Clearblue Easy Fertility Monitor

I bought this monitor after 8 months of trying to concieve. I have very irregular periods so the thought of a machine telling me when I was ovulating sounded great.

About the machine: You have to program it to start during your period. So, if you buy it in between your cycles, you need to wait until your next period to begin using the monitor, however you can program it up to day 5 on your period, meaning if you buy this and you are anywhere from day 1-5 in your menses, you can program it for whatever day between those five days you are on. If you purchase the monitor and you are on day 3 of your period, the monitor will allow you to program day 3 and start from there. For me I had a bit of trouble figuring out the programming but to be honest Im not that mechanically inclined, but I did eventually get it.

You start testing when the maching tells you to, so you won't be testing everyday. This helps because it saves $$ on the sticks. You pee on the stick in the morning (first morning urine for best results, as opposed to afternoon urine with OPK'S) at the same time every morning. There is a 3 hour window that is allowed. So if you set your clock for 7am, but you really have to pee at 5:30, you pee at that time so the urine is concentrated. The 3 hour window can go either way- before 7am or after, just as long as its the first urine. The machine will give you either a low, high or peak (with a little egg next to the peak days) reading. The instructions advise you to baby dance on high and peak days.

Now for the cons. Its pricey! The machine itself is expensive, much, much more then OPK's and the sticks are pricey as well. When you buy the machine it will come with a certain amount of sticks, but then you need to buy refills which can get costly.

Did it work?? For us it worked. I was able to get pregnant the second cycle using this monitor. It showed that I was ovualting on day 10, where I figured I was around days 12-16, so we were way off. With the new found knowledge of when I was actually ovualting we got pregnant with our little boy.

My husband and I tried for several months off the birth control patch with no success. I am 35 and had always assumed I ovulated around days 14-16. I bought the monitor on the recommendation of friends (among our set, it's resulted in several pregnancies!). I wasn't able to use it immediately at the time I bought it, because I was too far along in my cycle. The first time I did use it -- bingo! We're pregnant. It turns out that I was ovulating on days 11-12.

The machine is simple and easy to use. I know that it's expensive and that the cost may be off-putting, but it is certainly cheaper than consultations with fertility specialists. I also have a very demanding job and was not consistent with keeping up with my charting, etc.

This is such a sensitive issue for so many people. I think we need all of the help we can get. Good luck!

I am not advising that you purchase or not purchase this monitor. I simply need to tell you of my experience if you do use it. I was very excited to find a tool that would take the human error out of reading the ovulation test sticks to determine the LH surge, therefore predicting the peak days of fertility.

I used this monitor every month for over a year with one successful pregnancy (ending in miscarriage). The very thing I liked about this tool is possibly what prevented my getting pregnant sooner. I relied too much on the accuracy of the monitor! The machine reads the stick and displays the "fertile day" sign. If there are any errors in this reading, you won't know because you can't read them yourself. You must rely totally on the accuracy of the machine. Whereas, with the simpler ovulation predictor sticks, you can read them yourself; see the line to determine if it is darker or lighter than the test line and can compare it with sticks from one day to the next.

After trying to conceive for so long, I found myself only focusing on the "prime fertile days." I didn't have the energy to "try" if the monitor didn't say I had to. I think by narrowing my target to the 2 or 3 perfect days that this machine predicted, caused me to actually miss my fertile days. I think the machine was wrong. I came to this conclusion one month when I decided to check behind the monitor by using it simultaniously with the ovulation predictor sticks. The monitor read my LH surge as day 12 and I read the sticks as surging on day 18. If I had not checked behind the machine, so to speak, I would have missed my actual peak time. By NOT paying attention to the monitor readings, I persevered and kept at it until day 18 and this was the month I got pregnant.

I'd recommend that if you do buy this monitor, use it as a guideline and not as the gospel. Use it to indicate your fertile days but don't stop there. Don't just "try" on the fertile days. The one pregnancy I did have was due to "trying" even after the machine said it wasn't productive.

One final note, the sticks for this machine are bought in boxes of 30 and are very expensive. You MUST use 10 per month dictated by the machine. Purchasing the box of 5 or 7 ovulation predictor sticks is actually less expensive and you need only use the number of sticks until you see the "peak." These kits are complete as is (just add urine!) and do not require the purchase of an expensive machine.

Good luck!