Tracking CM

[icequeen]

Hi y'all!

I hope everyone that's sick is recuperating and all those having a rough TTC time get some peace soon. Big (((hugs))) to all my ladies.

I've been having a hard time tracking my CM. It seems like my pattern is all over the place, or I'm not reading my CM correctly. To begin with, I don't have a lot of CM at all at any point in my cycle, except when I'm just about to start my period. It seems like it's either always watery or always creamy and sometimes I can't tell if it's watery or sticky. I barely get any eggwhite, and for the first time ever, I got really creamy, goopy CM this morning but now it's all gone. For those of you tracking your CM, what is the typical pattern that you see?

Thanks so much!

[Deleted]

Mine is creamy the majority of the time, then I'll have like 2-3 days of EWCM/watery right around O. I do get more CM leading up to my period and not a lot for the first few days after I stop bleeding.

[ssm]

I feel like I can't ever figure mine out either. I have taken to ignoring whatever I saw during the day or thought I felt, and basing it off my bedtime routine. I check cp and cm at the same time right before bed. Whatever I see/feel at that point is what I record. I usually can scoop I little out and tell if it is stretchy or just dryish or white and kinda slippery.

[ceejay]

I typically have no CM for the few days after AF ends, then what I think is sticky for a couple days, and then it typically goes straight to watery/EWCM for the 4-5 days leading up to O. I used to have a hard time distinguishing between watery, EWCM, and semen, but I think I'm getting better at it now. After O, it seems to be mostly dry with occasional sticky.

Everyone is different though... I think there are some pics of CM types on the newbie blog if you haven't seen those yet!

[cnf2013]

Mine is creamy with the exception of my fertile window when I get watery and EWCM in no particular order or level of consistency. But basically I have fertile CM in my fertile window and the rest of my cycle is creamy. I usually get one or two dry/sticky days after my period ends and after O, but that's it.

[valie]

Mine has (almost) always been super obvious.

dry days followed by
moist/sticky opaque white days followed by
wet transparent days followed by a
wet thready day (or two) and then back to the
dry or moistish days until AF

[mill23]

I am so confused by this as well. I feel like I have no CM most of the time, then a couple days of watery (less frequently EW) near O, then a bunch of watery CM during my LP which i tend to record as creamy, since it messes up my CHs. I have no idea whether that is a good idea, but I don't know how else to do it.

Either that or I'm reading it wrong, which is entirely possible.

[Deleted]

Once my period is done I usually have a few days of sticky, then some creamy, a day of watery, then EW for a few days at O, after O I don't notice much of anything for 4-5 days and then it's creamy up until my period comes again.

I can usually check just from wiping. It's not there every time, but at least once or twice so I know what to mark that day. Do you check internally?

Maybe you can try increasing your water intake, or green tea? I started drinking green tea this cycle and I did notice an increase in my CM!

[peaseblossom55]

The first cycle I actually ovulated ( while on metformin and femara) before O it would go from dry and then to creamy it moved to wet and I had one day of EWCM- it fit all the descriptions of it. After O I was dry until about 10 DPO where it went to creamy then CD1 5 days later. I hope the cycle of it is similar this time as well. Minus CD1 though.

[stephiestark]

I go from creamy to watery with one day of EWCM around O. Then I think I'm creamy. Question: do you note your most fertile cm or the cm type you have the most of that day?

[valie]

Mar 28, 2015 14:51:26 GMT -5 stephiestark said:

I go from creamy to watery with one day of EWCM around O. Then I think I'm creamy. Question: do you note your most fertile cm or the cm type you have the most of that day?

The most fertile.

[longhornwino0907]

Mine is pretty easy for me to follow each month: dry for 2-3 days after my period. Creamy until the day I get a positive OPK. Egg-white the day after my positive, and, rarely, the next day. Then it usually fluctuates between watery and creamy, getting more and more creamy leading up to my period.

[morwen]

I get sticky cm right after AF then usually a bit of creamy. I have EWCM for between 1-4 days around O, then I don't see much cm until the next cycle.

[stephiestark]

Mar 28, 2015 14:53:34 GMT -5 valie said:

Mar 28, 2015 14:51:26 GMT -5 stephiestark said:

I go from creamy to watery with one day of EWCM around O. Then I think I'm creamy. Question: do you note your most fertile cm or the cm type you have the most of that day?

The most fertile.

Ok, thanks! Some days I have a little EWCM and lots of creamy so it gets confusing.

ETA: grammar.

[JulietRose]

I don't get a lot of egg white cm. I tend to be more creamy, sticky, and dry. During the fertile days I usually get more watery than anything else and this happens multiple times throughout my cycle because of the PCOS. It's hard sometimes to see the difference between sticky and creamy and I end up looking at it too long and confusing the shit out of myself.

[requiressnacks]

Mines goes from non-existent, to creamy, to watery to EwCM. Then it pretty much disappears. My EWCM is really obvious so that's usually the only one I track. I also find that checking internally with 2 fingers really helped me, as it is the only way that I could judge how pliable it is. (Is that TMI? Sorry)

[pismoduo]

Mine fluctuates throughout the day, but the general pattern I have is:

Creamy on the day after AF ends
1-2 days of dry
some number of days/weeks of creamy
3-5 days before O it alternates between watery and EWCM during the day and creamy at night
1-2 days of EWCM during the day and watery at night (usually one of these days is O)
1-2 days of dry after O
rest of the LP is creamy.

[heatherj9603]

Mar 28, 2015 14:12:55 GMT -5 @led said:

Mine is creamy the majority of the time, then I'll have like 2-3 days of EWCM/watery right around O. I do get more CM leading up to my period and not a lot for the first few days after I stop bleeding.

