Mother Nature Can Bite Me

[Eliza]

Once again....Mother Nature has come to visit dispite my valiant efforts to get preggers. And my question is about ovulation.

*men..turn back here...while you still can..lol*

Here's the deal... I bought one of those "spit test" ovulation tests where you look at your dried saliva in a little scope to look for a pattern that indicates ovulation. (apparantly, a woman who is ovulating, her saliva dries in a fern like pattern as opposed to blotching random patterns) I've used it before and it's never been really defined. Even in those times I thought I was sposed to be ovulating. (14 day rule thing) Sooooo this month..period comes late...( 4 days) and I'm bummed...(damn Mom Nature)

So today it's a couple days later...I'm still flowing...and I'm sitting in the car waiting for a friend and I'm bored and rummaging in my purse. I find my scope and say to myself..what the hell...let's test our spit. And damnded if it wasn't fern patterned all over the damn place!!

So...this is the question... is this a load of hooey?? Has anyone heard this before? Or have issues w/ not ovulating on their 14th day?? If this test is correct..I'm ovulating now! AND have my period!! How is this possible???

Any help is appreciated as I'm confuzzeled now.:D

~Eliza

[Lilith]

Eliza,
It took me 5 years to get preggers with each kid. I never tried an ovulation predictor. I did the temperature thing and kept charts. I took fertility drugs too and nothing worked. Our issues were both of us so timing was a huge deal. Basically I have no info to offer about the predictors, I just wanted you to know you are not alone. I lost weight (because fat cells store hormones that can prevent pregnancy) and Mr. Lil gave up marathon running (hell on sperm) and drank OJ every day. I also did this goofy thing about not moving after I got fucked, just rolled onto my side.

OK that was no help I know but ((Eliza)) I can remember how crushed I felt everytime I bled. Keep your chin and your hips up, I swear gravity helps:p

[Gilly]

I have never heard of the saliva test, or what not. We were fortunate, and never seemed to have trouble getting pregnant. My friends sister is having troubles, however, and she uses one of the thermometer thingy-ma-bobs that tell if you are ovulating based on tempreture.

I hope things work out good for you! I can't help but think that there are people out there who should never have kids, and can pop them out like it's nothing, while people who really want the chance at having one can't seem to get there easily.

{{{{{HUGS}}}}}

[GingerV]

Did a quick research dig, and it's not good news, I'm afraid. There's an old study published in Lancet (1998 I think?) that says these little gizmos aren't terribly useful.

The idea, as far as I can follow it...not my field, is that there's a burst of oestrogen just before ovulation. Increases in blood oestrogen levels DO correlate with incraesed levels of oestrogen in saliva.....the presence of oestrogen does cause these salt crystal trees to form more easily in dried samples. So they're not making up the science of it. The problem is that the results just aren't consistent. Not from woman to woman, in any way...which makes these little toys pretty much useless. What I found kind of amusing was that the study included both post menopausal women and some men as controls...and all the men, as well as some of the women who certainly weren't ovulating had positive ferning. So there are obviously ways to get screaming false positives using this sort of test. Better yet, women who were verifyed to be ovulating (other tests, including basal temperature....that one really is a good predictor of ovulation) showed no ferning fully half the time. So false positives all over the place, and half the time the gizmos miss the real signal. Pretty pointless.

But not entirely pointless, in one very specific and potentially unhelpful way. If you track your ferning pattern over a couple of months, it should stay consistent FOR YOU. You won't know necessarily from that when you're ovulating...but if you find your ovulation pattern with body temp or something else, you might be able to map one pattern onto the other....and then use ferning as your personal road map. But that's just a guess on my part...I'm no fertility expert.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of debunking news....still, everything I read suggested that basal body temp really does tell you something. You might try that?

Best of luck in any case...wish I could do more.

G

[Teddy Bear]

Good friends of ours had trouble getting preggo until..... and this is gonna sound really weird but its true.....

The hubby had always worn 'whitey-tighties'. These keep the balls close to the body and warm/hot. Well heat kills sperm or at least makes em sluggish. He switched to boxers and let the boys hang free and cool and around the house he wore only boxers. Within a couple of months she was preggo! Odd but true.....

