to have sex all the time.

If ovulation sticks make you feel better, than use them, but i remain a bit shy of them - most people just seem even more confused and stressed by them

 

[lrb]

yeh i think that might just confuse me even more, so like you said u had sex on 12th 13th 14th 15th & 17th but why not the 16th? You said (I personally would advise sex on days 11, 13, 15 and 17 ) is there a reason or method behind this lol? or just a break!

 

[LouiseB]

Ok, the reason i'd advise 11, 13, 15 and 17 is because sex every day reduces sperm numbers and therefore becomes counter productive.

You can have sex every day if you wish, but it really does become stressful.

I over did it with sex this month. Thats the reason we didn't have it on the 16th because i just couldn't face it. We haven't increased our chances by having it every day, we might have even reduced them and all we got for it was the stress of having to have sex so often.

All i am trying to do is explain what the general advisce is and what it implies in terms of when to have sex.

You still have to apply it to yourself and your own situation - i can't literally tell you when to have sex, it's not that simple

 

[lrb]

yeahh, no deffinately, i thought that was the reason but i was just checking incase it was something else. Thank you for your help x