I'm going to go out on a limb here. There may be Something Up with my luteal phase.

Back in December when fertility friend gave me a coverline which concurred with my OPKs and secondary fertility signs, I confidently started marking off the days. Thirteen or fourteen of these, I thought, and Bob's my uncle. Which, as you all know, would have made Flo my aunt.

On the thirteenth day post ovulation - right, I thought, on cue - I started with the merest, tiniest bit of spotting. By the end of day sixteen I was almost ready to go out and buy a HPT, despite my FS's claims that if I got pregnant without either IVF or committing adultery I would be entitled - nay, obliged - to start my own religious cult. My dipping temperatures and lack of pregnancy-related signs kept my foundless hopes in check, although I did start to get excited about the possibility of cycling in January. Which I would have been able to do if my period had arrived tomorrow, instead of today. Thank goodness it didn't arrive several days ago though, or I wouldn't have been likely to completely miss my parents when I go back in February*. Perfect timing, I'd say.

Turns out I've been wasting my energy on Dr Google, because it's not polyps, or endometriosis, or an imbalance in the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis. It's just my reproductive system's idea of a great, big, fun, practical joke. Well I hope it's having a good laugh - next month, it'll get a taste of what's coming to it**.

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*Just to clarify, because there were an awful lot of negatives in that sentence, this means I will probably NOT see my parents in February. If my cycle had ended several days ago, like I thought it was going to, I would probably have had a day or two with them. So yes, either yesterday or tomorrow would have been better. But hey! Anything could happen. Let's not call it til... March.

**Pu.re.gon. Bit anticlimactic, really.

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Also - go play the mind game. It's not that it's fun, exactly, but it is interesting.