I hope its something as simple as that for you. *hugggs*

But don't stress out. Thats no good for either of you. Have fun trying. And try often.... sometimes its all a matter of timing. Gotta get his sperm in you at the right time. I wouldn't trust the predictor thingys too much. My mom-in-law had good luck taking her temp. though. She knows exactly when each of her children were concieved. For my hubby she called up my dad-in-law at work and said: 'Al come home for lunch'. Lol, 9 months later my hubby. He was a nooner. :D

Good luck!!
*hugggs*
teddy :)

[Eliza]

Thank you all for your responses so far..it's nice to see I'm not alone. Ginger..thank you so much for your information. I didn't have much faith in the thing...I was curious though. I just always asumed everyone followed the 14 day rule thing. What do think about the ovulation tests they sell..the ones that you actually test your urine?
The body temp thing I can do...but..I have to figure out exactly what the heck I'm doing..all the sites I've seen so far have confusing instructions and all their terms are just initials...seems everyone know wtf these terms mean but me..lol...maybe I just need ovulation for dummies.:D

Teddy..I've been trying to get my hubby to give up his "grape smugglers" as I call them. He keeps saying you don't mess with a man's underwear..lol I wanna get him some boxer breifs...Maybe that would be a little better.

Lil..what's the OJ thing about? (getting ready to go stock up..lol)
Damn I'll try anything at this point..I've heard some crazy things that people say works.


(((((hugs))))))) to you all and thank you so much!!
Eliza

[Lilith]

Eliza~ a Dr. told us that studies showed it created healthier sperm. Hubby switched to boxers too.

I did the temp thing as told to by my Dr. Take your temp every morning by mouth before you move or get out of bed. Chart it and you will begin to see a pattern of temperature change.

This sight has good info..

http://www.epigee.org/guide/nfpchart.html

[katekate42]

You definitely aren't alone- most women have to do quite a bit of trying in order to get pregnant. Don't give up yet though... I don't know much about the spit test, but I do know that when you ovulate depends on each individual woman- the 14 day thing is the load of hooey- it's perfectly normal to have your period and release another egg at the same time- that's why Momma always said you can still get pregnant when you're on your period :) Good luck darlin', and don't forget the folic acid :)

[GingerV]

I haven't seen anything against the urine tests, Eliza. I imagine they're probably just as accurate/inaccurate as your average pregnancy test. But they look like they could add up, moneywise, to me. If it were me, I'd probably start with a digital thermometer, and when I had an idea when I was likely to ovulate...move to the dipsticks (actually what they're callled, gotta love that) to pinpoint when I was ready in any given month. But that's just me.

On the OJ front, aren't women who are trying to get pregnant supposed to be drinking lots? Not to help with the pregnancy odds, but because having plenty of follic acid around early in development was protective against certain birth defects?

You might check to see if there are duolas or midwifes in your area....they're usually more than happy to talk to people before as well as during pregnancy, and they'll be able to help you sort out all the alphabet soup on the sites you mentioned.

[LixyChick]

(((((((((Eliza))))))))))

Not much to add to all said above. I just thought you could use a hug! Hang in there sweety! It'll happen at just the moment it is meant to happen! Li'l Jr./Missy is in there waiting to make the move!

P.S. I've heard (can't verify...but heard) that all eggs are of the female persuasion until fertilized, and then the gender is determined! Sounds about right though, doncha think? SHE'S in there making everyone wait till she is ready! LOL! Made ya smile, huh?

[naughtyangel]

I just wanted to offer up some {{{HUGZ}}} too :) We're currently trying for our 2nd...took us over 2 years to get pg with our son, with the help of some fertility drugs (still amazed we don't have three instead of one LOL). Even though it doesn't tell me anything more than the fact I'm not ovulating :rolleyes:, I'm a faithful temp charter. Fertilityfriend.com is a great free charting site, with some really helpful people on their message board.

I know it can get frustrating. I don't believe anything hurts so much as seeing negative test after negative test when all you want in the world is to see two lines :( So, here's another {{{HUG}}} for you....try to stay positive, you'll be in my thoughts :)

[GingerV]

You're close Lixy...it's a chromosome thing. Women have two X chromosomes in every cell, men have an X and a Y. Eggs have one chromosome from the mother (has to be an X, it's all she's got). Sperm have one from the father (either an X or a Y). If an X bearing sperm gets to the egg, it adds up to XX = girl baby. If a Y bearing sperm get there....XY = boy baby.

But as everyone has at least one X, I don't think it's entirely right to say that inherently female. It is true that the sex is entirely determined by the father's contribution.

And now the biologist is gonna go perv ;). Sorry for the lecture, sometimes I just can't help myself.