Need help understanding ovulation

[hercurvestofear.livejournal.com]

I'm attempting to understand ovulation but my brain isn't cooperating. A couple sites have different info and omg just help. lol. I want to understand and be able to track my cycle. Does my cycle start the first day or last day of my period? When am I most likely to get pregnant? I am on birth control and use condoms with my boyfriend, I just want to know really. Asked mother dearest but her answer was "I had three kids from 17 to 22 you think I know?" silly lady. So yes, wonderful women of this community...educate a girl!!


Thanks and love!

Comments

[jasminelily.livejournal.com]

Your cycle starts on the first day of your period. However, if you are on birth control, you don't ovulate, so you are no likelier to get pregnant on one day of the month than any other.

[hercurvestofear.livejournal.com]

Thank you! That simplifies the hell out of things. lol

I felt stupid asking, but I figured this was a good place to go if I was being uneducated.

[mooncrab.livejournal.com]

Your new cycle starts on the first day you begin bleeding. You are most likely to to get pregnant during ovulation, which "typically" occurs around day 14 of a "normal" cycle. (Note that I don't believe in typical or normal;)), but can honestly happen any time after menstruation. After ovulation, a person enters their luteal phase, during wihch you are not fertile, and the luteal phase is generally a fairly set time. (The "average" is 12 days, I believe, but some people have short luteal phasesn some have long ones. Mine is long, I have a 17 day luteal phase.) If you do not become pregnant during ovulation, you will begin your period (and your next cycle) somewhere around 10-16 days after ovulation. For more information about this, check out the book Taking Control of Your Fertility by Toni Something.

If you're on hormonal BC, however, you're theoreticaly not ovulating at all - you have a hormonally simulated menstrual cycle in which withdrawl from the hormones of the pill, which occurs during the placebo pills, causes you to begin bleeding.

[hercurvestofear.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I appreciate the detailed answer, I'll definetly check out that book. I'm always looking for good ones related to womens issues.

[hercurvestofear.livejournal.com]

Awesome ::adds to amazon wish list::

[lily-a-go-go.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to add, the first day of your period is the first day of red flow. Spotting isn't flow.

[hercurvestofear.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[barbieluvsken04.livejournal.com]

Thanks for adding this.. I've never been sure.

[archangelbeth]

Just to add some pedantic detail: sperm can survive for a few days (around 3, my memory has it), so having unprotected sex a few days before ovulation means that they're going to be swimming a bit longer (they don't meet the ova coming down the fallopian tubes), but there may still be plenty of the little wigglies to go "courting" the ova.

[hercurvestofear.livejournal.com]

definetly good to know, thanks!

[thee-shadow.livejournal.com]

Im glad you asked! I thought i was the only one who didn't understand this:x

[hercurvestofear.livejournal.com]

Oh thank goodness its not just me! I just kept finding web pages with lots of medical terms and the information just was not processing!

Descriptive Subject Line Request

[glasspumpkin.livejournal.com]

Hi there. Could you please edit your post to include a more descriptive subject line? This will help other members use your post as a resource in the future. For more information on what we mean, take a look at this part (http://www.vaginapagina.com/index.php?title=VaginaPagina_FAQ#Have_I_typed_out_a_descriptive_subject_header_and.2For_LJ-cut_text_that_lets_readers_know_what_my_post_is_about.3F) of our FAQ (http://www.vaginapagina.com/index.php?title=VaginaPagina_FAQ).

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For the VP Team (http://www.vaginapagina.com/contact.php)
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Re: Descriptive Subject Line Request

[hercurvestofear.livejournal.com]

Whoops....sorry!!

[chelejean.livejournal.com]

A great resource for me has been the cycles page: www.cyclespage.com.

If you put a couple month's worth of data in there, you start getting good data back.

[hercurvestofear.livejournal.com]

I'll try that out, thank you!

[quiltingdragon.livejournal.com]

I use a different site, which will track/predict periods, ovulation and fertility days (with cute little bunnies)

www.mymonthlycycles.com

You can even set it to send you an email to remind you your period is due, so you remember to put an extra pad/tampon in. I put in my info/symptoms each month, and now I know when the period is due (you can predict a few months ahead), when I ovulate, and if/when I need it, I will know when my fertile days are. This is a good place to start, and I've heard a lot of good things about the book mentioned above.

[jennifer0246.livejournal.com]

Keep in mind though, that on bc you don't have a cycle -- your hormones are overridden by the birth control to mimic a natural cycle but its not your body doing it, it's the pills you're taking.

[hercurvestofear.livejournal.com]

I do know that now, but I thought it might be a good idea to get myself used to tracking this...never know what can happen. Could lose my insurance, or want to get off birth control. But I see your point, there really is no point in me doing it since I know what day it will happen cause of my Nuvaring.

[christirose.livejournal.com]

Well, ideally, you’d track your cycles before and after starting birth control to keep an eye on how it’s changed your cycles. That said, many women track their cycles after coming off HBC because cycles are very very irregular and tracking gives an insight to what’s going on. Also, this community gets a lot of posts about pregnancy scares while on HBC — maybe cycle tracking would’ve put their minds at ease.

[disturbedme.livejournal.com]

I don't really have anything much to add except that like someone said above, "Taking Charge of your Fertility" is a great book, and will be very helpful if you ever do decide to get off HBC, etc.

I chart my cycles and take my basal body temp and do all that, because my husband and I use it as our 'birth control'. :-)