TTC ?: OPK vs. charting

shouldbworkin

thought I would ask y'all since we're all parents here.  Is there really a difference?  Are OPKs better?  I tried to use them once and never got a positive.  I charted with #1 and didn't really need to with #2 b/c my cycle was the same.  Got PG with both easily.  TTC #3 is not going as easiily (still within the realm of normal, though) and OPKs were suggested.  I'm just not sure they'd make such a difference though.  What is making a difference is not having time/energy to have sex with 2 kids in the house already.  Even if I got a +OPK, chances aren't 100% that we would have sex that day. 

*Amy*

I charted for A and used OPK for J and this baby.  A took 2 cycles, J took 3, and this pg 10 cycles.  We actually tried to aim to have sex every other day before we got the LH surge.  Sperm live for up to 5 days in the reproductive tract.

shouldbworkin

*Amy*:

I charted for A and used OPK for J and this baby.  A took 2 cycles, J took 3, and this pg 10 cycles.  We actually tried to aim to have sex every other day before we got the LH surge.  Sperm live for up to 5 days in the reproductive tract.

Did you think OPKs were better than charting?  Was it just easier b/c you already had kids and temping was hard?  Our timing was great this month, but it doesn't look like it worked anyway.  So, I'm not thinking that an OPK would make much of a difference if the timing was good.

kevschickee2

I amusing the Clear Blue Easy Fertility Monitor.  I used it to get pg with Halee

MrsHadley

I used OPK's with #1 and found out that I was Oing 6 days later than I thought.  I think OPKs are way easier than charting, because there's not much guess work.

LisaK2b

I did both.  OPK indicates when you're about to ovulate.  Charting showed if you actually ovulated or not.  After a while, I stopped charting but still took my temp in the morning right when I got a positive OPK.  When I ovulated, it's normally in the 98.1+, and then the cycles that I wasn't pregnant, on day 13 post ovulation, it would drop to 97 and I would get my period that day or the next. 

*Amy*

shouldbworkin:

*Amy*:

I charted for A and used OPK for J and this baby.  A took 2 cycles, J took 3, and this pg 10 cycles.  We actually tried to aim to have sex every other day before we got the LH surge.  Sperm live for up to 5 days in the reproductive tract.

Did you think OPKs were better than charting?  Was it just easier b/c you already had kids and temping was hard?  Our timing was great this month, but it doesn't look like it worked anyway.  So, I'm not thinking that an OPK would make much of a difference if the timing was good.

I do think they were easier.  The kids often call for me in the morning and remember to take that temp first would have been hard.  FWIW, we had the stomach flu when I got the LH surge this past month.  We had sex 4 days before and by the ticker in my siggy I am pg!  So you just never know!