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TMI - TTA-related
hi ladies,
first off - it's been a really rough week for me at work, which meant long hours, no nesting, and too much stress! so i'm glad it's friday, and i'm glad to be checking in again and seeing how everyone is doing. (congrats to lola808!!)
so - TMI question is...my last period started on 10/21, this is my first month off the pill since i started over 8 years ago. had a normal period, didn't take any more pills - and today, i noticed some tan(?)-ish "spotting". not red, not brown. tan and thin in consistency - like pee 
. weird or normal?
and i guess it varies for everyone, but how long did it take your cycle to get back to "normal", whatever that means for you?
thanks
eta: oops, i meant 9/21! and that was the normal "4th week on a packet of pills" period. and - the word that was escaping me last night was "discharge". I usually get egg white CM (really thick, sticky, clear), but this is nothing like that. not sticky or thick at all.
Re: TMI - TTA-related
Mine went back almost right away, but for a lot of women it can take months (I think the average is 3-4, but it can be 6+) for cycles to stabilize after going off BC.
To get icky with the details for a minute, "tan" makes me think it's probably just yellow-tinted cervical mucus (which is fine, unless it has a bad odor or itches, in which case you're probably looking at a yeast infection) that may have a tiny bit of old, residual blood in it from somewhere to give it the not-so-yellow-but-more-tan color.
Oh, and if it's watery like pee, and this is CD12 or 13, it's probably a sign that this is the start of your fertile period, although you may or may not ovulate this cycle (CM that is eggwhite-like in consistency is the most fertile, but watery is right up there in second place - a lot of women get it before eggwhite, but some women don't get eggwhite at all and still get knocked up, and neither actually mean you're definitely ovulating - confusing I know!). At any rate, I'd be very surprised if this were spotting signaling the start of another period for you.
I am assuming your last period started on 9/21 and not 10/21...perhaps the tan you're seeing is tinted CM or some spotting. Usually when you go off the pill you'll have "break through" bleeding, but it's not a real period. That's probably what 9/21 was. Now that your body is off synthetic hormones it's trying to cycle for itself. It could take several more months or even a year before you're completely back to a natural cycle.
If you can, try reading Taking Charge of Your Fertility, especially if you plan to TTA.
TTC/PG Blog | Mommy Blog
okay, thanks ladies! glad to know it's not unheard of.
i've started reading TCOYF, but haven't gotten far enough to know whether there's a special kind of thermometer i need to buy, or how to chart...getting there
i had just never seen this before, so i figured i'd ask my knowledgable hi nesties - thank you!!
I would say that maybe it's CM like everyone else said. I JUST finished my first cycle off BCP, and I had a 43 day cycle...no fun. But I did start charting, so I still have an idea of when and if I'm Oing, and when I can expect AF.
That was the nice thing about being on BCP, is that I knew that AF would come 2 days after the last pill. With charting, I can pinpoint the same thing, especially now that I'm one cycle down.
At first it seems like a chore, but it's really nice to know what my body is doing, and to know when I'm Oing (in my last cycle, I didn't O until CD 30!) Regular people usually O around day 15, so I would have been WAY off if I wasn't charting...and we are kinda trying to avoid right now as well.
I learned most of this stuff over on the Getting Pregnant board. There's lots of girls that are TTC and TTA, and they are pretty friendly as well.
All you need is a basal thermometer - don't get sucked in by the "special TTC thermometers" that are sometimes advertised at ridiculous prices, you just need one that will read your temp to the hundredth's place (eg 98.24 instead of 98.2), like this one.
wow, you made that easy for me. spent 1 min reading reviews on others (b/c i need all the info i can get before making any decision, no matter how small
), but that's it, done. 
thanks!!
LOL I'm with you there - it always makes Ben a little crazy, but I HAVE to compare products/prices even if I'm already 99% sure about what I'm buying!