Introduction...

E=Mc3

Hello,
I am still reeling from having to leave my other bump forum after my loss at 8-9 weeks along. This loss was one of the top 2 most traumatic events in my life...and my life has not been a cakewalk.
I am no spring chicken at 41 years old. I acutely feel the passage of time. I don't have money for medical assistance with conception. I have never used ovulation monitoring kits, but I would like to know more about them, their effectiveness, and which ones are better since I am considering using them in the future. I know they say to wait for changes in cervical mucus, but it seems like for me, the mucus changes after ovulation...not before. Sorry if TMI.
I am not a one hit wonder looking for Google.  I will be a contributing member of this forum. Maybe not for a little while, but in time.
Thank you...

amberruka

I'm not currently using OPKs (benched), but I'm very sorry for your loss. Hope your time here is short.

Boots&Co

I used the app "clue" to track my cycle. It had worked in the past. If it doesn't happen in the next few months, I'll start looking into more things like opks. 

stephann85

I use the clearblue advanced digital opk. I find them easy to use and they give you high fertility days and peak/ovulation day. I like that these tests show you the good days to ttc and the actual ovulation day. My DH and I got pregnant our first month trying with these, unfortunately that pregnancy didn't stick. We are now on our 1st cycle ttc and I am using them again with great hope.
I had thought about temping, but I am such an erratic sleeper that I don't think it would work for me. 

AL_TwinCities

I use wondfo OPKs. Dirt cheap online and I find them easy to use. I'd also recommend reading Taking Charge of Your Fertility and using Fertility Friend for tracking your cycle. 

penelope4612

Welcome.  I'm sorry for your loss.  I also use Wondfo OPKs.  It is recommended that you use them around mid-afternoon, but I don't typically feel comfortable using them at work so I use them when I get home.  You can buy them very inexpensively on Amazon.  I would also recommend reading Taking Charge of your Fertility and/or checking out Fertilityfriend.com and charting your temps so that you can confirm ovulation.  Both TCOYF and FF have good information about tracking your cycle and identifying when you're ovulating, as well as describing the benefits of temping.  FF also has a  phone app that you can use to chart.

penelope4612

Also, there are some fraudulent sellers of Wondfo OPKs on Amazon, here is a thread listing the verified sellers:
https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12586232/wondfo-imposters-psa

roper2617

Sorry about your loss and welcome. I use wonfo as well. Normally I use mid afternoon urine only. For some reason this cycle I decided to go what I thought was over board and test morning and afternoon and evening (on the days I figured I'd O). It turned out to be a good thing because I got a negative one evening, oddly got a positive the next am and then a negative in the afternoon. If I hadn't gone what I though was super overboard I would've missed the LH surge and been wondering what was happening. I think that's the only time since I've been using OPKs though that I got a positive in the am with the wondfo. 

lilyaster

I'm so sorry for your loss.  I had good luck with the wonfo opks and fertility friend too.

ThePax89

I'm so sorry for your loss. 

I use wondfo OPKs from Amazon. They are inexpensive, but are a bit trickier to decipher. I used the clearblue digital advanced for my first pregnancy and it worked perfectly! 

fivetimesnoluck

I'm sorry for your loss and that you find yourself here. I haven't used the apps, but just wanted to say I had bad luck with OPKs - never got a positive even though I could basically tell when my window was happening. There are many here with a good track record of temping and/or using additional tools! 

BornReady

Sorry for your loss. I use OPKs each month and chart my dates on Fertility Friend. I used to temp, but now usually only do the few days around ovulation if at all. AS far as the OPKs, I use both the Wondfo which are these inexpensive strips that require user interpretation and the ClearBlue Advanced Digital OPKs which I use in the mornings with first morning urine. They tell you flat out low, high or peak fertility. I find them to be the most helpful and worth the money. Good luck moving forward.

queenklau

First, I am very sorry for your loss. Second, I agree with all of the suggestions from PPs and would like to add: I temp every day, check CM and chart on fertility friend app. I have been successful at getting pregnant twice with this method within a few cycles. Take care.

Spartanrd4

I also temp, use ff and check cm....as well as use opks (the clearblue digital). 

catiecatp

I'm sorry for your loss - you are, of course, welcome on the boards as often or as little as you are comfortable with.

I track my temperature (though I've got jagged peaks all the time because I wake up at night and temp anytime between 4-5:30 - I can still observe a shift in temperature though. Between tracking CM and temperature I seem to have found one consistency in my cycles - of the 4 ovulation dates I've got, 3 of them are on CD18 (the one that isn't was the first after my MC). Perhaps by tracking you could detect regularities in your cycle and be able to predict O? I don't use OPKs yet, but if I'm not pregnant in a few more cycles I'll start with them too.

zrain

I'm so sorry for your loss. I hope you find some support here. It's been such a help for me. As for what I use: Fertility Friend for tracking basal body temperature, cervical mucous, cervical position; wondfo OPKs because they're super cheap so I can pee on them a couple times a day; and I just added a saliva microscope. It was about $25 on Amazon and it gives you a longer idea of when your fertile window is than regular OPKs. This is my first cycle using it and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, but I want to try everything I can to get our timing right. Also, I've never tried the advanced OPKs but they sound helpful. Also, like @AL_TwinCities said, reading Taking Charge of Your Fertility helps a ton. Welcome, and I hope you don't have to be here long!

Af2013nl

So sorry for your loss.  I use ChoiceMMed opks from Amazon.  Very inexpensive and I find their test strips work fine.  I'm not a fan of their pregnancy tests though.  I also char through Fertility Friend.  Have been doing a decent amount of traveling recently, so not good about temping at the exact same time everyday, but can still see general trends in my data.