Venturing into charted territory

            I’m sure most of you have heard of natural family planning: a woman charts her basal body temperatures (BBT) to figure out her most fertile time frame each cycle and then takes precautions during that time to avoid getting pregnant. Well, if you’re trying to conceive I suggest you follow the same procedures…you know, without the avoiding getting pregnant part ;). If you’ve never tracked your BBT before, it’s fairly simple and very effective in helping a woman who has pretty normal cycles figure out her fertile window. It can also help your doctor know if something isn't quite working right when your temps seem "out of whack."  The procedure is as follows:

1. Take your temperature with a high quality thermometer as soon as you wake up in the morning. Don’t go cheap on this…it is extremely important that the thermometer is accurate to the 0.1 of a degree.

2. Record your temps on a chart/graph each cycle until you notice a pattern. Your temps will be lower the first half of your cycle then they will raise and stay elevated post-ovulation. Once you establish a few months of temps, you can see where your temperature typically raises and then establish your fertile window.

Here's an example of a pretty decent chart of mine...notice that after day 16 (when I ovulated), the temps began to rise and then settled in at a higher baseline than earlier in the cycle.

And here's an example of a not-so-decent chart of mine...notice how the temps seem to lack consistency and they stayed pretty high for a lot of the first half of my cycle.  This, unfortunately, has not been unusual for me which was an indication that things weren't quite on the right track.

 

              I started tracking my BBT app. 2 ½ years ago and have done so (with the exception of a few days) every morning since. Yes, sometimes it’s a pain, but a baby is worth it. I also suggest using ovulation predictor kits (OPKs…those lovely pee sticks all the ladies are dying to use) to help you verify when you’re about to ovulate. My procedure since I started tracking my BBT was to start using the OPKs each cycle 4-6 days before I thought I was going to ovulate to verify when ovulation was occurring so the hubs and I could feel a bit more confident that we caught the fertile window each month.  I should probably own stock in Clearblue by now with as many of those OPKs that I bought over the last few years ;).

              And one more thing before I sign off today - did you know “there’s an app for that” if you have an iPhone? Actually, there are several apps that make it easy to record your temps and chart your ovulation. I’ve used a couple but have found that I like one called iPeriod the most because it can export the information via email if I need to print it and it shows you a line graph with just a turn of the phone (hence the charts above).  Good luck charting!