Hellobee Boards

To be honest, I didn't find OPKs to increase in darkness leading up to a positive. Some cycles it would be super light and then bam dark. So I don't know if I'd put too much faith in how thr line darkens.

It doesn't look positive to me, and it isn't clear if it is getting darker, but that doesn't necessarily mean much.

@ChasingARainbow: I did OPKs and temped. But using OPKs alone, just keep doing them. It may still be early for you. I learned I would get a positive OPK around CD17-19 and not the "norm" of CD14. So keep doing it (good call on the cheapies for that reason!) and also keep an eye out for CM leading up to O. I went from creamy to egg white/watery right when it was about time.

@ChasingARainbow: I used opks to get pregnant and I had success. They got darker for me! That's all I used too. No temping.

Oh and don't forget to test 2x a day. Get one in in the afternoon to avoid missing your surge.

Gotta say, I agree with @LindsayInNY. I did the same thing, obsessing over whether it was getting darker, whether it was positive. But it's one of those things that usually, if it's positive, you'll know. If you have to ask, probably not. And those who say they won't necessarily get darker leading up to it are right; they didn't for me. AND remember that a positive means you'll O sometime in the next 24-48 hours, so you'll have time to BD. As long as you BD somewhat regularly leading up to it, and make sure to get one in once you get that positive, you're hitting good times.

In the cycle I conceived this time, I had nearly identical half dark test lines for a week (CD 15-22). I kept thinking oh tomorrows will be positive and then it wouldn't be. I wondered if I had missed my surge, but they were not fading, either. It was so frustrating I ended up just stopping the opks and finishing out the week with BDing to cover my bases. Turns out I likely ovulated a few days after I stopped the OPKs based on this baby's measurements at my dating ultrasound.

I would really suggest temping. I hard a super hard time with OPKs but was also temping and that was always clear for me. Also my mucus was not easy for me to read. What works for you is so personal and has to do with your body and schedule.

For me temping post MC was super helpful in the healing process and TTC again after.

I am really into charting and get super excited talking about it...

@ChasingARainbow: I don't know how m/c's really affect things. I don't think there's any set pattern to how anyone's body will react. Temping was an adjustment at first but was helpful if you're willing to give that a shot? Maybe try OPKs for this cycle and are what happens first?

@ChasingARainbow it took me a couple of months to really get the hang of reading the data I was collecting. I know that's the last thing you want to hear right now! It's the kind of thing where I needed to take a step back to see the whole picture. What happened on cd 14? Was there something else to cause the high or low temp? Sometimes if I got a temp that felt really wrong I would take it again just to check. In the winter if I left my window open my thermometer would be cold and my temps would be oddly low. It took me a really long time to realize that was going on. Also if I had even one beer the night before I would notice a rise in temp.

I found Kindara to be a really helpful app with charting.

http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/may-be-this-is-our-month-may-2014-poas-thread/page/15

Here are a picture of what they looked like all that week.

@ChasingARainbow: It's definitely another language! I didn't stress too much about temping. I never set my alarm on a weekend to do it. I just temped if I woke up earlier to go to the bathroom or something. And I never had a problem deciphering my chart that way either. Just try not to stress too much about all of the OPK/temping stuff