Mid-cycle-ish

Ah Melanie, I love your little reminders! ;)

So I am on Cycle Day 20 today (already! Seems like only last week that I wrote the last post!). In case you happen to be like Melanie and stalk my chart (hehe!), I wanted to update about it today. I'm in a bit of confusion as to whether I have ovulated or not, which is frustrating, but not too relevant I suppose in the grand scheme of things! ;)

I started getting EWCM this cycle on CD14, earlier than my other cycles, and I was kind of pleased because it gave me a good possibility of ovulating earlier in my cycle this time. Usually I ovulate quite late in my cycle, when I have had a baby in the past year and am breastfeeding, and then my luteal phase is short, and it pretty much evens out (weirdly?! Amazingly?!) to about a 28-30 day cycle, give or take a couple of days! :) Funny! So like I might not ovulate till as late as CD24 but then only have a 5 day luteal phase and so have a 29 day cycle!

Anyway, I know it's possible to have a very definite fertile patch for a good number of days and then still not ovulate after it, so I didn't presume, but I hoped! I like it when things get back towards "normal" in my body, so it's nice when I ovulate gradually earlier each cycle and my luteal phase lengthens.

So I had 5 days of EWCM (good/normal for me). I didn't particularly have ovulation pain this cycle (sometimes I don't, but often I do), but I was mildly crampy the last two of those EWCM days. My pre-ovulatory temperatures have been higher than usual for me - still within my norm for pre-ovulatory temps, but only just. Usually my pre-ovulatory temps are 36.0 or below, but the normal range for me before ovulating is between 35.6 and 36.2. I almost never see temps outside that range before ovulation. AFTER ovulation, my range is 36.3/4 and above. I pretty much only hit 37.0 when pregnant, though 36.9 is common when not (such a fine line, haha! Oh the detail! ;) ). Now, 36.3 is an in-betweeny temp. On occasion (rare) it's a pre-ovulatory temp. Most of the time it's a post-ovulatory temp. It's a "maybe" temp, and I just have to wait till the next day for confirmation of which one it was, usually!

My confusion this cycle is about temps. Before (possibly!) ovulating, I had the usual below-36.0 temps, but they were quite rocky for me this cycle, and I had two up as high as 36.1, and then down again, and then up the next day (yesterday) at 36.2. Then this morning's temp was 36.3 - my "who knows!" temp! ;) So I will have to wait till tomorrow to see whether it is a post-ovulatory temp or just part of some really rocky PRE-ovulatory temps. I have had no EWCM today and yesterday, so I would have expected a temp shift upwards by now if I ovulated yesterday at the latest. Maybe 36.3 IS that temp shift? But it's pretty small from 36.2!

Anyway, when I entered all this on the chart tonight, it immediately showed me as 3 days past ovulation (ovulation occurring on the 4th day of EWCM - hmmm, possible, definitely, but I'm not sure...). That also happens to be a parsnips day, so if I did ovulate, then YAY! Another watch-and-wait cycle! I love those so much! :)

I said to Neil tonight that I was confused about my chart and I am not convinced I have ovulated yet, even though it says that I have. I think maybe I'll get a 36.2 or something lower tomorrow and FF will remove my crosshairs and tell me I haven't ovulated after all. And if I HAVEN'T, and it's been 3 days since any fertile signs, then that EWCM didn't come to anything and I suspect my body will take a week-ish before trying again, so a very late ovulation in the end probably.

He thought at first that I was telling him I was fertile NOW, and before he realised that wasn't the case, he said we should definitely act on it! I love that this man who was really iffy about having more than 2 children, is now the father of 4 children under 6 and even though he just interrupted his evening to go upstairs and rock the littlest (who is only 7 months old!) back to sleep, he is still eager to take the opportunity for more! I can't even begin to tell you the joy in my heart that threatens to burst out of me when I hear him say things like that, or when I reconsider his words over and over (and over!) later on! :) If you've been reading me here since I DID just have two children and a husband who was really iffy about having any more, then you'll know just how wonderful this change is to me! :D

Anyway, I will be updating again soon now that I'm at this stage of my cycle, but I just wanted to post for my lurker (hehe!) to know that although my chart says I'm 3DPO with parsnips on the day of ovulation (wheee!), don't get too excited about that because it might not be the case, and my chart might look quite different tomorrow after I put my temp in! We'll just see what it is tomorrow morning. I do have that slightly warmer feel in my eyes and under my skin (hard to explain!) that I get in my luteal phase (pregnant or not), but who knows, maybe the heating is on higher than usual or something! ;) One way or the other I will know in the morning. Unless it's 36.3 again, haha! In which case, I would absolutely have no idea which side of ovulation I am, until I get a different temp in either direction!

So, back soon! Thanks for watching me! That really warmed my heart! xxx