I did ovulate, as I thought, on CD20! I got my confirmation that I ovulated the next day after my last entry, and I'm now 5DPO. Parsnips was actually the day before ovulation, not 2 days before as I said last entry. I feel way more laid back this cycle, and can't believe the days are passing so quickly without me mega-obsessing over everything! ;) By 5DPO last time, I was like, "Well, I could get my period today, which would be a 4 day luteal phase, or maybe tomorrow, which I hope won't happen, but maybe it will, and then it will be a 5 day luteal phase, but I really hope it will be at least 7DPO for a 6 day luteal phase, and I'm sure I'm pregnant but it would be too early to test... " etc. lol! ;) THIS time, for no apparent reason, I feel relaxed. What will be, will be (disclaimer: I will likely lose this laid-back approach in around 2 or 3 days, lol!). I don't have a million glaringly obvious symptoms, I feel really quite neutral and comfortable and relaxed, physically.
I have had a couple of bizarre things. At 3DPO and once at 4DPO (yesterday), I had what felt for all the world like miniature Braxton Hicks contractions. Just here and there. It was a slow grip, hold, and release sensation, and for a while I was perplexed thinking something was up with my bowel, lol! But no. It definitely felt uterine in nature, and reminded me exactly of Braxton Hicks, except tiny in scale.
Also, on my birthday (so at 3DPO) I got up suddenly to dash for the front door and had to stop in my tracks due to a sudden ligament pain inside my right hip, as low down as my pubic bone. I remember this stuff from last cycle, but didn't expect it this early! I thought it was a fluke, but yesterday (4DPO), we were in the van travelling to a war museum (Arthur's passion - war history!) and I blew my nose and had such a sharp ligament pain it took my breath away! Same kind of location too.
Temp-wise, I am enjoying my chart this cycle! :) I had a big dip in temperature before I ovulated and the day of ovulation, then it has been quite a slow but steady rise since then, about .1 of a degree Celsius each day, until today. It looks pretty and encouraging! :) I am temping earlier than ever before, this past week, at the same time each day exactly. I used to temp around 8.30 when Lydia woke up (that's when I got up! Seems SO late now!), and then she shifted her waking time to around 7.30am more recently. THEN I finally acted on the conviction I've had for YEARS, that despite being The Very Opposite of a morning person (I feel actually ILL when I get up early, and my body has always been geared to late nights - I am most alert and clear-headed at night and used to do my best homework then too!), I needed to get up and give the FIRST part of my day each day to God. I felt for ages that God was asking me to get up BEFORE the children, so I had time to pray and worship and get my head in gear properly for the day ahead (praying over it is so important and makes such a difference to how I cope with it!). I know lots of mamas (especially of many children) who do this but it's SO hard for me to do it. I'm not saying it isn't for them! But it's goes against my nature - I chose to do it because I knew God was asking me to, and I wanted to obey him, but also I wanted to GIVE, like, sacrificially, because it felt good to. I am a week in to waking up to an alarm clock under my pillow at 6.10am (shudder!) while all my children sleep! It feels SO WRONG, haha! But I do it. Often, Lydia wakes before I get off the bed, so I feed her back to sleep before going down, and cover kiddies who are out of their covers to minimise the risk of them waking too soon! Samuel tends to wake around 7am if not before, so I have less than an hour, sometimes less than 30 minutes between getting downstairs and him getting up. I would ideally like an hour, and work towards praying/worshipping, reading my Bible and also a devotional book or something, exercising, getting washed and dressed, and having my own breakfast/cup of tea. And even starting on housework for the day!
Right now, I start with prayer and worship (to a quietly-played CD) right away, and then I pray through a chapter of 'The Power of a Praying Wife' and then read my Bible. Some days I write in my journal if God has put something on my heart to write. Some days I have enough time to watch the sun rise with a cup of tea (this is an AWESOME perk to getting up early, and also serves to fill my heart with more worship for God than ever before!), and eat breakfast, unload and re-load/start the dishwasher, and get washed and dressed, but not always. I do love being up and ready for my children in the morning, and able to greet each one as he arrives downstairs with a cuddle and a chat. I love the happy faces as they see me down already, and I love being one step ahead of the day, not playing catch-up all the time. Most of all I love having spent time with God FIRST. It feels good to get the most important priority attended to at the very start of the day. :) I am finding it a bit hard-going with disciplining myself to get to bed early enough, and just with being tired in the first hours, but it's worth it.
Soooo, the point of all that is - my temp time is the same time every day now, and it's EARLY. Temping at different times always gives me different temps - the earlier I temp, the lower the temp is. If I lie in, I get a higher temp than "accurate" for me, that sort of thing, so I have to take that into account. Sometimes in the past, if I've had reason to temp at 6-something-am, and inevitably get a low temp, I will adjust it a little for accuracy. Rarely though. I've experimented before (even as recently as this weekend!), waking at 6am and temping, then falling back to sleep until 7.30am and temping again, and then sleeping some more until 9.15am or something (my usual lie-in at the weekend - thankful to Neil!) and I will usually get temps in a pattern like this: 6am - 36.4; 7.30am - 36.54; 9.15 - 36.8. Quite a difference! If my usual time is 7.30 I will only use the 36.54. Since my new waking time, even though it will get me "lower temps" than is normal for me, I am keeping those on my chart because they'll have the most accurate overall pattern on my chart since I'll maintain that time.
So today I was really was surprised to temp at 6.10am and get 36.8!!! Really high temp for me that early in the morning, and I can't fathom what that would have been at my usual time or a bit later! Probably 37.0 which I never get unless I'm pregnant, but usually not as early as 5DPO all the same. So that interested me today! :)
I have what, for me, is very "pregnant" CM since late afternoon on 3DPO. I used to write precise details of CM here at this blog in my "younger years" (ha!), but I feel a bit squeamish and private about that in recent years, so I will just say it's "pregnant" for me, and leave it at that (and write the details in my FF chart notes where only my eyes see, lol!)! ;) Same as last cycle, and same as Lydia's pregnancy at this stage, in any case. I haven't checked to see if it was my usual in previous pregnancies yet.
Okay, it's time to make lunch so I will stop for now. Will update again soon! :)