Pretty much this exactly. But I do notice that around FW, if I havnt drank a lot of water, I don't get good cm. Drinking more water, I seem to get better quality ewcm. Also, excercise in my FW seems to help too. Only thing I can think of is its breaking it loose. I'll work out, especially cardio, and within minutes lots of ewcm. It's super odd. 

[icaughtfire]

I'm pretty much creamy, watery, EWCM, dry, creamy.

I pretty much only make note of EWCM & that's only what I see on the tissue after going to the bathroom. I don't go digging around for it.

[pismoduo]

Mar 28, 2015 15:16:03 GMT -5 heatherj9603 said:

Mar 28, 2015 14:12:55 GMT -5 @led said:

Mine is creamy the majority of the time, then I'll have like 2-3 days of EWCM/watery right around O. I do get more CM leading up to my period and not a lot for the first few days after I stop bleeding.

Pretty much this exactly. But I do notice that around FW, if I havnt drank a lot of water, I don't get good cm. Drinking more water, I seem to get better quality ewcm. Also, excercise in my FW seems to help too. Only thing I can think of is its breaking it loose. I'll work out, especially cardio, and within minutes lots of ewcm. It's super odd. 

I noticed this too - on days in my FW that I go for my longer walk (3.5 miles or so) as soon as I get back there's just so much mucus.

[lilsneezy]

I usually go from AF -> dry -> sticky/creamy -> creamy/EW right before O -> dry for a few days after O -> then watery/creamy for the rest of my LP.

HTH!

[ohinvrtedworld]

I must be one of the lucky ones who can tell what kind of CM it is when I wipe. If it looks like there's enough on the TP to check, I'll usually see if it stretches pretty far between pieces of tissue and call that EWCM. If it's just watery and doesn't stretch, just watery.

I don't bother with creamy or sticky because I don't really care unless it's fertile CM. I've noticed that I dry right up pretty much a day or two after O.

[13liza]

I feel like I get a lot of EWCM from after AF through fertile window, but I could be completely wrong. Thanks for asking this question- I've been thinking about this too.

[icequeen]

Mar 28, 2015 14:51:26 GMT -5 stephiestark said:

I go from creamy to watery with one day of EWCM around O. Then I think I'm creamy. Question: do you note your most fertile cm or the cm type you have the most of that day?

I note the CM I have during most of the day. Is that what I'm supposed to be doing?

ETA Just saw the other answers to the posts. I'll have to modify how I'm tracking the CM, I suppose! I thought I should be recording the CM type I have every day. :/

Thanks for all your help, y'all! You're the best!

[helloerrbody]

Mine is pretty much just like @led. Almost always creamy. Not much right after my period ends, and then I get quite a bit of creamy CM every day up until my FW. Then I get some eggwhite CM for the days leading up to O. Then it goes creamy again! I hardly ever notice any CM that I would describe as watery or sticky.

I do also look at the shape my CM makes on my panties. I think I read about this in TCOYF. If it's in a line, it's creamy/sticky. A circle "stain" points to more watery or EW.

[ohinvrtedworld]

Mar 28, 2015 17:09:08 GMT -5 icequeen said:

Mar 28, 2015 14:51:26 GMT -5 stephiestark said:

I go from creamy to watery with one day of EWCM around O. Then I think I'm creamy. Question: do you note your most fertile cm or the cm type you have the most of that day?

I note the CM I have during most of the day. Is that what I'm supposed to be doing?

ETA Just saw the other answers to the posts. I'll have to modify how I'm tracking the CM, I suppose! I thought I should be recording the CM type I have every day. :/

Thanks for all your help, y'all! You're the best!

This is news to me, too, haha. This is probably something I got wrong on the FF charting exam

[Sparkly]

Mine is creamy most of the time unless it's watery or EW. I tend to have a lot, but that may be in part due to how much water I drink... although I still have had a ton of creamy CM while I've been sick and wasn't drinking as much.

I get a lot of fertile quality CM (usually a week or more around O, as well as a couple other random days here and there). I note the most fertile I have at any point during the day. So if it's mostly creamy, but then bam, there's some EWCM, that's marked E on my chart. That's usually what happens around the start of my FW.

Like PPs have said, I mostly check what is on my panties or TP, and the look of it (e.g. EWCM is shiny and well, egg white-y looking, and it sits on top of the TP - whereas creamy is matte, looks like lotion, and doesn't really show on TP). I do also check internally once a day when I check CP. I just see if it's stretchy basically, because I find it is most stretchy the day or two before/of O. I feel like I've gotten really good at identifying MY pattern and what MY CM looks like, but it took checking daily for a few months, and making a lot of notes to fully get the hang of it.

[tromeo]

I just wanted to say that this thread is really helpful!  Thanks to all who have answered

[cnf2013]

Mar 28, 2015 14:59:01 GMT -5 stephiestark said:

Mar 28, 2015 14:53:34 GMT -5 valie said:

The most fertile.

Ok, thanks! Some days I have a little EWCM and lots of creamy so it gets confusing.

ETA: grammar.

If it's after my confirmed O I either don't mark anything unless it's obvious or err on the side of caution just as to not confuse FF. I know I get creamy basically from a few days after O until AF, so if I get a random patch of fertile CM one day I don't generally mark it as such. 

[stephiestark]

Mar 29, 2015 13:26:22 GMT -5 cnf2013 said:

Mar 28, 2015 14:59:01 GMT -5 stephiestark said:

Ok, thanks! Some days I have a little EWCM and lots of creamy so it gets confusing.

ETA: grammar.

If it's after my confirmed O I either don't mark anything unless it's obvious or err on the side of caution just as to not confuse FF. I know I get creamy basically from a few days after O until AF, so if I get a random patch of fertile CM one day I don't generally mark it as such. 

Thanks for the advice cnf2013.