1st I want to say a BIG Thank You to Melissa for giving me her monitor... I am just in awe at how generous and sweet she is for doing that for me and DH.:hugs
How do you go about using these things with irregular cycles? Like my period is usually around 33 days but Im on day 36 and no AF in sight... I got preggo with Jer this way... no period for 3 mths but apparently I was ovulating. But, when would I go about starting to test?? I am not sure how to use these and since I have no idea when or if AF will show Im super confused. Also Im going to be getting a basal thermometer to start charting too... that also confuses me.. How does that work? It spikes BEFORE you ovulate right? How soon? How many degrees?
Sorry for all the ?s just very new to this TTC to this extent.
Thanks for all the help!
:hug

that WAS super sweet of Melissa to give to you-Good luck Cori

Thanks Dawna! :hug

;) :D your welcome sweety:hugs :hugs :hugs

i believe you re-set it every month when you start your period. for example, when you start your period, you hold the M button down to day 1... then it will tell you your expected fertility until about day 5 of your period, and then it will start flashing the little "stick" icon and then you pee on the stick and put it in the monitor... that goes on for about 10 days until it gathers your "peak" and "high" fertile days... and once that's detected and you get the little "egg" for PEAK fertility, it will have you test again one last time and go back to just turning the monitor on every morning until you get a + pregnancy test or your period, then you set the "m" again and go through another cycle.

I am glad you got that monitor Cori!!! Good luck to you and your DH!! :)

oh i meant to add, it will tell you when to test. you only test for about 10 days out of the cycle. the monitor tells you everything. there's a book that comes with it that tells you exactly how to use it :)

i also wanted to add with BBT charting, you need to do it for a couple months to get your coverline and figure out your dips and rises and accurately figure out ovulation times/temps.

if you go to fertilityfriend.com and chart there, it will explain how temping works.

Cori call me when you get it and your so welcome. I wont need it and I know you could use it. I would sugest the day you get your period pee on the stick and put it in just call me and I can walk ya through it. It will work with irregular cycles look I got Joshua and I have been irregular forever.

you dont pee on the stick the first day of your period, melissa!! the directions of the monitor say you set the "m" the day you begin your period and turn the monitor on every day. it will tell you when to pee on a stick (usually day 5 of the menstrual cycle)

if you pee on a stick when the monitor isn't teling you to (which it will be the stick "icon" on the screen) then it won't read properly... you need to follow the prompts of the monitor or it won't work.

that's right sorry cori it's been a while lol rust brain for me. I allways watched the monitor but call me and I can tell you how to re set it.

http://www.clearblue.info/uk/FertilityMonitor.cfm

here are some instructions. it says for irregular periods, you may use more than 10 strips, but on average, its about 10 sticks.... but you start around day 5 or day 6, based on when you're prompted. don't waste sticks by peeing on them the first day of your period.

http://www.ovulation-calculator.com/ovulation-tests/monitor.htm

more info

and about temping:

http://www.pinelandpress.com/faq/bbt/bbtfaq.html

I would start temping and put it on your chart at fertility friend just to get the hang of it. You have the option of not including charts into your analysis and I wouldn't use that one but it will give you good practice and get you in the habit of temping and charting. Your temp peaks when you ovulate and then stays up. When it drops you are close to starting your period. If it stays up for so long and doesn't srop then you could be pregnant. Fertility Friend will tell you when to test as well. When you start your period you start a new chart. The first chart after you start your period is the first one that I would include into your analysis. There's a lot of info on fertility friend plus charts that you can look at and forums where you can ask questions.

The monitor is great but remember you have to buy test strips for it. I still recomend temping to confirm you are ovulating tho. Especially since you said you got a + OPK and no period. If not pregnant then that indicates no ovulation. And if you have high LH (LH is the hormone that surges when you ovulate and gives you the plus OPK.) Then you will also get a plus on the monitor even if you arent ovulating. And I would hate to see you waste money on sticks. Not all women ovulate monthly but if you hadnt had a period in 3 months and then got preggo then you hadnt ovulated in 3 months KWIM? Then you ovulated finally towards the end and hit it and got pregnant.

I swear by the monitor and it works great for irregular periods but like I said I really think you should temp too. Especially with the possibility of having high LH in your system. That way if you do ovulate you will get double confirmation. from the monitor and from temping..

Using the monitor isnt hard but takes dedication as well. You reset it the day you get your period. The first day of bleed is day 1. You set it within a window that you will use your first morning urine. Then every AM when you wake turn on the monitor in that timeframe you set it in. It will tell you what to do. Once it starts asking for a strip you pee on the stick and insert it in there. It tells you when its down reading it etc. It will ask you to test for 10-20 days depend on if it detects ovulationg. It gives you a low high and peak reading. Peak is the top bar with a lil eggie meaning ovulation. You should start having sex when the monitor hits high. Every day or every other day is enough. Once you get a peak you can stop testing to conserve test strips as the monitor will ask you to keep testing until it hits 10-20 sticks. So say you ovulate after using 8 sticks you can stop since you already ovulated and no longer need to pee on em. And then you saved 2 sticks. It can get pricey. Especially if you have to use 20 sticks each time. Which sometimes happened to me.

G'luck!. I would still temp tho. Its really easy. fertilityfriend.com. After TTC for 9.5 years the BEST lesson I learned is you HAVE to know your body when you are irregular or having trouble conceiving. You need to learn all about your body and how it works itself. Knowing that is half the battle. I still reccomend the book taking charge of your fertility as well. Here are a couple of sites about fertility http://www.webmd.com/hw/infertility_reproduction/hw214032.asp And this one is about LH (the hormone OPK's and monitors detect)http://www.webmd.com/hw/womens_conditions/hw8017.asp

I have that book also :thumbsup You can usually buy it used on Amazon. I agree it's a great reference

Great advice Kaymara and goodluck Cori!!!

Thanks Everyone! :hugs
So temping will definitly tell me if I am ovulating or not?
And do I need to wait for AF to ever show up to start? Temping and the Monitor?

Thanks Everyone! :hugs
So temping will definitly tell me if I am ovulating or not?
And do I need to wait for AF to ever show up to start? Temping and the Monitor?

You start the monitor on day 1 which is the first day of a bleed (your period) Temping you start on day 1 too. Always best to start at the top and thats day 1 of your cycle. Yes temping will tell if you are ovulating. Since it is based on your temp and not on LH like OPK's. Use the software at fertilityfriend. They make it easy and it tells you everything you need to know. If you use the monitor and temping and BOTH say you ovulated on the same day then it is safe to assume you did ovulate. The reason why I think your ovulation test was wrong this last time is that when you ovulate 1 of 2 things happens. You either get your period 12-16 days after ovulating or you are pregnant. Your period wont up and go MIA if you ovulated. Only if you didnt ovulate. So since you have had no period and no positive test, that leads me to believe that you didnt actually ovulate then.

Good luck Cori!!

Thanks Everyone :)