review of the ovulation predictor kit after month #1

Guys, I love it.

Or should I say ladies? Because I hope no guys are reading our journey through trying to conceive a third child this closely. Unless it's you, Dad. I love you.

But anyway. The ovulation pee sticks are AMAZING.

After going off the pill and not getting pregnant the first or second month, it occurred to me that this time trying may be harder than the first two. Not a fun realization, but an important one. I had to look at my options. Sure, there are many, but the way I saw it, I had four.

1. Have sex every day or every other day. You're bound to hit an ovulating day some time!
2. Take my basal body temperature every morning and chart ovulation that way.
3. Count the days from the first day of my last period, determine the length of my cycle, and discover my ovulation day based on that.
4. Use an ovulation predictor kit (pee sticks daily) to discover when I'm ovulating.

They all have pros and cons, but after 5 months of option #1 and #3 simultaneously, I was down to option #2 or #4. Here's the thing with taking your basal body temperature - it's only effective if you take it at the exact same time every day, before you get out of bed, and only if you've had several hours of sleep preceding taking your temperature. I learned this from a friend who spent a YEAR doing this method with no avail, and who conceived on her 13th month of trying - the first month using the pee sticks (option #4).

So right then I knew option #2 was not for me. I'm a highly irregular sleeper and often wake several times a night whether it's a bathroom break or caring for a toddler with a bad dream or just because I straight up can't sleep. Plus I wake up at different times every morning, and anything that I need to do FIRST THING before even getting out of bed when I'm still groggy is bound to be forgotten by me. Lastly, several friends who are in the TTC boat with me had shared how the daily temperature taking was stressful and took over their life in one way or another. One friend's doctor even suggested she stop because it was clearly causing stress, which can make it harder to conceive!

So after 5 months of option #1 and #3 and counting out option #2, I decided to try for option #4 - the pee sticks. You can buy them for $1.25 per test (you test daily, remember) at Dollarama or for 5x the price at the drug store. I went with Dollarama. Obvs. For the record, I've bought their pregnancy tests for my first two pregnancies too, and they work!

Every day, between the hours of 10am and 7pm (what a nice window, eh? no stress at doing it the same time every day!) you take 1 test. Urinate on the stick and in 3 minutes it tells you if you're to ovulate within 24 hours. Did you catch that? These tests give you ADVANCED WARNING. Basal body temperature only tells you that you're ovulating at that exact moment or that you have. Neither gives you much time to plan ;)

So I had a slight idea of when I was ovulating based on option #3, though wasn't counting on it being correct since I hadn't gotten pregnant on assuming those dates alone. So I did a test daily for about a week. When it tested negative, there was no pressure. Trying when the sole purpose is to conceive can be a lot of pressure. When it tested positive, we knew within 24-36 hours I would ovulate, so that was go time. With option #1, I never knew what day was THE DAY so if we missed a day there was horrible worry and stress. With option #4, we knew we did the best we could and that was all we could. We knew we gave it our best shot on the day that it truly counts, and the rest was up to God. What a relief!

My review of this TTC method is obviously glowing, but I think the greatest thing I can say is I'm not afraid to use it again. Every month before this when I found out I wasn't pregnant I dreaded another month of trying (amidst the general disappointment of not being pregnant) but this time, I'm not afraid to try again. I'm not afraid to use the pee sticks again. They made trying as stress-free and simple as it could be. And when it's been half a year, that's what you really want :)