Day 69 (CD14)

CD2 - indoors / CD3 - 96.8
CD3 - AM walk / CD4 - 97.1
CD4 - AM boating & PM hiking / CD5 - 97.1
CD5 - indoors / CD6 - 96.8
CD6 - PM walk / CD7 - 97.1
CD7 - indoors / CD8 - 96.8
CD8 - AM walk (obviously wasn't enough sunlight... it was shorter than usual, and overcast... maybe that's why?) / CD9 - 96.8
CD9 - AM walk & PM walk / CD10 - 97.0
CD10 - indoors / CD11 - 97.1 ... there goes my predictable pattern
CD11 - indoors / CD12 - 97.1
CD12 - indoors / CD13 - 96.8
CD13 - indoors / CD14 - 97.0
CD14 - AM walk / CD15 - ???

So... the pattern that I thought I was developing isn't really as cut-and-dry as I had expected. With today's observations, however, I definitely entered the fertile phase of my cycle, which I've found is a whole different ball game anyways. I had a LOT of very creamy cervical mucus today, so I'm hoping my body is preparing itself, as I'm really hoping to trigger ovulation on CD18 (Jul 19, the day after the full moon). So that means two more nights of wearing the eye mask for me!

Day 56 (CD1 of cycle #37)

When I took my temperature this morning, I immediately flung myself out of bed to the bathroom. After days of temps around 97.9 degrees, today's 97.3 could only mean one thing -- menstruation. Sure enough, within minutes, my period had arrived, and within an hour, the cramps had begun.

I was a bit disappointed at my 12 day luteal phase the past cycle. When I thought more about it, however, I realized that my sleeping patterns had been very inconsistent, and that there were a handful of nights in the luteal phase that I fell asleep on the couch for a few hours before actually going to bed with my eye mask on. Also, on a few nights, I've been waking up without my eye mask on -- looks like it's time to tighten up the velcro again. Hopefully next month I can be more consistent with that to try to get a longer luteal phase again.

Also, it should be noted that my period arrived the day before the new moon.

My plan for this cycle is to try to use light to trigger an earlier-than-normal ovulation on cycle day 18, so that my next period won't arrive at an undesirable time. We'll see how that works.

Day 42 (CD31 - first night of light)

Today marks CD31, which has, up until this point, been my latest recorded ovulation ever. With that in mind, last night I experienced my first "light" night of my Lunaception journey.

Going to bed without my eye mask on was a bit weird. I hadn't realized how much I had gotten used to it, and I had to consciously keep my eyes from opening every five seconds to look around. We get a lot of light into our apartment at night, since we are city-dwellers, and since we have so many large windows. Even without a single light bulb on, after my eyes adjusted to the lack of light I could fairly clearly make out everything in the room. With a combination of moonlight and streetlights shining in from the large window beside the bed, I hoped that would be enough to trigger ovulation.

I didn't sleep well at all, which I guess was to be expected. I know I tossed and turned quite a bit, even after I fell asleep (which took longer than usual). In the morning after I took my temperature I was so tired that I rolled back over and slept another two hours... not a very restful sleep. I don't remember having any dreams, either.

Just in case that wasn't enough light, I sat out on our balcony this morning for nearly an hour before it started raining and I had to come in. All day, I've been trying to get as much light as possible -- at least, as is possible while still getting stuff done around the house and while it's raining outside.

Tonight is the full moon, so I'm really hoping for ovulation today or tomorrow. I had all of the classic ovulation signs today -- eggwhite mucus, a wet vaginal sensation, an open, high, and soft cervix, and even a dip in temperatures. This afternoon I thought I may have even felt a twinge from my left ovary (which would be VERY odd, since I never have ovulation pains)... of course, maybe that was just wishful thinking.

I'll keep you updated.

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.

Day 27 (CD16)

CD16 is the earliest that I have ever ovulated. Considering I had no cervical mucus at all, and my cervix was in a medium position and was firmer than yesterday, I think it's safe to say that I didn't ovulation today. Part of me was hoping that I would ovulate very early this cycle, because it would be quite drastic and show that the Lunaception had a definite effect on my cycles. So, we move on till tomorrow.

I woke an hour later than usual today, and will probably wait to see tomorrow's temp to see which is more accurate.

Also today, I took a closer look at my previous cycles to see where my menstrual period and my ovulation has lined up with the moon cycles in the past. Though it was hard to see any definite pattern, it did seem apparent that my menstrual period (top graph, in red) seemed to come slightly less often during the full moon than during other times of the month, whereas ovulation (bottom graph, in blue) seemed to come slightly more often during the full moon than during other times of the month. There also seems to be a significant lack of either activity during days 6-7 on either graph, as well as during days 20-21. These are both times when the moon is nearing its quarter-phases. Any significance? I'm not certain.


Overall, I did notice that menstruation seemed to occur much less during the lightest moon phases (the seven days directly surrounding the full moon), and most often during the darkest phases (the seven days directly surrounding the new moon). Very interesting.

Day 13 (CD2)

So today's temp was a quite low 97.1. However, since it was much closer to yesterday's 6am temp than its 9am temp, I did go back and adjust my chart likewise (though still keeping the whole novel of what happened in my notes).

I'm totally psyched about that 14 day LP, and am totally hooked on the natural "magic" of Lunaception... after less than two weeks! The steady temps, the longer LP... I could definitely get used to this. Especially considering I've only had one other LP that long in my 35 cycles of charting (c16) and I happen to know that three of those nights of that LP we were sleeping in a cabin in the woods (as in, total darkness!) Coincidence?

So now I'm just excited to see what'll happen to my ovulation this month. It's a bit nerve-wracking, since now I'm back at the drawing board and have no idea when I'm going to ovulate, but the suspense makes it kind of fun, too.

I also received a PM asking if I was planning on trying to get in line with the moon cycles; I'm going to copy/paste my response here -- it kind of outlines my general plan of action:

I had taken a look at the calendar this past week since I knew AF was going to be due, and saw that I'm actually functioning on opposite the cycle of the moon -- the full moon was May 19th, the day AF arrived for me. So... for me to get "caught up" this cycle and ovulate on the next full moon, that would mean ovulation on CD31, which is a rather late, even for me!

So, what I think I'm going to do is just try to simulate darkness with my eye mask throughout the entire cycle this time around just to see where it ends up placing ovulation on its own.

Then, next cycle I think I may start introducing light for three nights, depending on where it places ovulation this month. My average ovulation is CD21, and I'd ideally like to get it earlier to avoid the long wait each month when we switch over to TTC in January, so I'll probably try introducing light a few days earlier each month to eventually try to get it down to somewhere around CD15 or 16.