Day 28 (CD17)

Well, I didn't ovulate yesterday.

CM: creamy, internal only
CP: high (hey, maybe ovulation is on its way!), firm, partially open
BBT: I changed yesterday's to match closer to what today's is... that makes my second "only one hour off" temp this month which made more sense adjusted.

Sleep observations: I haven't been sleeping as well lately and am starting to realize that it may have more to do with my physical activity throughout the day than Lunaception itself. Right around the same time I started using my eye mask, my husband and I also started making a daily habit of walking 30 minutes to an hour every day. This past four days we haven't been able to get out on our walks, and through those nights I've noticed I've been increasingly more restless, and in the mornings increasingly more tired. We took a nice, long walk today, so I'm interested to see if that improves my sleep.


I also did a bit more study into where my ovulation and period occur in regards to the moon cycles, and I ran across this fantastic moon phase calendar on The Old Farmer's Almanac Website. Not only does it show dates of significant moon phases, but it also documents the percentage of illumination for each day. Fabulous! So, I went back and looked at my ovulation and menstruation dates and made up this more concise chart based on the percentage of illumination on each of those dates:

(click for larger view)

It's an interesting pattern, with ovulation tending to occur at about the same illumination as the menstruation of two cycles previous. This pattern also seems to be the strongest during times when it occurs closest to the New Moon or Full Moon. Now, it could just be a mathematical coincidence based on the fact that the lunar cycles are about 28 days long whereas my cycles are normally about 34 days long, but that kind of math makes my brain hurt. If that pattern were to follow for this cycle, I would ovulate somewhere around the next 60% illumination night, which happens to occur on Tuesday, June 11th, which would for me be CD24. We'll see if that prediction comes true!

I also observed that ovulation and menstruation are both equally as likely to occur during the waxing phase of the moon as during the waning phase (14-16 times each). I have menstruated twice on the new moon, and twice on the full moon; I have ovulated once on the new moon, and twice on the full moon.