[JoEm]

I'm new to this, so not really sure what to expect, but I'm definitely confused...

I had my son at the end of May (he's 3 months now). He is not nursing, but I am pumping and he has breastmilk almost exclusively. I used to pump every 3 hours, but my supply has increased so I don't do it as often. He's also been sleeping 7 hours, so I usually only pump once at night.

I'm almost positive AF has already returned though. Nearly 30 days after giving birth I bled for ~5 days, and then again another 30 days later. I didn't think the first time was a period, but exactly 30 days later I bled again, so I just assumed it was AF. Like the doctor said, I'm probably just really fertile. I really don't know if I've O'd though - I used a few OPKs this month, but not every day. If my cycle is now around 29-30 days, I should have gotten it 4 days ago. Still no signs, yet two HPTs came back BFN.

Any thoughts? Has anyone else started AF so soon after birth? Did the cycle length fluctuate? I don't want to get obsessed again with HPTs but I'm not sure how long I should wait before taking another.

JoEm

[*Bobbie*]

Mine too came back that fast. My LP has ranged from 8-9dpo this cycle I am on 11dpo. I started taking B6 this cycle and I am hoping that is what is helping get it closer to normal. I have done OPK's and charted CM and do check my cervix. I have Oed on CD 16,25,21,16. TTC while breastfeeding is frustrating. Without really paying attention to what your body might be doing it's so hard to tell if you might be late.

My cycle lenghts that I have paid attention to have been: 33 days, 26 days, 30 days, so far 27days (AF isn't here yet)

I hope that helps.

[Twhylite21]

You can always buy OPKs from Ebay for cheap. I did that and did them 2x daily. I only had one PPAF though and it was when Lily was about 10.5 months old. I got pregnant right after that though.

[JoEm]

Thanks for sharing your experience. It's helpful to see that it's possible for me to ovulate ouside of the 'normal' range for my cycle.

So now I'm on CD 36 and still no sign of AF. I decided that I should pay closer attention to what my body is doing, so I got some OPKs and a BBT thermometer, although I'm not sure I'll be able to temp since my DS is still getting up at odd hours.

I took an OPK for the past 3 days, and the one I took this morning actually looks like a positive - now I'm really confused. Is it possible to ovulate this late? The OPKs I took earlier in the month during the week I would have been fertile if my cycle stayed regular at 29 days barely showed a test line at all. [I know there's no 'degree' of positive with an OPK, but clearly my levels were different then]

Does anyone else have experience ovulating this late in a cycle while BF? it really is tough trying to figure out what my body is doing right now. I wish I had more info to cross-check to know if I really am ovulating, but right now all I have is the OPK.

JoEm

[wishfulgal]

I would take another HPT. I've heard OPKs can be positive when you are pregnant. Although if you are having areally long cycle, I suppose you could ovulate this late.

[JoEm]

So maybe I'm still in the running this cycle after all. This week I started taking OPKs each morning. CD34 and CD35 were clearly negative. On CD36 I thought it might be positive but wasn't really sure (as I mentioned in my last post), but then on CD37 I could barely see a test line. I figured I missed my surge if I had one at all. Then on CD38 and CD39 (today) I got glaring positives! There's no mistaking that the test line was waaayyy darker than the control line.

So now I'm wondering, does anyone know if you can have a surge with no egg released? Hopefully that's not the case this time. back to the 2ww - I forgot how long this time feels!

[oh yea, I did break down and take another HPT and got a BFN - so that's definitely not what's delaying AF]