What's up with fertility monitors?

General Questions
#1

So, after being blessed with little milliamp for five years, Mrs. Amp’s ole’ digital, biological clock is ticking. So, being the faithful husband that I am, I battened down the hatches and have been going at it with full force for a few weeks now.
Alas, nothing yet, and Mrs. Amp is getting itchy. Our family family doctor has done a few preliminaries and has found nothing wrong yet. He suggested getting a fertility monitor so that we can time it just right.
Now, while I may be a stud I haven’t been servicing the old missus every night for the past few eeks but just about. She wants to go out and buys one of these new fangled gadgets that run about $150 a pop.
I argue that we don’t need one. We just keep having sex until the cows cum home and sooner or later she will end up getting pregnant. She says that with a monitor we can be sure when she’s ovulating so that my little soldiers have a better chance at conquest.

What do you guys think?

#2

Well, when I was in school (and that was a loooong time ago) I learned that if men ejaculate frequently, after a while the sperm cells are reduced in number and maturity. So when you are trying to get pregnant, it is better to have less sex when the woman is not ovulating and lots of sex when she is.
Mrs. Amp may also be trying one of the less efficient methods of determining the baby’s gender. BoySperms wiggle faster but GirlSperms have more endurance. Some people believe by timing your sexual encounters you can be more likely to get the baby you want. She might also be trying to time the baby’s arrival so she’s not 9 months pregnant at Thanksgiving (or whatever). Got any vacations planned?
Good Luck.

#3

I’m with you. Have her start taking B6 supplements and just keep on with your current program.

#4

No need for a fertility monitor. Just get a good basal thermometer and start charting her temperatures. Check out resources for NFP (Natural Family Planning) and you will get all the info you need to chart her temperatures properly and see the signs of fertility.

I’m certain that these new fangled fertility monitors are only recommended because they put money in somone’s wallet. NFP works just as well for getting pregnant, but doesn’t cost hardly anything… which probably explains why more doctors and OBGYN’s don’t recommend it.

#5

As Dragwyr said, it’s more accurate and cheaper to chart than use a monitor.

I highly recommend this book: Taking Charge of Your Fertility : The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control and Pregnancy Achievement. It shows how to chart, and how to interpret the results. By tracking waking-temperature and cervical fluid you can usually determine the 2-4 day window of fertility to within 1 day.

The problem with fertility monitors is that they generally show result right at the peak of fertility, or a day after. By charting, you can see it coming a day or so in advance.

The sex-planning method xtal refers to is the Shettles method, popularized by How to Choose the Sex of Your Baby : The Method Best Supported by Scientific Evidence. While this method probably is the “best method supported by scientific evidence”, that doesn’t mean it’s well-supported :slight_smile: At best, the author claims a small, but definite increase in odds in favor of the desired sex, so it’s not a sure thing in any case.

If you really want to choose the sex of your baby, the Genetics & IVF Institute in northern Virginia can sort your sperm, resulting in a 95% success rate.

Don’t forget to take pre-natal vitamins, including folic acid (um, Mrs. Amp, that is).

Arjuna34

#6

You could also buy an ovulation predictor kit. It will cost about 20 bucks a month. They work much like a pregnancy kit. They are harder to find since they are not as popular as the pregnancy kits. We found ours at Sav-on / Osco, though I understand that Wal-Mart sells 'em, too.

I believe it checks for the exact same hormone that the monitor does.

#7

Yeah but if it only tells you that the woman is past the peak like Arjuna34 mentioned then it is a waste of money. Why does everything we do now-a-days need to involve technology? Why can’t we just do it the old fashion way?

#8

The ovulation predictor has the same problem in that it tracks a hormone which peaks just at the fertility peak (where you’ve already been fertile for a day or two), or just after (when you’ve only got 1 day left or so). It can be useful to verify results from charting, however, especially if the woman is having difficulty making sense of the charting data.

If you must inject some high-tech into the process, try CycleMate, a Palm Pilot fertility charting program which lets you graph waking temperature and track cervical fluid, among other features.

Arjuna34

#9

I thought it takes 48hrs for spermies to reproduce? If that’s the case, you should be doing it every other day to assure a full load.

I thought that’s why you can’t donate sperm every day.

Someone please correct me if I’m wrong (which I probably am).

#10

c-goat, there’s a joke in there somewhere, but I don’t want to go get it!

