Couple of questions about Cycle Length....

The wife and I are about to start TTC.
And its going to be difficult because I travel weekly for work. So our 'sessions' will have to be on weekends only!

I asked her to track when her periods start and stopped for the last few months.

A few questions:

1. Does it even matter when her period stops? I always thought it lasted 7 days, but I charted it tonight and it lasts either 4 or 5 days.

2. Her cycle lengths have been kind of inconsistent.
These are her cycle lengths for the last few months:
3/21-3/25 - (lasted 4 days)
4/25-4/30 - (lasted 5 days)
I'll just list the amount of days out:
35...30...31...27...33...34...31 days

So she has been very inconsistent.

What does that mean?
Irregular means the body is not ready to TTC?
Or her body is a harder "environment" to conceive?

Should we just count 14 days from the first day of her next period? (which according to an online calculator will be on Dec 1st)

Thanks

Re: Couple of questions about Cycle Length....

first..welcome and best of luck!

1.it matters when it stops but it can be from 3 days to 5 to 7 to ten..everyone can be diff.not everyone gets it for 7 days..some cycles u can even get it for 4 days thennext month 5 days,kwim?

2.i knwo those numbers seem like her cycle is irregular but that is pretty regular..cycles can vary by a few days,esp when things like stress and being sick can throw it off by a day or two...irregular to me is non existent periods or one month you get it then do not get it for 60 days then again in 30..

i am sure her body is a perfectly fine"enviornment" to concieve..even if u have a longer cycle all that matters is trying to have sex around time of ovulation..

if you are not planning on using a ovulation predictor or your wife is not temping i would have sex every other day from say the 10th day after her period starts up until she is due for her period with maybe a couple days in a row around cd 14

in a perfect 28 day cycle you could assume you ovulate around cd 14 but truthfull she could ovulate cd 10 or as late as cd 20,this is why a lot of girls on here use a ovulation kit or temp but if that is too stressful to start off or puts too much pressure just have some sex as much as you can

hope this helped! u could also check out the locked topic at the top..it is a good read

best of luck

Re: Couple of questions about Cycle Length....

Thanks for the encouragement.

wow, I did not know her cycle length would be considered regular.
I thought regular would be 28 (or 29, etc) days every month and thats it.

I created this spreadsheet...is the information on it correct?
In terms of the 10th day and the 22nd day?

I am going to assume she is most fertile during those days.

Thanks!

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Message edited 11/22/2011 10:05:05 AM.

Re: Couple of questions about Cycle Length....

Not TTCing again but wanted to answer your questions.

Her cycle length can vary, that's normal.

The number of days in between each cycle can also vary and be normal. That is exactly how my cycles were before I had my son and I got pregnant 3 times within a year (2 ended in mcs but totally unrelated to cycle lengths, the 3rd resulted in a healthy pregnancy and beautiful baby boy)

Anyway, since my cycles varied in length we tried to have "sessions" (I think that term is cute) as often as possible from Day 10-Day 22 and it worked perfectly for us. If I remember correctly we did every other day (they say every day decreases a man's sperm supply, so a day to build up is better)

Hope that helps. Good Luck