Are We There Yet? And other questions I ask my ovaries during the follicular phase.

The follicular phase (the period of time before you ovulate) has got to be the worst part of the TTC process. I know most people would say the Two Week Wait is torturous. And I don't disagree with that. There's the stress of wondering. The larger stress of not drinking. The symptom spotting and the inevitable (if you are me) white pregnancy tests. But I would take all that over the follicular phase. Because at least then you are doing something as opposed to this nothingness of waiting.

All of this to say, my monitoring blood work came back yesterday and Dr. D tells me my eggs are "doing nothing" (lazy bastards). So I wait - impatiently. Even though it is CD11, and most people ovulate around day 14, I am still "early in my cycle" (another gem from Dr. D). Unfortunately for me, I usually ovulate around day 21. And despite knowing this for an absolute fact, every month I am convinced this is the month I will ovulate earlier.

So what's a girl to do with an extra week of the follicular phase? Well here are my tried and true ways to pass this intolerable time:

1. Take OPKs. Even when it is way too soon to logically need them. Based on my track record, I clearly think I can spur things along based on the number of OPKs I take. Surely that is why I pee on several a day.
2. Check your chart. When not peeing on sticks, I pass the time looking at my chart. This is much less fun since dips and spikes mean nothing in this phase, but you can probably still trick yourself into analyzing the nothingness. Fertility Friend helps with this by having chart overlays and comparisons you can do if you spring for the VIP membership.
3. Plot out your sex life. Do it every day? Every other day? A combination of the two? Surely there is a perfect configuration that I have just not stumbled upon yet, and I work like a M.I.T engineer trying to figure it out.

Sigh, they should make ovulation advent calendars. I might not mind the wait so much if I got a piece of chocolate every day.