When we were trying, I just charted my periods on the calendar, then counted 14 days from the first day of the period, and that’s approximately when I ovulate (got that out of a book, don’t know how accurate it really is, I think it’s just a starting point). We hit it hard for a day or two before & after, it worked great for us!

As stated above, you only need yourself and a good thermometer to track ovulation, but it’s true that it can be difficult.

I hate to be the one to say it, but have you had a sperm count taken? I know, I know, you already succeeded once, but it can change!

#11

Well, last time I counted they were all there. But seriously, I know every guy says this but I don’t really think it may be me.

I am pretty ignorant on these but if a male ejaculates a lot of semen doesn’t that mean that he has a lot of sperm in it, or can he just have semen with no sperm? Please help wipe out my ignorance here.

#12

You can have semen with no sperm. Post-vasectomy men still ejaculate, and there’s no sperm there.

The more often you ejaculate, the less sperm per ejaculation. And your body makes more semen quicker than it can make more sperm.

#13

Never assume. The canon may be mighty, my friend, but the saltpeter may be bad. The previous postings are terrific in terms of tracking ovulation, etc. Use their suggestions.

Now, to you and your wild 'n wacky Sack O Manliness. Wife and I tried for a total of 4.5 years to concieve. I was tested initially, my motility and mobility was fine, as was the overall count.

After 3 years, we switched Dr’s, and the new guy said hey, why not. Go watch some more porn, gimme a fresh sample. Somewhere in the 3 years, something happened in My body. I now had very bad motility, and lousy mobility. In laymen’s terms <snicker>, it means the pool was mostly empty, and the swimmers that showed up at the party were just treading water. We adopted two kids :smiley:

All I’m saying is, please shoulder some of this. First of all,a few months of dedicated boinking is nothing. Basal body temps are read six months at a pop to show a pattern. Get yourself tested for sperm motility, mobility, etc. Also, get yourself and the lovely Mrs. tested to see if she is allergic to your sperm.

Sorry, I’m usually a fiend with links to sites to “support” what I’m saying. But, I have to get my sick kid to the Dr, AND there is no subsitution for sitting down with a qualified Infertility Specialist and talking …er…turkey.

Bestational Gestational Luck to you both :smiley:

Cartooniverse

#14

A few weeks?? And she already went for a monitor?

Let me load some more weight on tracking bbt and the Taking Charge book. So far I haven’t been charting temps, but we’ve only been trying a few months. I keep track of Cervical data, but that doesn’t tell you if you actually ovulated (only tells you if you are producing hormones) - temps will actually indicate ovulation. (again, just weeks???)

85% of couples get pregnant in the first year of trying. That’s a whole year. Most fertility docs won’t bother with you until then unless you push for it or are getting on in years, because you are still way inside the normal margin. No matter how fast it was the last time, you still are inside the big end of the curve after many months of trying without apparent success.

As for frequency, there are two opinions. 1) every-other day gives highest sperm count overall. 2) every day is really fine unless you have count/motility/mobility issues - there are still more than plenty for daily use in most cases. However, every day seems like a great idea until you are actually doing it EVERY BLESSED DAY. So, if you might miss the peak fertility window by skipping a day, don’t skip! Otherwise, enjoy, but don’t get compulsive.

And I agree with checking yourself out, too (even if you discover that she indeed has something wrong) - I know too many people who found out after months of (very expensive) Clomid that the swimmers were also part of the problem.

Good luck! And happy ‘baby dancing’ (as they call it on some of the ‘trying’ sites).

Try webwomb.com for more on charting, what, how, etc. (they sell stuff there, but most people I know go there for the info)

#15

Thanks you guys. All the feedback has been great and more imformative as I read along. And yeah, I know now that a few weeks is not an actually long time but I didn’t know that when I originally posted. Plus because of the fact that milliAmp was conceived in a matter of weeks after we seriously started trying she thought there may be something wrong.

Thanks for all the info though. I guess its not all fun and games.

#16

my wife and I have been through fertility treatments for 2 years including IVF with ICSI, IUI, etc.

Your sperm can take from 3-7 days to reach a peak number. Your wife is fertile for a day or two.

If you have unexplained infertility, it could take you years to get pregnant. The question you have to ask yourself is: is our sanity worth $150?

If no, then ask: Is $150 that much when IVF costs $10,000?

If yes, then ask: do I really care about my marriage? Because if you don’t, go for the cheap solution.

An ovulater predicition kit is the best bet. $20 per month and it will give you a very accurate reading.

Best of luck. If your wife is over 34, you don’t have any time to spare.