AboutBrenda Expertise I have been an R.N. since 1988 and come from a family of nurses. I have clinical experience in labor and delivery, as well as post-partum care and pre-term pregnancy complications. I have also worked in Community Health Clinics dealing with this area of expertise, including WIC (Women, Infant, & Children) clinics performing nursing evaluations and assessments in determining a need for services or intervention for pregnant women, newborns, and young children. I have worked in immunization clinics in and around my community as well. I also have several years experience in OB and Pediatric Home Care Nursing. In addition to that, I am a mother of two, ages 21 and 16, both of which I had hoped would be vaginal deliveries, but ended up being C-Sections... one of which had me in pre-term labor...another which was frank breech (bottom first)... one who rejected the breast... and so on... to list my personal experience would be a bit lengthy! I'd simply like to help anyone who might have a question or concern that I can draw on my expertise to answer!
Experience I have been an R.N. since 1988 and come from a family of nurses. I have clinical experience in labor and delivery, as well as post-partum care and pre-term pregnancy complications. I have also worked in Community Health Clinics dealing with this area of expertise, including WIC (Women, Infant, & Children) clinics performing nursing evaluations and assessments in determining a need for services or intervention for pregnant women, newborns, and young children. I have worked in immunization clinics in and around my community as well. I also have several years experience in OB and Pediatric Home Care Nursing. My experience also includes approximately three years working in Behavioral Services.
Education/Credentials Graduated from the Mary Lanning School of Nursing in May 1988. Have been a licensed Registered Nurse in the state of NE since 1988.
Question Hi my name is amanda, I don't know how to tell when the best time to get pregnant. You see i have very irregular periods, usually i get them about every 5 months or so. I know how they say that it is 12 to 14 days when your cycle begins that you ovulate. But i never know when i am going to get my next period. My doctor said that everything is normal but when i do get my period it hurts really bad. My husband and i want a baby more than anything. Is there any help that you can give me? Anything at all.
Answer Dear Amanda,
You are one of those "lucky" women who doesn't have to be bothered with a period every month, but at a time like this when you want to conceive, it makes it more challenging.
It's encouraging that your doctor has evaluated you and has determined that everything is "normal", or as normal as it can be with you only cycling every 5 months. It is possible, however, to ovulate without having a period. I would suspect that the reason you are experiencing so much discomfort when you do have a period is that there is so much of a lining for you to shed, plus the uterine muscle is being exercised rather rarely.
My best advice to increase your chances of getting pregnant is to try to start tracking ovulation, since you can't count on periods to tell the story for you.
Fertility Awareness is one way to track when ovulation occurs, and it includes studying the changes in cervical mucus and using a basal thermometer. Cervical fluid will change to a wet, slippery substance that resembles "egg whites" just before ovulation occurs and until ovulation is over. A basal thermometer helps track a body temperature rise, which signals that ovulation has just occurred. When cervical fluid changes, it is a good time to engage in sex, as sperm cells will last approx. 5 days once past the cervix. So once ovulation occurs and the egg is released, the egg will have sperm waiting to greet her! :-)
If you don't find that this is working well for you, and you really want to get serious, another way to track ovulation is ovulation kits and fertility monitors. These can be purchased at some larger drug stores or online. Ovulation kits and fertility monitors help further determine your expected ovulation by picking up the luteinizing hormone (LH) in urine.
I hope this information has helped you. I wish you fantastic luck!
