Could it be?

Yesterday was CD15 and I had loads of cramping and some spotting. This morning I had a temp rise of 0.4. I think I ovulated - but I don't want to get too excited yet, because in all my 13 months of charting the earliest I've ever O'd is CD17. I know it could be a fluke temp, but I would love it if I ovulated already! My gynecologist said that when I ovulate isn't an issue, but I know some fertility specialists prefer ovulation to happen before CD18. A part of me thinks that somehow we might have a better chance if I ovulate sooner. Who knows? At least it's less waiting - I hate waiting 3 weeks just to ovulate!

Today was a pretty decent day. I talked to one of my best friends on Skype, and then I phoned my cousin and we had a nice long chat. I spoke to his wife first and asked her how the pregnancy is going - everything is fine, so that's good. She must be around 29 or 30 weeks now, the baby is due in the middle of October. I really hope that by then we'll have some happy news of our own to share... I (foolishly) looked up what my EDD would be if we get lucky this cycle, and if it does happen I'd be about 14 weeks along by that time. I know I shouldn't do that to myself, but I do this every month for some reason!

Anyway, I'm happy for them that they're having another baby. I just wish we could be so lucky ourselves. This is one of the things about unexplained infertility - there's no reason to think we won't conceive this cycle (well, aside from the fact that we never have yet), so I guess I should be optimistic. Maybe this cycle will be the one.

I think it finally happened!

It looks like I probably ovulated yesterday (CD22). Better late than never! I was seriously starting to wonder if it was going to happen at all this cycle. According to FertilityFriend, my average ovulation day is CD21 (earliest CD17, latest CD28) but the past few months it's happened fairly early for me and I guess I expected the same this time around! Anyway, hopefully in a couple of days I'll get confirmation on my chart. Fingers crossed!

I had a headache and felt so nauseous yesterday afternoon, I had to take a nap. I feel that way now too, but it's not as bad thank goodness. I guess it's due to hormones (progesterone). I don't usually feel that way around ovulation but if there's one thing I've learned on this journey, it's that my cycles (and symptoms) can vary a lot! I think I've had almost every "pregnancy" symptom in the book since we started TTC, but of course I've never been pregnant. In the beginning I would get excited thinking that something must be happening, but now? Not so much! :)

The weirdest thing happened this morning when I used my microscope. I collected the sample as normal, messed about with my phone while it dried and then looked at the pattern. There was lots of ferning. I got my phone camera ready to take some photos, and when I looked again there was no ferning! I kept looking all around the slide, adjusting the focus, and eventually found a very small area with ferns. As I was looking at it, the ferns disappeared before my eyes! How bizarre. I can only assume that the sample wasn't 100% dry when I first looked, and the light dried it the rest of the way which caused the ferns to disappear. Very odd to see, though! I recorded it on my chart as "no ferning" - I figured that was the right thing to do since the ferns all disappeared.

I'm contemplating buying some cheap OPKs for my next cycle (if I don't get my BFP this time). I've never used them before, they might be useful. We almost bought some at Target the other day, but we put them back. At that point I was just super frustrated that I hadn't ovulated yet, but we cover our bases when it comes to having sex and I knew that buying the OPKs wouldn't magically make me ovulate. It's like buying loads of HPTs - sadly, that doesn't magically make you get pregnant! I wish it did, we'd have a baby by now if that worked!

I'm thinking positive, and hoping beyond hope that this time we'll get lucky. I know that compared to many couples we haven't been trying all that long, but these past 13 months have felt like an eternity to me!