Community post

Hi Beachbum,

I have been ttc since Oct, but I only have had 3 cycles since then due to a delayed cycle from stress and two regular ones. Anyway, I have been spending the last several months trying to figure out my cycle. They appear to be 35-36 days long, but figuring out the whole ovulation timing was another trick... so I used OPK. The first month I used them I think I stopped before I ovulated, but last month I tested twice a day and got a positive on CD 22 (5pm) and CD 23 (8am). On CD 23 was the day I had the ovulation pain. From what I researched the first day you get a positive you can expect that ovulation will occur on the second day. I have heard that you should stop testing after your first positive, because it is confusing but very common to have two positive days in a row. I got my positive the morning of the second day and that afternoon was when I had pretty intense ovulation pain. I assumed that was when I ovulated. To answer you question I also found through research you should try to BD the two days or the day before ovulation and the day of. Even though you might feel uncomfortable that was what I found out. I wished I had BD early that day, but my husband was at work. So that is my plan for next week when I am due to ovulate again. I wish I had a success story to share with you from my experience last month :( I hopefully will soon. Good luck to you.

Hi Melissababy,
Thanks so much for your response. It really can be quite confusing, isn't it?

I have also came across the same information on when to BD after a positive OPK test. What's confusing me is the O pain. Most sites say that you will ovulate within a few days AFTER the pain and just a few mentioned that the pain comes AFTER you've O'd. So I was quite confused! I forgot to mention that my BBT spiked up on CD12, (the same day of my intense O pain and 2nd positive OPK result). I'm charting on FF so I think that it will say that I O'd on CD11. Of course, this morning, my BBT dropped quit a bit but it's still above my coverline.

BTW, I did try one of the remedies that was mentioned on the internet: use a heating pad. Since I didn't have one at home, I just soaked a big hand towel in pretty hot tap water and folded a few times to sufficiently cover the painful area (lower left belly for me this time). I did it about 4-5 times as the towel will lose its warmth after a while. I did feel much better afterward! However, by the time I felt sexy enough for one more "insurance BD", it was probably 8 hrs after the O pain.

Thanks again for your response. Hopefully you and I will figure out our cycles at some point. Mine is not as long as yours but my O day seemed to moved around quite a bit. Some of the info. on the internet said that you should have BD a few days before you even test positive on you OPK. I think that I missed mine this month as I O'd 3-4 days earlier than what I've noticed in my last 3 cyles.