Please list all the info you wish you knew about o+12 when you started this journey.  When this thread is complete I will move it to the FAQ forum

Ok the reason o+12 works better than shettles is because you have more control of your pH till O.  With o+12 you only need to keep pH low for about a day of your attempt (yes you need low pH before but with shettles your pH could spike while sleeping and you would never know)

for O+12 you need opks, a BBT (thermometer), knowledge of your cervical mucus, and cervical position.  Also 3 practice cycles with charting of temps, opks, cp and cm would be helpful as well so you know on average when you O.

Ok you will get a +opk.. this means its time to watch your cm and cervix.  You cant take opks first thing in the morning because you always have Lh in the morning...

ok so you have +opk.. this means you may o in 8-48 hours.  Now start watching your cervix and cm.  When you O your cm will be ew (most people not me lol) and your cervix will be really really soft.  Don't worry about hight because that fluctuates with bms.  12 hours after you O your cervix will go from soft to hard and your cm will shift from ewcm to creamy or from creamy to dry.  If you do not have cm you go by your cervix texture. These 2 usually go hand in hand but if they don't go by cm.  You have from now (o+12) to o+20 (8 more hours) to do your attempt. 

Keep temping as this is the only way to really confirm O.  If you have been charing for 3 months you will know on average when you o because you will have marked on your chart (probably in the notes section) at what time the cm shift occurred then count back 12 hours and you know.

After your attempt you need to keep your pH low!!  Douche an hour before (if your pH is 5 or higher or if you have ewcm) and then after your attempt check every 1/2 hour to make sure your pH stays low!  If your pH jumps up then do 1-3ml of douche to re-lower it.  Some people an hour before do rephresh or replens (depending on pH) an hour before and have found pH will stay low till temp spike.  Others find it makes pH go higher.  4 hours after your attempt do a lime tampon and leave it in for 4 hour (thus hitting that o+20 mark).  Keep pH 4-4.5 (either with douche, or replens or rephresh) till your temp spikes and you have conformed O.

Now people.. Please don't make me type this again!!!

study:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=7427410&dopt=AbstractPlus

YAH!  A special thread!  Now, let's see if there's enough info on here within 10 days for my attempt :)

I wish I could figure out EXACTLY when O+12 is!  Someone should invent a monitor that says "NOW IS O+12!!!! BD NOW, BD NOW!!!" for those of us whose cervix won't co-operate and tell us whether it's soft or hard or high or low or open or closed!!!!  LOL!!! 

Heather JJ:

I wish I could figure out EXACTLY when O+12 is!  Someone should invent a monitor that says "NOW IS O+12!!!! BD NOW, BD NOW!!!" for those of us whose cervix won't co-operate and tell us whether it's soft or hard or high or low or open or closed!!!!  LOL!!! 

I agree on this!

However, I still have trouble judging my cervix and cm shift (which I know should be the best indicator), so I looked for more ideas around here, and found this:

1) It seems that Cue II monitor could be of use when pinpointing O+12. (I still don’t have Cue II myself, but planning to get one). You can read more here:

http://www.in-gender.com/cs/forums/t/36752.aspx?PageIndex=1

http://www.in-gender.com/cs/forums/t/35209.aspx

3) I’m still wondering if we can make a better use of plain old OPKs to figure out O+12, so I would like to get some opinions on this. I keep looking at OPKs every few hours after the first positive, and I noticed that at the time I think it’s O+12 the second line is just a little fainter than the control line. Does this sound right?

So my question here is really: when (approximately) is the 2nd line supposed to be at its darkest (maybe at O-12)?  And at O+12, how faint is it supposed to be compared to the control line?

 If you get 2 positive OPK's back to back how do you pin point O+12? or would you just wait 36 hours after that 1st OPK?

Do you abstain certain amount of days before you do an O+12 or just do it requently until O+12?

if you want a true O+12, dh should abstain releasing 7 days prior.  however, most who attempt O+12 here also do a cutoff beforehand, so it doesn't always work out that way. 

Heather JJ:

I wish I could figure out EXACTLY when O+12 is!  Someone should invent a monitor that says "NOW IS O+12!!!! BD NOW, BD NOW!!!" for those of us whose cervix won't co-operate and tell us whether it's soft or hard or high or low or open or closed!!!!  LOL!!! 

I so agree. I have a really hard time with this my self.

IdreamNpink:

 If you get 2 positive OPK's back to back how do you pin point O+12? or would you just wait 36 hours after that 1st OPK?

You would chart your temp for 3 cycles without ttc and see when the temp shift happens to know when on average you O

bluewantspink:

Do you abstain certain amount of days before you do an O+12 or just do it requently until O+12?

7 day or more.  Preferably 14+ days for sure.

Heather JJ:

I wish I could figure out EXACTLY when O+12 is!  Someone should invent a monitor that says "NOW IS O+12!!!! BD NOW, BD NOW!!!" for those of us whose cervix won't co-operate and tell us whether it's soft or hard or high or low or open or closed!!!!  LOL!!! 

LOL there is a monitor.. its called an ultrasound and it will only run you about 600-800$ lol

The exact timeing of 0+12 is way easier than trying to find O.  12 hours after you O your cervix will go from soft to hard and your cm from ew to creamy or from creamy to dry.  If you can't find this you need to track your temps for 3 cycles to see when you O after a +opk (your temp goes up the morning after O.  Then do your attempt the night before your temp spike

justagirl:

Of course, the O+12 summary is quite helpful:

http://www.in-gender.com/Gender%2DSelection/Oplus12/

This one is slightly outdated.  Do not attempt after yoru temp spikes as your egg will be dead

I have a question that isn't exactly about how to do O+12, but about whether or not it's okay in terms of the "health" of the egg... I just remembered reading on a forum from quite awhile ago that one lady was worried because she heard that sometimes babies are born with Down's Syndrome if the egg was too mature...  does anyone know if that's true?  If so, do you think it means the egg was too mature in the cycle, or just too mature in general (maybe meaning the woman was older and therefore would have more "mature" eggs)???  Are we sure we're not taking a risk by waiting until the egg is "on it's way out"!!!!???  I know this is probably silly but I just thought I'd ask......

3 or more years ago when I first heard that; I looked it up.  What I found is it is not true.  If the egg becomes fertilized then it is a healthy egg.  Downs syndrome is a DNA problem that can not be caused by the age of an egg but is caused while forming the egg or the sperm before all of this happens

When is the absolute latest you can get pregnant? An O+24?? or O+20?

I hate typing out O+12 I always type O=12... argh....