Ovulation strips in the second half of my wife's cycle

[Maes]

Can my wife still get pregnant even if ovulation strips show that she's not ovulating in the second half of her cycle?

My wife and I are trying to conceive and we have been tracking her ovulation with ovulation strips this whole cycle and we saw clearly that her ovulation was on day 15 and then the second strip started to fade again. We are day 20 now and her menstruation is planned to start on day 28. (her cycle is very regular)

Is it still possible to conceive at this point in her cycle? Because you know, people say you can get pregnant at every point in your cycle regardless of what the ovulation strips say. So I'm just wondering if someone can shed some light on it if my wife can still get pregnant after the ovulation strips say there is no more ovulation ongoing. (so until her menstruation comes)

I'm reading a lot of conflicting stuff about this. Someone said that ovulation doesn't mean you can get pregnant because you can never know when an egg is waiting to be fertilised. Other people say if your ovulation sticks say there is no ovulation anymore in the second half of the cycle and your cycle is regular that you cannot get pregnant anymore for the rest of the cycle.

 

[BabyFrog]

If your wife's ovulation test was positive on the cd 15 the she should have ovulated 12 - 48 hours after the postive test. The egg only lives for 12 -24 hours, so techically if it wasn't fertilised by CD18 then she can't get pregnant this month.

However... Sometimes you can get a postive ovulation test and not actually ovulate at that time. The test measures Lutenising Hormone which stimulates the release of the egg, but the egg doesn't always release. If that's the case the body might try again later in the month and she could ovulate then. This can happen sometimes to even to ladies with a really regular cycle. She should get a second positive test to show her body is trying to ovulate again though!

Does your wife chart her basal body temperature? That's the best way to check if she actually ovulated after her postive ovulation test as if she did ovulate her temperature will rise!

 

[Maes]

If your wife's ovulation test was positive on the cd 15 the she should have ovulated 12 - 48 hours after the postive test. The egg only lives for 12 -24 hours, so techically if it wasn't fertilised by CD18 then she can't get pregnant this month.

However... Sometimes you can get a postive ovulation test and not actually ovulate at that time. The test measures Lutenising Hormone which stimulates the release of the egg, but the egg doesn't always release. If that's the case the body might try again later in the month and she could ovulate then. This can happen sometimes to even to ladies with a really regular cycle. She should get a second positive test to show her body is trying to ovulate again though!

Does your wife chart her basal body temperature? That's the best way to check if she actually ovulated after her postive ovulation test as if she did ovulate her temperature will rise!

Thanks for the answer. No, she doesn't track her basal body temperature but we should start in the future.

In the second scenario if her egg doesn't release, does her mucus stay very clear and stretchable until the egg releases for real later in her cycle? Or does it go dry and then to clear and stretchable when the 'second' ovulation is coming?

 

[BabyFrog]

When it's happened to me the cm dries up a bit the goes back to clear and stretchable before it tries to release again! Every person is different though, so don't be surprised when something isn't text book!

 

[Maes]

When it's happened to me the cm dries up a bit the goes back to clear and stretchable before it tries to release again! Every person is different though, so don't be surprised when something isn't text book!

Okay, thank you very much. Another question: what about menstruation if you have a really late 'second' ovulation? For example what if this second ovulation indicator is on day 25 or day 26, will the menstruation be on day 40? Or would day 25 be a bit too late for this to happen?

 

[BabyFrog]

The second part of the cycle (the Luteal phase which is from ovulation to menstruation) always remains about the same give or take a day or two, so if your wife usually menstruates 14 days after OV it'll still be 14 days after, regardless of when the ovulation took place!

 

[Maes]

So is it correct to say that if an egg doesn't release during this first lutenising hormone surge, but later in her cycle (for example day 21) that her menstruation will come on 21+14=35th day of her cycle even if her cycle is usually 28 days?

 

[BabyFrog]

Yes that's right.

I wouldn't get too hung up on late ovulation though, I just wanted to let you know it can (and does) happen!

I'd seriously recommend starting to monitor temperatures though, so you can be confident ovulation has happened. I bought my thermometer at the supermarket for less than £5 and it's been really helpful.

 

[broody2013]

I use fertility friend and that's been well worth the money - it helps encourage you to measure several indicators of fertility and helps to see patterns over time.