To POAS or not to POAS?

With the arrival of my period a new cycle begins and although sad, it has to be seen as a fresh start - another chance. Cycle days 1-9 are the boring part of a cycle while we wait for AF to go and the next part to begin. Then as it gets to CD14-21 we know that we should POAS (pee on a stick) and start baby making.


Ovulation Predictor Kits (OPK) / Ovulation tests detect a rise in the Luteinizing Hormone (LH) known as the LH surge. This normally happens 24-36 hours before ovulation and this is the best time to have sex when you are trying to conceive. But there are many different types of sticks on the market so how do you choose? And at what point in your cycle should you to start them?


The expensive ones:

Clearblue Digital Ovulation Test

- Cost £16.29 + £1.50 shipping for 7 in a box, so if you ovulate later than you expected you can run out of tests
+ Good fun because when you get your LH surge you get a smiley face
+ You don't have to hold your pee for hours to get a result
+ You can either pee directly onto the stick or use a cup and dip it

The cheap ones:

+ Cost £0.99 +£0.20 for 5 so you can use loads really cheaply and not miss OV

- You have to pee in a cup and dip the stick

- They're not always reliable, the last ones I had had broken lines or no lines on them sometimes!

- You have to hold your pee for hours and drink only little amounts during this time to get an accurate result


I used to have pretty regular cycles of 29 days but with all the IUI and IVF cycles and the 2 operations my cycles have gone slightly irregular and have been between 26 and 35 days. So when do I start the OPKs? This is one advantage of the cheap tests - I can start them early in the cycle around CD9 and keep doing them until I get the two matching lines that tell me it's baby-making time. As this is the first cycle after IVF I've decided to just use the cheap tests because this cycle could be a long one as my body settles down after all the drugs. Then next cycle I will use a mix of the two types of tests, starting with the cheap ones and using the expensive ones to confirm the LH surge.


So why are we even worrying when ovulation is when we're not doing IVF this month? Because every month we must try, you never know, we could have a natural miracle. Every month is seen as an opportunity and you can't turn your wanting a baby off, even for one cycle.