Regulating My Cycle

After my miscarriage and d&c my period went from 27 -35 days for a few months. After my son was born and I got my period back after 9 months it went to 27 days. What worked for me getting pregnant again was the clear blue easy fertility monitor. It is expensive, but I was able to see when I was about to ovulate and it didn't really matter when I got my period. That might be something you want to invest in. Good luck and it will happen again.

Hi E.---What's normal for me might be totally different than what's normal for you. I would try to be a bit more patient as your body just went through a pretty big event. It may take a couple of months for your body to stabilize hormonally. Was this your first pregnancy? Any other details that may impact your hormones? Give yourself some time to heal.

So sorry to hear that you lost your little ones. Blessings. D.

Take your time, and let your cycles re-establish themselves. My periods were wonky for a while after I gave birth to my daughter. It takes several months for your body to heal and get back to "normal" :) Keep charting, and if you don't see any improvement after 6 months, you may want to see a doc about it. Also remember that simple things like stress and fat intake can also effect your cycles.

And if you are charting, you can get pregnant, no matter what your cycle. If you would like more information on learning when you are fertile, and how to read your body's very obvious signs of fertility, let me know, I'd be more than glad to help :)

26-day periods can be perfectly normal. We have been led to believe that EVERYONE should be having 28-day cycles, when the reality is, most women don't. This doesn't mean your periods are necessarily irregular, it just means that's the length of your particular cycle. Now, if you were having 18-day cycles, that would probably be worrisome. But varying from the traditional 28-day cycle a few days is very normal. I recommend "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" by Toni Weschler - it's an amazing and eye-opening book and will answer questions like these for you. Hope that helps!

26 days does fall within the normal range of 23-35 days. Your best bet would be to chart. I would recommend the book: Taking Charge of Your Fertility (http://www.amazon.com/Taking-Charge-Your-Fertility-Reprod... ). It teaches you everything you need to do for successful charting, how to prep your body for optimal pregnancy health and you'll learn a lot about your body. I actually had cycles that ranged from 27-31 days. You'll know exactly when you're ovulating, what day you'll get your period, and when you're pregnant. We had problems getting pregnant and I had to chart for over a year and it was amazing to see how much the first half of my cycle could fluctuate. I never even knew when I ovulated before learning all the signs. Also, my doctor explained to me how once you ovulate, it's 14 days until you get your period. If that changes, then there are fertility issues and problems. Before ovulation can change - a lot (depending on stress, illness, physical activity, etc.). I actually missed a few periods here and there over this last year and a half do to stress (which, of course, stressed me out even more). Once I would get back on track, I would have normal cycles again.

I'm so sorry you've had to go through all of this. I'm assuming that your body is still getting your hormones back on track and it might be a little while until you get back on a regular schedule. Good luck and take care.

After my miscarriages and live births (total of 6 pregnancies) my cycle was different each time. Sometimes I would go right to a 28 day cycle, sometimes it would be up to a 60 day cycle. Some were really heavy, some were really light. I think you just have to track it for a couple of months and see if there is SOME sort of pattern, it may take some time. Or you may have a very regular cycle, but it will be different than it was before. Good luck, you will have a healthy baby some day, but it may catch you by surprize - not all things in life can be planned like we want them to be, both of my kids are testament to that!

I am so sorry, E.. That has to be hard for you.

I had a similar experience, but it took me a few months to even out, mainly because I was still pretty hormonal after the D&C. I had it December 3 (yes, I still remember, though it's been almost 11 years now), and my doctor didn't give me the go ahead to try again to conceive until February. My first period was early, too, but the second was fine. I would just eat healthy and take care of yourself, trying to avoid stress and getting some exercise. Your body might just need more time to recover before trying again.

I wish you all the luck in the world.

28 days is an average, and changes after pregnancy/birth are normal. I'm a little extreme, but it if helps you feel less worried:

My cycle was all over the place until I had my fourth (last) child ... when I got pregnant with my first it had more or less settled down to 35 days, which was OK with me, and boy was I disappointed (but not too surprised, sigh) when it shortened up to a more 'normal' length. Now I must be at 28 because my last bunch of fertile days have been weekends about 2 weeks before my period also hitting a weekend ... with "weekend" broadly defined as 'sometime Friday to Monday' ... so I guess that tells you that even now I'm not used to the idea of "regular" ;).

(and, yes, by 'about two weeks' I mean that even that "always true" "truth" about there being 14 days after your fertile time before you get your period, could not be relied upon for me)

... when I was in college I had a housemate who was exactly 28 days and it had never occurred to her one could be anything else (because why would it? all the paperwork says This Is How It Works, right?) ... the other three of us were not 28 days (although I was the only one still irregular at that age) ... then she and the other two sync'd up (like they say women who live together often do) and everyone got a little confused for a while ;) ...

... and then a few years ago I had a housemate who was into earth-energy and such, and she looked at me like I was an alien when she found out my cycle wasn't aligned with the moon ... (I couldn't imagine having my cycle actually aligned with the moon, seriously? no wonder people think certain times in the moon's cycle make people crazy ;) ... but then I decided it *would* explain why lots of fiction books seem to speak of cycles being aligned with the dark of the moon and this type of thing ;), duh!, which *I* had never taken as anything except an overly convenient and strangely traditional literary conceit ... ) ... ironically, this housemate was on The Pill, so it's not like her body was actually having *natural* cycles from which she could legitimately rain down judgement upon my "non-natural" cycles ;) ... ah, womanhood, that amazing place of 'am I a better woman than the ones around me?' (I'm rolling my eyes here ; ) ).

If you want to track your fertile cycles (which can come at any time after your period but are in fact except in rare cases [me] 14 days before you bleed), see if you can find a Natural Family Planning trainer in your area ... I had all kinds of randomness going on that made the method a challenge for me, but for most women it works straight up for their entire fertile lives (including going through menopause, when things I gather get pretty random), and it doesn't matter how short or long or irregular your periods are. It involves either taking a vaginal temperature every day (not the method I learned, you'll need to buy a thermometer) or tracking your vaginal mucous (a gross factor here, but you wash you hands after peeing anyway, right?, and no equipment needed except plain white toilet paper). Your profile doesn't tell me if this might worry you, so I'll just toss it out there: NFP was developed for Catholics who wanted a reliable way to track their fertility (the Rhythm Method being famously not so reliable).

I have a few friends who used some kind of gadget to test their fertility, too, but I was more into the natural everyday (and no additional cost!) thing.

It sounds like you've had a really hard time :( . I hope you have a naturopath/doctor/midwife who can help you and who knows more than any of us far-away-moms do about your on-the-ground reality and can make sure your worries get answered or checked out.

God bless,
K.

sorry to hear of your situation. i have PCOS and cycles are NEVER regular. for both of my kids, i just ordered fertility strips off of ebay and found it the easiest way to know.... good luck!

I would think it would regulate on it's own but just thought I'd throw this out there 'cause I think it's interesting! :o)
My friend says that if you make your bedroom completely dark every night then on the 28th day leave a closet/bathroom/nightlight on then after a couple months your cycle will go along with it.
I've always been regular so I've never done this but she says it works!