[Niamh ૐ]

Ok, I've been charting for a while now (getting fairly close to mid-way in my second cycle) and I've learned a lot. I also got my Taking Charge of Your Fertility book in yesterday and CANNOT. PUT. IT. DOWN. lol. Love it. I need to put it down though, because I have work to do! LOL

Anyways, the one major issue I'm having with charting is that about 8 times out of 10, I CANNOT reach or feel my cervix. On the second day of my last period, I was able to feel it for the first time (ever). It was unmistakably low and partly open. I was SOO excited that I was *finally* able to feel it! (I know, stupid thing to get excited over) It also helped me better when putting my menstrual cup in (I use the cup instead of tampons). The next day, I was still able to feel it... it was low, closed, firm, and dry. No mistaking it.

However, after that and still to this day (CD8) I cannot feel it AT ALL. I reach and reach and REACH (I know, TMI), and sometimes I think I'm *barely* touching it... but it just feels so dang high. I can't feel it's firmness or if it's open or closed. It also makes it somewhat difficult to feel for cervical mucus too. I've been marking my cervix on my chart as "high" since CD5. I know I'm not fertile right now, even though a "high" cervix is an indication of fertility. This isn't really all that surprising to me... when I had the Mirena IUD, I could NEVER feel it, even if I tried. The doctor would have me try to feel for the strings, and I tried for like 10 minutes and just could not feel it at all... and never could.

Is my cervix just naturally really high? Or are my fingers just too short, lol? Is there a technique that I'm missing in how to feel for it? Should I just not even try and rely solely on temps and CM?

I've tried different positions, and found that squatting is the best position for me... I'm sometimes at least ABLE to get the tip of my finger to reach the end of my cervix, though it still feels very high and and I can't measure it's firmness or whether it's open or not.

Does anyone else have this issue? Or am I just crazy? What should I do (if anything)?

[alicenwonderland]

mine feels high unless it's right after my AF. I think it varies for different people. I've also noticed that my cervix feels different throughout the day. I try to just chart the "feel" i get after I temp and get up to go to the bathroom. I find it easiest to check when sitting on the toilet. I insert my middle finger since it's longest and then bear down. This usually helps my cervix to come down so I can reach it. to judge height, I usually try to feel upwards to see how "long" it feels. I base the height on that. If it feels long, I put low. To be honest firmness is the easiest for me to check. There are times when I cannot feel it no matter how hard I try... and thats usually when I'm ovulating. I hope this helps! This is actually my first cycle checking CP

[Niamh ૐ]

I've read that for some women it can seem to change positions throughout the day and that one should just designate a specific time everyday and use that as an indication. Though, I've checked all throughout the day and it doesn't seem to change. The two days I was able to clearly feel it, it felt the same all day. Same with the days that I couldn't feel it at all or could barely feel it.

Baring down is good advice, I haven't tried that. Thanks! I will definitely try that!

If I'm still unable to feel it throughout my cycle, I'm just going to assume that either my cervix is just naturally high (except on my period), or my fingers are just too short and I may not be able to use CP as sign in charting. *sigh*

The issue though is that it also makes checking my CM a little more difficult. :-/

Thanks for your help!

[~Angela~]

LOL, I have the same problem. For the past month I have been searching for my cervix and finally found it 2 days ago for the first time, it was low and firm and I could only reach it with the tip of my finger.

I know when your fertile, your cervix can be hard to find because it's so soft it blends into the walls of the vagina.

[kruff79]

My uterus and cervix are tipped, so when I check I am actually touching the side of my cervix on the back, I can't reach to feel if it's open or not. And I agree whole heartedly with that making checking CM hard. More often than not I have to rely on whats on the TP after I wipe. It makes it hard to tell, but I'm getting the hang of it. If you keep having a hard time maybe your DH could help with that part (he'll probably be excited at the thought of you naked.)

[Niamh ૐ]

lol there's no way my husband would do it. When I had the IUD in and I couldn't feel it, the doctor said to get my husband to try. He said "uh... no."

Baring down did help some... I could kind of feel my cervix. But couldn't tell it's firmness or whether it was open or not. I'm still recording it as "high".

[Jessica C]

Just be careful when you bare down after BDing during your fertile time as that could push out some of the swimmers.

At times I found it difficult to distinguish between the high/med/low in the CP. But I used to only mark down if I had a noticable change. The TCOYF book rocks!! It really helped me loads when I was TTC!!

[Niamh ૐ]

Just be careful when you bare down after BDing during your fertile time as that could push out some of the swimmers.[/b]

Well I wouldn't do it *after* we BD, hehe. I'd probably check beforehand. Or at least try to.

I'm always so worried about all his "little men" coming out after DTD... this time what I'm going to do is after we BD during my fertile stages, I'm going to put my DivaCup in. To keep all those guys in there! LOL

At times I found it difficult to distinguish between the high/med/low in the CP. But I used to only mark down if I had a noticable change. The TCOYF book rocks!! It really helped me loads when I was TTC!![/b]

I dunno, the only time I was ever able to feel a difference was the two days in my period, when it was clearly low, firm, and partly open and closed. Every other day I could just *barely* feel it with the tip of my finger, and couldn't feel the firmness or whether it was open or not. :-/ Maybe it's just at the normal (for me) "Medium" position... and during my actual fertile phases I won't be able to feel it at all? I think I'm going to just not record CP for now... but still check it. I'll see what it feels like during my fertile points.

Oh yes, I *love* the book! Like I said, can't put it down. I just learned about the coverline... before, I had no idea how that horizontal line was being calculated, lol. I would look at a bunch of charts and think "well, it's not an average of the temperatures... and it's not calculated this way... or that way...". Finally last night I got to the point in the book where the coverline is calculated and I went "Ohhhhh! I get it."

The pictures on the difference between CMs really helped a lot too.