Saturday, April 14, 2012

Who knew it was so complicated

Do you ovulate? 
If yes, how do you know? The ovulation question has been on my brain and I'm amazed that women get pregnant at all with all the factors and timing involved.
My cycle is so regular I could actually use it as a calendar. I always thought that was an indication of ovulation. Turns out that you can have regular periods even though you don't ovulate at all. 
So how do I know I'm ovulating? 
Well according to board-certified Reproductive Endocrinologist Dr. Michael Zinger, you can't always rely on the basal body temperature method. Dr. Zinger advises that the best indication of ovulation is a blood test one week after suspected ovulation (three weeks into cycle) to check for the presence of significant levels of progesterone. Of course this method is only to determine that I am ovulating and not as a predictor of when ovulation is occurring. 
So, I guess the next step is to visit the Ob/gyn and have myself evaluated and have some blood work done to determine if I'm actually ovulating.
I'll be back with an update as soon as that is done.



2 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh, the blood work alone when getting pregnant with the help of a doctor is crazy! And you have to calculate everything. When you ovulate, when your period should (and hopefully won't come). What day you do the IUI. The calendar becomes your closest friend and at times enemy. I hope you ovulate on a regular basis. How do people get pregnant with a 24 to 36 hour window?

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