Favorite OPK?

[Kelissi]

Hopefully, if DH gets on board, we'll begin TTC in August. I'm using OPK's so that I have a general idea of when things are happening, but they're the cheapy ones and can be pretty stressful ("Is that a dark line or isn't it? Maybe it's a line! No, it's light! AGH!"). We'll be doing one attempt at OPK, so I think that it'll lessen my stress to have an ovulation test that I don't have to interpret quite so much when we're actively TTC. Did anyone use one that they liked and was easy to read?

[angielorna]

Personally, I like the clear blue fertility monitor. It's pricey, but, for me, it took the guess work out of regular OPKS. It only works for certain cycle lengths and you start testing at CD 5 until you get your "high fertility" indicator. I got pregnant the first try with it (but I also conceived a boy because we just kept DTD -- now TTC girl, it'll be a one time thing).

I'm currently using dollar store ones but next month if I'm not pregnant, I'm buying the $60 sticks (2 month supply) because I still have my machine.

Good luck!
Angie

[angielorna]

so I read your signature, what is a family centered caesarian? I've had 2 c-sections and am hoping beyond hope that I can have a VBA2C. But you've got me curious :P

Angie

[Rosie85]

I use the wondfo brand and they worked well for me! I also have some of the expensive sticks and they work just the same...if you pull it out it shows the same info as the wondfo it just interprets the data for you in case you are unsure.

[sugarNspice]

I'm a wondfo fan. I have used opks (as a backup/confirmation) along with charting as my birth control for years, and have used them to track cycles while TTC for years as well. Back when I first got pregnant with DD#1, I did a *lot* of exercise, and had really irregular cycles, and cheap opks were the only ones that I could afford to use regularly (it wasn't uncommon for me to go 90 days between periods). Since I've had kids, I've really decreased the exercise, and I usually o on day 13 or day 14 now. But I still like wondfos, for cost reasons alone.

I think the most important factor in using opks successfully is familiarity. The more often you've used a particular brand, the better you'll know what a positive looks like for you, with your body's LH levels and hydration levels (ie, how concentrated your pee is). You can also compare the lines at different times of day, so you'll know what time works best for getting clear results.

Wondfos are by no means the most sensitive or the easiest to read. They're just cheap, and I find them reasonably consistent. (I've had bad luck with the Answer brand, which seems to vary a lot from package to package in terms of sensitivity). I do get fade-ins with wondfo, which I like, as I gives me advance warning when ovulation's on its way. But it also can be confusing, and hard to tell almost-positives from true positives.

I have used the Clear Blue Digital Ovulation Tests alongside wondfos to help tell which dark-ish tests are true positives. I pee in a cup (since you aren't supposed to hold the wondfos in a urine ****** anyway), save the pee, and then if the wondfo I've dipped in it is ambiguous, I use a digital test stick in the same pee. (This way, I go through about 2-3 digital test sticks per month max, which saves a lot of money over using the digital tests every day.)

This, by the way, works with the Clear Blue Digital Ovulation test, but not the Clear Blue Advanced Digital Ovulation test. The difference between the plain test and the "advanced" version is pretty big--the advanced version basically works like a mini-fertility monitor. You are supposed to use only FMU in it, and test daily, and it remembers prior test results. It looks for increased estrogen levels as well as LH, so it gives you a "high" reading for a couple of days before the LH surge is detected.

I have never used a fertility monitor, so I don't know if it's more sensitive/effective than the digital tests that work like it, but the "advanced" tests did not work well for me at all. I found that drinking extra water (or tea) before bedtime would sometimes give me false negatives, and it seemed to have a much harder time catching my LH surge than opks taken mid-afternoon or early evening.

I was using it this cycle--I got pregnant from DTD one time with a positive wondfo--and it never showed a postive at all. (I had leftover sticks, and wanted to use them up, I was *not* relying on it to determine ovulation).

But if you are interested in trying out a fertility monitor without spending $$$, this is a similar but much cheaper alternative (that might not work as well, I'm not sure).

[Kelissi]

Hi Angie! Both of my children were born via cesarean, too. I'm also planning a VBA2C (assuming I can even get my husband to agree to another child). My first was at 28 weeks due to pre-e, and had to be taken away quickly, but my second was born at 40 weeks due to pregnancy induced hypertension - we were on eggshells, but neither of us was sick, so we got to have a family centered cesarean (also known as "natural cesarean," which I don't really like - in my birth work, I work to dismantle what I call "birth hierarchy" which I feel diminishes cesarean birth and is incredibly disempowering).

So! The lights were dimmed and there was no unnecessary conversation. He was removed slowly so that he got a good squeeze, which helps lungs to clear, and then cord clamping was delayed. He was then handed to a scrubbed in nurse, who handed him to me - she was then out of the sterile field. My arms were free (maybe just one arm? I can't remember clearly!), and he was skin to skin with me for the whole rest of the procedure. We played quiet music and the first time that he was out of my arms was when I was moved from the OR table to my bed, which was when he was weighed.

He cried exactly once. He nursed on the OR table. It was a beautiful, wonderful birth. This is the journal article that I took to my OB when I was talking about plans for if we needed a cesarean: The natural caesarean: a woman-centred technique.

And this is a picture from his birth, moments after he was born .

180151_908729152473_2561243_n.jpg

[sugarNspice]

Such a beautiful birth story... I had a C-section with my first, and feel like it's kind of rare to read/hear stories of Cesarean birth that are as lovely and joyful as this one, and it's so so nice to read this one.

[atomic sagebrush]

wondfo

[MyByC]

Anyone had false results on ClearBlue Advanced ov tests?

[maidentomother]

What do you mean by false? False positives or false negatives? I have seen plenty of both on Fertility Friend but haven't used it myself.