Fertility Monitors

wesley's mom

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Has anyone ever used one or know anyone who has? I have a few questions but wanted to see first if anyone has any experience or knows about them first.
 

twstychik

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I track my fertility myself. The idea the most women ovilate on day 14 and have a 28 day cycle is a big myth. I might try the predictor kits once I know IF and roughly when I ovulate in a normal cycle. Until them I'm using FAM to chart my cycles which is FREE! If your interested I'd strongly recomend you read Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler. It details all the steps to tracking your fertility using FAM. Basically, you keep a daily log of your BBT (basal body temp) cervical fluid and cervical position. The latter 2 predict ovulation and BBT confirms it and occasional can be used as a predictor depending on your body.
 

maddensmom

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Originally Posted by twstychik

I track my fertility myself. The idea the most women ovilate on day 14 and have a 28 day cycle is a big myth. I might try the predictor kits once I know IF and roughly when I ovulate in a normal cycle. Until them I'm using FAM to chart my cycles which is FREE! If your interested I'd strongly recomend you read Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler. It details all the steps to tracking your fertility using FAM. Basically, you keep a daily log of your BBT (basal body temp) cervical fluid and cervical position. The latter 2 predict ovulation and BBT confirms it and occasional can be used as a predictor depending on your body.
This is where I would start too. I used fertilityfriend.com (which is also free minus a few features you don't really need anyway). When you sign up you can read through a charting course which explains everything. After two or three months you'll learn to recognize when you are most fertile by watching your temps and the signals that your body gives you that correlate with them. (I won't go into those details here
) If you have any questions feel free to pm me. I charted for the past year on and off and I am now almost 16 weeks pregnant!
Before I started charting I really had no idea how my body worked!
 

glitch

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Some people dont have a 28 day cycle, but if you know exactly when you get your friend each month then it will be easier to track! I have a regular 28 day cycle and if anyone was to so much as breath on me on day 13-15 I would be pregnant! Its different for all though! Some of those monitors are really nice, you just pee on them and it tells you weather or not you're ovulating! Its a helpfull tool for those who dont have regular periods! I think the FAM guide is really helpfull for those who are trying to get prenant! I dont know if I would use it if I was trying NOT to have a baby though!! Good luck!
 

lillekat

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Originally Posted by twstychik

I track my fertility myself. The idea the most women ovilate on day 14 and have a 28 day cycle is a big myth. I might try the predictor kits once I know IF and roughly when I ovulate in a normal cycle. Until them I'm using FAM to chart my cycles which is FREE! If your interested I'd strongly recomend you read Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler. It details all the steps to tracking your fertility using FAM. Basically, you keep a daily log of your BBT (basal body temp) cervical fluid and cervical position. The latter 2 predict ovulation and BBT confirms it and occasional can be used as a predictor depending on your body.
I was always told by my doctors that a majority of women ovulate on average between day 10 and day 16 of her cycle.... so yes, the ovulating on day 14 precisely is a myth. I didn't realise that it was so easy to keep track of things yourself.
 

pat

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Originally Posted by twstychik

If your interested I'd strongly recomend you read Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler.
I strongly recommend this book also. Best wishes to you!
 

fwan

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I ended u signing up with that site and it seems to be good. We arent trying yet, but we will be sometime next year
 

chrissyr

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I used the Clear Blue monitor way back when. It worked great cept it got kinda costly. I could never track it myself as I could never remember to take my temp every morning. I used ovulation sticks, too, but enjoyed the CB instead.

Best of luck!!
 
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wesley's mom

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Originally Posted by ChrissyR

I used the Clear Blue monitor way back when. It worked great cept it got kinda costly. I could never track it myself as I could never remember to take my temp every morning. I used ovulation sticks, too, but enjoyed the CB instead.

Best of luck!!
Did you get pregnant using the monitor?
 

esrgirl

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I also strongly recommend FAM. "Taking Charge of your Fertility" is a great book for both achieving and preventing pregnancy. It's non-religious. I took a natural family planning course (the sympto-thermal method), which is the same thing only from a Catholic stance. I'm not pregnant yet, in two and a half years of not wanting to be, so it works well for me
Those fertility monitors are soooo expensive to keep up with when you can do this on your own for very cheap- it just takes the willingness to learn and apply the fertility markers.
 

sarahp

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I was talking to someone today who's 20 weeks pregnant, and she was saying for when I want to pregnant again to invest in a fertility monitor. She said her cycles are weird, and it really helped her figure out when she was fertile. Her doctors had previously said she'd need IVF, then it only took 4 months to fall pregnant - and the first 3 months of that they'd just moved from Australia to the US and her body was so stressed from the move she discovered she didn't even ovulate for one of those months!

She was also getting acupuncture, which she thinks also helped.
 
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wesley's mom

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Originally Posted by sarahp

I was talking to someone today who's 20 weeks pregnant, and she was saying for when I want to pregnant again to invest in a fertility monitor. She said her cycles are weird, and it really helped her figure out when she was fertile. Her doctors had previously said she'd need IVF, then it only took 4 months to fall pregnant - and the first 3 months of that they'd just moved from Australia to the US and her body was so stressed from the move she discovered she didn't even ovulate for one of those months!

She was also getting acupuncture, which she thinks also helped.
So, it took four months after using the monitor? So you said her cycles are weird, do you mean she was irregular sometimes?

Originally Posted by ChrissyR

Yes I did and I was able to use it to keep from getting pregnant.
How long did it take you to get pregant after using the monitor? Did it work perfectly for you the first cycle? What I mean is did it show a peak during your first cycle? I just got one and it went to a high and stayed there a few days then dropped back to low. I guess some people say it takes a couple of cycles sometimes to get to know you better.
 

sarahp

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Originally Posted by Wesley's Mom

So, it took four months after using the monitor? So you said her cycles are weird, do you mean she was irregular sometimes?
Sorry she was using an ovulation kit - it seems they're a bit different. But yes, it took 4 months to fall pregnant, and her cycles were irregular, mainly due to the stress of moving to a new country. She'd been told previously that due to crazy hormones (I don't know exactly what was wrong), that she'd have trouble falling pregnant and may need IVF.
 

chrissyr

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Originally Posted by Wesley's Mom

How long did it take you to get pregant after using the monitor? Did it work perfectly for you the first cycle? What I mean is did it show a peak during your first cycle? I just got one and it went to a high and stayed there a few days then dropped back to low. I guess some people say it takes a couple of cycles sometimes to get to know you better.
If I remeber correctly it does take the monitor 2 or 3 cycles to get to know you before it's fully capable of detecting the surges. It took us 3 months (cycles) to become pregnant when I used it. We waited the first 2 just to give the monitor time. I will tell you that after that first time I didn't get pregnant again with it as I have other fertility issues going on.

Best of luck and wishes to you!!
 
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wesley's mom

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Thanks for your help!! We'll give it a few cycles and see what happens!! I'll make sure I'll let you all know if it works!
 
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