lh surges

[ronamy]

I take my lh surge test every morning and afternoon. Every morning since day 21 dp period it is as dark as the line with day 23 being darkest.(darker than line) In the afternoon it is still present, but not as dark. On days 21,22 in the afternoon it was just as dark as mornings. Day 23 sparked my only morning surge and no afternoon one since now,but every morning the lh surge sticks are as dark as the line.(day 26) Due for period on Friday.Why do I keep having such strong morning ones still?When did I actually ovulate?

I have a 28/29 day cycle.I showed no lh surges at all until day 21 with the reference line as dark as the test line.

[Tarobinc]

RE stands for reproductive endocrinologist (fertility doctor)

A good book that I used to learn about charting was by Toni Weschler called "Taking Charge of Your Fertility, 10th Anniversary Edition: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health".  Your best bet is to read a book like this or simlar that explains in great detail what charting involves.

As for the lingo used here, I think if you do a search you might be able to find a reference guide.  Or you can post about the lingo and see if anyone has a list they would share.

[ronamy]

What is an RE? How do I tune up on the lingo used in fertility?

It seems that I am not pregnant and my cycle is longer this month.My last day of period was July 10. I ovulated on 31(I think-there was the darkest lh surge) and had two dark lines with the 31 being darker than the two previous days. I have not charted my temps. How do you do this? I read to do it in the morning before you get up.I also got darker lh's for Aug 1-3.

[Tarobinc]

Af is stands for "Aunt Flo" aka your period.

You might have a short luteal phase then and might require supporting it with progestrone.  When I went through the IUI process, they put me on progestrone (vaginally inserted capsules) during my luteal phase as "just in case" since officially I wasnt told by my RE that had a short luteal phase.

OPKs can tell you if you have a LH surge but they do not tell you if you actually ov or not.  You can still have a surge but not actually ov. That was my case. I had tons of +opks but when I started charting my temps (BBT), I never ever saw a temp spike to indicate that I had ov.

Now, my GYN said I have PCOS but the RE wasn't convinced of that.  However, I do know that my first vaginal u/s revealed cyts in my ovaries and my first cycle of the IUI was halted since clomid was helping my cysts to grow and I actually had to go on bcp to stop their growth!  He never discussed the PCOS issue with me again and I didn't care about that.  All I wanted was for him to help me get my baby and that he did.

Have you seen an RE yet?

[ronamy]

what is af?

I will start my period on Friday,so I think this means I have a short luteal phase this month.

We tried for 7 months and we thought we just didn't ovulate(doctor said) b/c we only tracked until 15-16 day and when there was no surge, we figured my cycles just were off b/c of being off of birth control.

I didn't understand why I was getting period symptoms a week before period but now I know why.(I was ovulating. A cramp on one side, tender breasts at time of ovulation and slight bloated feel. Then a week later, I have my period.

[Tarobinc]

You could have ov on day 21 (or around there) and it that is true, af should show up 10-14 days later.  The longest a cycle should be is 36 days.  So the latest you should ov is day 22 of a cycle.  This is the general "rule."

The time from when af starts (beginning of new cycle) to the day of ov usually varies and can vary greatly.  Mine goes anywhere from day 9 to day 17.  However the time after ov (luteal phase) is pretty much a standard of 10-14 days with little variation.