I got married last year and my Husband and I decided that we would like to start a family. However we are both nearly 30 and so want to do this sooner than later. I thought at first that it would be easy and would happen almost as soon as we started trying, but after many years on the pill and various other forms of contraception it has proven more difficult.
Obviously, the best time to conceive is when you are ovulating and I had heard that ovulation happens 14 days before your next period is due. I had a big problem as my periods are very irregular and so it was hard for me to work out when I was ovulating. Through chatting on some of the excellent forums out there I learned that it was a complete myth that all women ovulate fourteen days before their next period - every Woman is different and also every cycle is different.
Many Women I had chatted to had found that the natural step of starting a family has become very difficult, and upsetting, as after a few months of failing to conceive they tended to think something was wrong with them. Forums are a good way of discussing this with other people in the same situation, and I found it was a comfort to me to share my experiences and have others share their experiences with me.
One of the main problems people seemed to have was that they didn’t know when they were ovulating and through one of the forums I discovered advertisements for the Clearblue Fertility Monitor. It claims to increase your chances of conceiving by 89% over your first two cycles. I was sceptical at first as I thought, that was a pretty high percentage. Of course there are other brands offering the same type of monitor but I wont mention them as I only have experience with the Clearblue one. Here is a picture of the monitor so you can see what it looks like:-
The monitor tracks each day of your cycle and takes readings of the chemicals in your system through the use of test sticks, which are used in the same way as pregnancy test sticks. You pee on the stick and then insert it into the slot in the machine.
The device works by showing you your levels of fertility throughout your cycle, low, medium and high. Without going into all the complicated details, when you are about to ovulate, hormones in your body are increased which can be picked up by the monitor, and this is your most fertile time. By using the sticks, the monitor can predict your ovulation and hence the two days out of your entire cycle on which you are most likely to conceive.
You may be thinking “why do I need to know the exact time I ovulate? I’m just going to let nature take its course“. Well that is fine, but I have never had regular cycles and through the forums I have discovered there are a lot of other Women out there who have the same problem. Some cycles are short and some quite long ranging from 28 to 50 days and so I would have no idea when I could be ovulating and lets face it, doing the deed every day of your cycle is just not possible for a lot of people!
Cost
I bought my monitor from Amazon and got quite a good deal. It should have been around £100.00 and I got it for £60.00. Please be aware though that you can’t just buy the monitor and start using it straight away, you need to buy the test sticks separately, and only Clearblue ones work with the monitor. The sticks are around £20.00 for a box of 20. This is where some people pay more than others because the amount of sticks you use depends on the length of your cycles, and of course, how many cycles it takes for you to conceive!
I must mention that some people buy second hand monitors from ebay, or get them from family members and friends - you can do this but you need to make sure that the monitor is completely re-set otherwise the monitor will be going off another person’s cycle and not your own.
Using the monitor for the first time
It was easier for me to understand how the monitor works when I actually started using it. The first thing you need to know is that you can only start to use the monitor from the first five days of your cycle, so if you bought your monitor halfway through your cycle you would need to wait until your next cycle begins before you can start to use it.
don’t be in a hurry to switch it on though until you have worked a few things out, as timing is all important with this device.
As you know the readings are taken from sticks that you pee on and insert into the machine, but to get the best and most accurate reading you need to use your first urine of the day, when it is most concentrated - this is very important!
Setting the monitor
Using myself as an example, during my working week I get up at 6:30am and so that is the time I would be passing the first urine of the day, but at the weekends I wouldn’t be up so early and so this confused me at first.
Through reading the instructions though I learned that you press a button on the monitor to get it going on the first day of your cycle, which is the day you start your period.
If your period starts in the morning you can use that day as day one of your cycle but if your period starts later on in the day, you would use the next day as your first cycle day.
Ok, so you press the “m” button which sets the day of your cycle, the time when you press the button is very important!
I pressed the button at 8:30am, now the monitor sets a “testing window” of 3 hours before and 3 hours after the time I pressed the button. This means that If I get up at 6:30 am, I can use my monitor, or if it is a weekend, I have to test before 11:30am, giving me plenty of time.
When you press the “m” button, the monitor sets your cycle as day 1, and you will see a number 1 on the screen, however if you get your monitor and you are say 3 days into your cycle, you can still set the monitor, and just keep your finger on the “m” button until a 3 comes up instead.
You can actually set the monitor up to 5 days into your cycle as the monitor only asks you to start using your test sticks after that 5 days, (usually day 6 at first) and this is also dependent on your cycle length as the monitor “gets to know you“.
Using the test sticks
You would generally turn on your monitor every morning and you will see the numbers on the screen change every day. When I turned on my monitor on day 6, it asked me for a test stick - a picture will appear on the screen to tell you.
I peed on the stick, placed the cap on the end and inserted it into the slot in the monitor as per the instructions. It will click when you have pushed it in, and the picture on the screen will change, and flash so you know you have inserted it correctly.
Then you have to wait for 5 minutes for your monitor to read the stick. After this 5 minute period, you will see another picture on the screen, requesting you to remove the test stick. You just pull it out and immediately the screen changes again to show you your fertility level.
There are 3 bars and usually at this early stage it will show level 1 or “low“.
Don’t worry if you need to pee before your timing window though, you don’t have to hold it in! if I needed to pee at say 5:30am, I would have a container in the bathroom that I could pee in, and it can stay there until I get up again later. The important thing is that you use your most concentrated urine, after you have been asleep for a good few hours so it doesn’t matter if you work at night, for example, you can adjust your testing window to suit you.
If you don’t feel like peeing directly on the stick, you can collect your urine in a container every morning and dip the stick into it if you would prefer.
Fertility levels
As you progress in your cycle you will notice that when you pull a stick out you will get another bar on your fertility level, level 2 or the “high” level. don’t worry if this doesn’t happen on your first cycle - the monitor is getting used to you and will be more accurate on your second cycle.
When your hormone levels indicate you are due to ovulate, a third bar will appear, with a little egg picture on it indicating your “peak” time.
You will only get two peak levels, one after the other and then the monitor will automatically go back to a “low” reading. You will not be asked for any more test sticks until your next cycle.
When you are due to start your period, the “m” button will flash, and this also becomes more accurate the more you use the monitor.
I have learned from personal experience and from chatting on forums that having the monitor helps us to know what is going on with our cycles and understand them more, I found it very useful because of my irregular periods, and found it comforting to know that I was actually ovulating, and my body did actually work. Timing is so important when it comes to conception and so why not give yourself every possible chance?
The truth is that these monitors do not work for everyone, but for most they are a welcome tool, and I would highly recommend them. They may seem expensive, but a lot of women are spending a fortune on ovulation kits, which are not as accurate, and do not give you the same amount of information. I once saw on a forum a comment which stuck with me which was “wouldn’t it be so much easier if we all turned blue when we were ovulating?” and although the monitor cannot do that, it can give you so much more information than any other method.
Thank you for reading - I hope this has been helpful to you and wish you luck in your journey to parenthood!
A little bit about me:
I am a self published author and have my own Website where you can read a free sample of my eBook Laugh Out Loud! Pregnancy which is a collection of real pregnant Women's funny moments. You can also go to Amazon US or Amazon UK using these links. Don't forget to leave a review! Thanks xx
