Delayed ovulation after chemical pregnancy

I was going to ask this question to a couple LJ boards, but since I don't really have a question question, I'm just going to post it here. :)

Obviously, we had a recent chemical. We weren't going to try this cycle regardless considering a few issues, but one thing led to another and, about two weeks into this cycle, DH and I decided to go for it anyway. I'm currently CD19.

DH is a little concerned because, according to my chart, I haven't ovulated yet. I did have some ovulation pain the past two days (ughhh, always from the right...) and very, VERY positive OPKs from Monday afternoon through late last night (seriously, I need to post pictures of these later), and I know it could take about 24 hours from ovulation for a temp spike to happen. I'm wondering, though, if it even happened.

This is where I pretty much stopped and thought, screw this, I'm not posting it to LJ. I don't have a question, I have a waiting game. Which isso much more fun than a question, let me tell you.

Since DH brought it up this morning, I've been Googling "delayed ovulation after chemical pregnancy", as I have yet to have a temp spike and am now worried that something's going on. After wading through message boards and trying to find something that wasn't a "let's all commiserate with the OP!", I did end up finding some good nuggets of truth.

Keep in mind that the chemical was after less than two weeks, but still enough time for hCG to kick in. Parts underlined are my emphasis.

The term chemical pregnancy is used to refer to the phenomenon of miscarriage which is what a spontaneous termination of pregnancy is called. A miscarriage or chemical pregnancy occurs when the pregnancy is spontaneously ended within 20 weeks of conceiving. It may be quite an emotionally distressing experience for a pregnant woman, especially if it's her first pregnancy. However, the physical consequences of a miscarriage are usually not very serious or worrisome, and little or no biological damage takes place. The most common symptom is bleeding, which may or may not be accompanied by mild abdominal pain or slight cramping of the abdominal muscles. Although physical recovery is quite a speedy process and the body quickly reverts to its normal, pre-pregnancy condition, the psychological recovery often takes quite a long time. However, post miscarriage, the one concern that claims the entire attention of a woman who wishes to conceive, is that of ovulation after chemical pregnancy. The burning questions at this point are – "Would my periods resume and be normal after this?", and "When will I begin ovulating again?"

Ovulation After Miscarriage

In the usual course, the menstrual cycles and ovulation should resume within a week or two. However, when you start ovulating after having a chemical pregnancy, totally depends upon the level of HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) in your body. HCG is a hormone that is produced by the developing embryo during pregnancy. This hormone triggers the corpus luteum to produce the female hormone progesterone. Progesterone thickens and prepares the endometrium, the inner wall of the uterus, for implantation in case fertilization of an ova takes place. This hormone is usually produced during ovulation and if fertilization does not occur at this point, the endometrium is shed and it breaks down and leaves the body in the form of menstrual blood. This phenomenon is what we call menstruation, or more colloquially, periods.

Now, coming back to ovulation after spontaneous abortion, once the pregnancy gets terminated and the undeveloped embryo leaves the body along with the bloody discharge (which is characteristic of a miscarriage), the levels of HCG start to drop. This leads to a drop in the production of progesterone, and the body goes back to normal and the reproductive system resumes its routine menstrual and ovulation cycle. However, this process takes some time which is usually about a week or two for most women who have no other complications of the reproductive or endocrine system as such. Usually, for the normal menstrual cycles and ovulation to resume, the HCG level should ideally go way below 5.

Late Ovulation After Chemical Pregnancy

Although ovulation later than 2 - 4 weeks after a chemical pregnancy is not that uncommon, anything that goes beyond 5 weeks should concern you. Most cases of delayed ovulation after chemical pregnancy are caused by hormonal imbalances in your body. The most common among these is when the HCG takes painfully long to drop to zero or even below 5. This can lengthen the gap between a miscarriage and the next ovulation. Although a lot of medicines and herbal remedies are available that shorten the duration of the menstrual cycles and helps you to start ovulating within normal time range after a miscarriage, it is always best to consult the doctor rather than embarking upon a self medication spree.

In case you don't resume your normal menstrual cycles even 4 - 6 weeks after a chemical pregnancy, you should consult your gynecologist, who will run the appropriate tests to determine the root cause of this delay. If it's a hormonal imbalance thing, your doctor will prescribe you the right medications and therapy, so that you get back on the right track and try to conceive again, successfully. In case it's something other than a hormone thing, say a fertility issue, then your gynecologist is the best person to suggest you appropriate programs and workshops that will help you conceive again. In the meanwhile, and through all this, you should stay calm, be patient, and harbor oodles of positivity and hope for your future maternity prospects!

So we'll see. We're taking a break today and maybe even tomorrow to see how everything falls in line.

Honestly, though, I was counting this cycle out anyway, so if we end up not conceiving this time around, I won't be terribly bummed. Still, though, the way the CP is affecting my cycle is nothing short of weird. Oh, hormones.