I have spent years in the past believing I was infertile.

My cycles have been all over the map since I was 13. All along the way I would ask my different doctors if my irregular cycles were a sign of fertility or conception problems. Not a one ever stopped even think about it. They all assured me all was fine and once I was ready there would be no delay. Well, I took my time in life and thought about marriage and children after I felt like I'd done justice to my career, traveled and fully enjoyed the single life.

After my husband and I tried and tried to have a baby on our own, I finally saw a Reproductive Endocrinologist. I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). It was assumed I rarely, if ever, ovulated. I went through several cycles of Clomid without a hint of a result. Finally, we began Gonal-F shots and within a couple of cycles I produced one lonely follicle and my daughter, Graceanna, was born nine months later!

Sounds simple, but for anyone who has been through fertility treatment, you know how heart-breaking it can be. And expensive. And painful.

I nursed my daughter until she was two-and-a-half. Therefore, I only began to have my periods after her birth when she was 14 months old. Since then I have noticed my periods are coming on their own, albeit at irregular intervals. Thinking back, it's not much different from how things have been all my life.  Without  a "perfect" 28-day cycle, I was clueless as to when to use tools such as Ovulation Prediction Test Strips. Part of my problem in the past was that I had a hard time with charting my Basal Body Temperature (BBT). I was inconsistent, at best, in my ability to remember to temp at the same time every morning.

I began to read more about charting with cervical mucus and cervical position. The more I read and the more I kept track, the more I saw a definite pattern. It took me 35 years to catch onto this method, but finally I was getting the hang of my own body!

Now I am able to recognize the types of mucus that indicate ovulation is on the way. I see a clear pattern in how many days after that I ovulate. Now that I know when to use them in each of my cycles (which can be anywhere from 35-50 days), the test strips are working.

I'm convinced now that I've been ovulating all along, but my lack of understanding about how to read my body's signs paired with a very irregular cycle is what has been keeping me from being able to take advantage of my body's fertile times. I also need to be more aware of the signs, since it appears I only ovulate 4 to 6 times a year.

So, I thought I would toss up this small site to outline my method. I'm not selling my story. It's not new information. It's just a gathering together of what works for me. I find when I am talking with my girlfriends that I am not alone in my lack of understanding of how my own body works. Here's hoping that what I have learned might help even one other person.