We now interrupt this blogging silence with a question . . .
I have been dutifully peeing on ovulation predictor sticks since Thursday. Well, maybe not quite as dutifully as I could be, because I have yet to pee on a stick at work. I had late mornings every day last week, so I just peed at 9:30 right before I left the house.
(An aside: When I was last at the RE's office, and twice since when I have phoned a nurse about other issues, I was told to CALL ON DAY 10 AND THEY WILL TELL YOU WHAT TO DO. It was all very mysterious. Obviously, it was some secret knowledge handed out on a need-to-know basis. NO WAY were they going to give me these intricate directions before day 10. On Thursday morning I made the call, pen and pad of paper in my lap, ready to record the all important day 10 directives. I told the receptionist my name and that I was calling for my day 10 instructions. 'Oh yeah,' says she, 'day 10. Just use an ovulation predictor kit every day between 10:00 and 11:00 and call us when it's positive.' Huge let-down. I received more explicit instructions from the nurse on my last visit, as well as written instructions, after which she said 'Be sure to call on day 10 and they will tell you what to do.' Anyway, I am hoping that the half an hour between 9:30 and 10:00 will not turn out to be hugely important.)
Back to the story . . . On Saturday morning my peestick was defective. I peed on it just like I always do (no variation in technique or timing, I promise) and absolutely nothing happened. White as snow, not even a hint of a reference line. I did not throw it away, of course, I lined it up on the window sill with all the others, in chronological order. Late that afternoon I peed on a second stick: it was not defective, nor was it positive. BUT when I set it on the window sill with its negative sisters (don't ask me why I am preserving them for posterity, and I know you aren't supposed to read them after 10 minutes, but still I find it useful to have them there) lo and behold the formerly defective, white as snow test from the morning is now POSITIVE. Two equally (very) dark lines.
What do you think? I know you shouldn't read them after 10 minutes, and especially not a defective one, but none of the other tests have developed evaporation lines. Not even the one that has been sitting around since Thursday. They have all darkened a little bit with time, but none of them approach the reference line.
Do you think the Saturday morning test could have reflected the tail end of a surge that began late in the morning on Friday (after I tested because I have been testing too early)? I had eggwhite cervical fluid yesterday, and thus far [n=2] I have had a temp spike 2-3 days after the appearance of eggwhite.
It isn't tragic if that should have been the positive opk, we did have sex. But I will have messed up the timing of the post-coital test. Which I wasn't excited about anyway, so maybe no big deal. Still, what is up with that defective peestick? Very annoying! Those things aren't cheap!
4 comments:
Those opks are so damn difficult. I would be surprised if you could miss a surge by testing a few hours after the defective test. But who knows.
I have to say I've always used the digital ones, which were helpful as they just told you the answer, none of this holding up to the light and squinting thing.
I too have been using the digital predictor. I've been peeing on a damn stick for 18 months and counting. With clomid, it would appear that I ovulate somewhere around day 18. Can someone please explain why it is that even though I ovulate (tubes are clear and sperm work) I'm still not pregnant?I am on the 3rd month of clomid. When I called the dr. office to see if we couldn't try something "more aggressive" (i.e. IUI) the nurse shut me down. She wouldn't except that it is what I want to do. Apparantly there is a process and I have to follow it as directed. (insert explitive here)
Argh! I hate those pee sticks. I agree with Thalia, though. I don't think you would have missed the surge - it usually hangs around a bit.
And a shout out to Anonymous: Find a new doctor. One that realizes you are the customer and s/he is the vendor. If you want to move on to IUI's s/he should let you.
hi lovely,
i had such a difficult time with OPK's that i finally caved in and bought a fertility monitor.
have you heard of them? i feel like it is so accurate, it's creepy. it really learns your body chemicals.
it has three levels each time you pee and put a stick in...Low, High and Peak Fertile days. you don't have to pee on the stick every morning of your cycle. it usually asks you to start on the 9th or 10th day of your cycle, depending on your body chemicals and then asks you to pee each morning around the same 4 hour window, each day...until your Peak Fertile days are over.
i've been doing it for three months now...and it showed that i was ovulating a few days later than what the OPK's were telling me but that could just be my own experience. i actually conceived last month (but it was chemical).
needless to say, i am happy with the Fertility Monitor because it was the first time in 2.5 years i received a faint positive pregnancy test.
anyways, love to you on this journey...we are holding you up. you are not alone.
xoxox
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