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Question - Tracking Ovulation After Miscarriage:
"My question has to do with ovulation. If I have a period every 30 to 35 days, does that mean that I am ovulating every month? I had a miscarriage in June, and my cycle has become very irregular since then. I am trying to get pregnant again, and just want to know how I can tell if I am ovulating each month. I never had troouble getting pregnant before, so it has been a little frustrating!"
Answer:
Miscarriage is not only emotionally upsetting, it disrupts your hormonal system. Your body was charging up with all of its hormonal might to carry a baby and then, suddenly, it no longer needed to continue with that effort. The sudden shift in hormones can wreak havoc on what may have been the most regular ovulation/menstrual cycles.
For that reason, you should not expect your cycles to immediately return to "normal," that is, whatever normal is for your body, very soon. Some women do experience a relative stabilizing of their cycles very quickly. Others find that their cycles are forever changed after a miscarriage. Unfortunately, there's not much a woman can do to predict these changes.
It has been around three months between your miscarriage and your email to me, so I'd say that you should go ahead and use whatever ovulation tracking means that have worked in the past for you. Do that, though, with the understanding of the information above -- things may be different for your body for a long time, or even permanently.
You may have to find different ways to track your ovulation. If a plain old BBT chart worked well in the past, try adding the observation of your cervical mucus and cervix position. If all of that doesn't seem to add up, invest in an OPK or two and see if a pattern is detected.
And now for your first question! Ovulating at those intervals you described is entirely possible! We've all been trained to believe a little too rigidly in the old 28-day cycle myth. In fact, the realm of normal for a menstrual cycle is considered to be 24 to 36 days, and just the other side of those numbers either way is not necessarily infertile.
On a related note, you should know that bleeding menstrually on a regular basis, even when within normal range, does not necessarily mean that ovulation is occurring. No woman should ever rely on just the fact that she has a period to detect ovulation.
© Tracy Morris
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