when to start counting (bit graphic)

"Ilse Witch" wrote in message
This question came up in a thread about ovulation kits, so
not all of you might have seen it, and it was on my mind to
ask anyway: when AF comes around, as it did again this month
(bummer!) I first have a few days of brown spotting, about
two, and then the flow starts for a few days like it used
to. This is new to me, started this way since AF returned
after delivery. However, what do I count as the first day
of my cycle??

Sorry that AF showed for you :-( I don't have an "official" answer to your
question, but will share my experience (I actually had your post in the
ovulation thread marked unread so that I could respond to that one, but I
will here instead!). When I went off the pill to TTC, I also had a pattern
of several days of brown spotting before the real deal. This was very
different that my pre-pill pattern (no spotting, much heavier flow). While I
noted those days on my calendar, I didn't count them as the beginning of my
cycle. I waited until I actually had real bleeding to count as day 1. The
other odd feature of my post-pill cycles was that I only had about 2 days of
real bleeding (and it was light) followed my 4-5 *more* days of spotting. I
did count those following days of spotting as part of my cycle and didn't
write "last day" on my calendar until they were gone (see what I mean about
not being an "official" answer?! ;-) It took us five cycles like that to
conceive (though the first three had mitigating circumstances that made
success those months unlikely). I didn't have any really noticeable CM
changes to help us decide when O-day was, so we just concentrated our
"efforts" around cycle days 12-18 (meaning 12-18 days since the first day of
real bleeding, so it looks like I was right to count it like I did, since we
did get pregnant!).

HTH a little! Good luck to you!

--
Em
edd 9/23/03
(33 weeks)

A&G&K wrote:

Day 1 is the first day of fresh, bright red blood.

Thanks to you and the others!

Are you still breastfeeding your 1st child? This can affect the length of
the luteal phase (makes it shorter).

No, I'm not, DS weaned around 8m for several reasons. My cycle
returned 6m post partum, while I was still BF-ing, but it was
3 days shorter than it was before pregnancy right from the start.
I had one cylce of my 'old' 28 days, that time I suspected
pregnancy, and was indeed 3 days late according to my new
schedule, but the test was negative.

This month I'll be having a closer look at my fertility signs,
including charting, so I may have a better idea when I ovulate.
We'll see...

--
-- I
mommy to DS (13m)
guardian of DH
TTC #2
War doesn't decide who's right - only who's left