Day 67 (CD12)

My theory about light during the daytime affecting my morning temps now has a hole in it.

CD10 and 11 were days that I spent basically indoors, without even our normal morning walk. The following mornings, however, were both temperatures of 97.1, which I had previously associated with adequate sunlight during the previous day.

Now, I know a lot of hypothesizing is going into it at this point, but perhaps this means that my body is finally getting used to my Lunaceptive seratonin/melatonin levels? I was also surprised to feel distinctly wet vaginal sensations so early in my cycle (CD11-12), a symptom which I normally don't experience until at least CD14.

Previous cycles with more than one day of wet vaginal sensation as of CD13:
c26 - wet on CD12-14, ovulation on CD18
c25 - wet on CD12-13, ovulation on CD16

Perhaps my body is preparing itself for an earlier-than-normal ovulation!

Day 65 (CD10)

Continued observations through CD10

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

Each day that I spent an extended amount of time outdoors, I had a temperature the next morning of 97.0 or 97.1.
Each day that I spent mostly indoors, I had a temperature the next morning of 96.8.

I'm not sure how long this pattern is going to keep up, especially as this morning I had a temperature that was a bit off the pattern. I do find it very interesting, however, and I wonder:

Was I always this sensitive to light? Or am I -- through Lunaception -- training my body to be sensitive to light?

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.