OvuSense – not pregnant but there is hope!

In January of this year I wrote about how we have been using a rather clever gadget called OvuSense, to track my monthly cycles and see if it might be possible for us to add a 3rd small human to the Mad House of Cats & Babies. I wrote a blog post here with my initial thoughts and how we were finding using it.

 We are now  3 cycles in, and we are not pregnant, but there is hope. We weren’t certain if my body was cooperating any more, and if I was ovulating, either at all, or not every cycle. I have some hormone issues which means that my body not only doesn’t do what the textbooks say it should in terms of length of cycle and ovulating, but it also means that staying pregnant is challenging, and I am on a regimen of hormone supplements to help with this. That in itself is tough going, as it gives me what seems like perpetual PMS, but it also means regular blood tests to adjust doses and see if my body is actually reaction as it should, with the added hormones. It took me a long time to convince the NHS that my body wasn’t doing what it was supposed to and that what was normal for me, wasn’t textbook normal and that my blood tests would have to happen at different times that they like to schedule them, but having the OvuSense has really helped that, because it means I am seeing very clearly what is happening in my cycle and whilst we aren’t pregnant yet the good news is that I am ovulating, and at what is a regular pattern for me is emerging. I know my body pretty well, but was having doubts, so to be able to see a clear indicator is both helpful for test and hormone supplement purposes but also encouraging, as they say, that there is life in the old dog yet, and I have hope that pregnancy still might happen.

The beauty of this device is there is no guessing, like with the kits that you have to use to test your urine, if it says you have ovulated, then that is that. It takes a lot of the “did I/didn’t I” stressful moments away. As you can see in this photo, the monitor is very clear with it’s data. I also like that you can compare what’s going on in previous cycles, too. Also, you can relax a little once you have the data and stop using the machine for that cycle.

Both my GP and gynaecologist have been quite impressed with the data and asked for more information on OvuSense, neither of them had heard of it so I was quite excited to share information about it with both of them and as of last month, the blood tests I had, corresponded with the data collected from the OvuSense machine, so good news all round.

I have to say, I have found using the OvuSense very easy and it really isn’t a problem to use. I know I have had some feedback from people feeling too squeamish about how it has to be used, when they read my blog post, but to be honest, I have had two babies, there isn’t much that phases me, in that department any more and it seems to be so accurate and simple to use that it far outweighs any qualms you might have about how it has to be used to gather your cycle data.

So, I can say that I am very happy with it, it seems to be very accurate and helpul, for us and we will continue to use it, and as I said before, watch this space…..