A little Help with charting?? Please:)

[runnergrl]

I am taking my last BCP today (YEAH!) and want to start charting with Fertility Friend, but it looks and seems so confusing!

Can anyone who is currently doing this give me some tips and advice on how to do this? What kind of thermometer do I need? What time of day do I temp? Do I just record my results online?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I cant wait to get my cycles in order to TCC.

Thanks in advance:HUGS:

 

[lozzy21]

Not sure on the tipe you would need but your temp needs to be taken first thing in the morning after 4 hours on continous sleep and with out moving. You enter the results in FF and it plots it on your chart.

 

[Bambi1985]

I've only started 2 days ago so prob won't be as much help as others on here.

You can buy proper fertility thermometers but I just bought a basic digital thermometer from the chemists as i'm doing it orally. It needs to be your resting temperature so I normally temp as soon as I get up in the morning.

Only recording temp at the moment and nothing else cos like you I think it looks confusing!

 

[runnergrl]

so just record your temp every day and look for a rise in temp? That means you have ovulated, right?

 

[lozzy21]

Yep, every morning. A rise in temp and your not ill means you have ovulated, it drops just before AF and stays high if you are pregnant.

 

[lozzy21]

Have you signed up to FF? i think they do tutorials. The best person to ask is Broody21, she is the queen of charting.

 

[runnergrl]

ohhh, thank you Lozzy, I will PM her

 

[Lamburai1703]

Hey. Its not as complicated as it looks. Make sure you use an actual fertility thermometer as they are accurate to 2 decimal places (the shift in temp is not always huge you see!).

Personally, I take mine every morning at 6am. The thermometer I have always remembers the last temp you took so you don't need to wake up too much to write it down!

I've attached my chart for this month although its a bit weird as I had a mc on the 5th Sept, went on holiday for a week (hence the wonky temps with open circles), ov'd on the 29th, got pregnant again, and am now waiting for another miscarriage! But at least it shows what a pregnant chart can look like too!

www.fertilityfriend.com/home/29deab

Hope it helps, but feel free to ask if you have any other queries!

 

[PnutProtector]

i tried temping and FF... i toss and turn too much to get a consistant temp... 4 months worth and it never said i OVd....

 

[abster]

It's really simple once you've done it a few times. The tutorials that FF send you are very clear and answer all sorts of questions. Just starting with the temps first is def a good idea. You need to do it first thing in the morning, at pretty much the same time every day - ideally after 3 hours' continuous sleep - before you get up/start moving about (I found that after a few days I remembered nbot to go to the toilet etc until I'd done it).
You need to use a fertility thermometer - one which measures to 2 decimal places - as a normal one isn't accurate enough; this is because the temperature difference you're looking for to denote a marked rise in temps could be as little as .2 of a degree. You can get fertility thermometers from babymad, online - they're really cheap and arrive quickly. You'll find it's all second nature after a little while - I would say that it's pretty much essential to use either OPKs or check your cm and cervix position, which will indicate when you're going to ovulate, as your chart won't tell you you've ovulated until 3 days afterwards, by which time you're no longer fertile (the best time to be trying to conceive is in the 3 days before, and the day of, ovulation). Hope this is helpful!
After conceiving our daughter in 2 months, we've been trying for our second for 12 cycles and I'm just waiting to ovulate in my 4th cycle charting. I now know that I'm ovulating every month and that I haven't fallen pregnant before now because my luteal phase is too short - and I'm now taking Vitamin B-100 complex to cure this. Needless to say, I wish I'd started charting in November 08, rather than August 09!!

 

[plutosblue]

Ok you need a thermometor that will measure up to 00.00 (two decimal places) as your temperature can change very subtlely.

My little book advises that you start to take your temp on the first day of AF and go from there. The temperature should be taken around the same time every morning (preferably within the hour) after a solid block of sleep, with as little movement as possible, so you should have the kit preferably next to your bed. When your temperature goes up and stays elevated for several days that is a goods indication you are ovulating (though Fertilityfriend has a tutorial to explain all this and also detects when ovulation is happening with your temps).
You can record your results online or in a book as I do, any good pharmacist will have access to the kits which allow you to track you temperature and note it down in a diary with full instructions.

hope this helps

 

[goddess25]

As above you need a thermometer that will measure 00.00 so it can be measured properly. Fertility friend is awesome i used that site and did all the tutorials for about 4 months before trying to get pregnant, i have PCOS and have a really varied cycle. I had no clue about when i was ovulating, but through doing the temping first thing in the morning and monitoring CM i got to know my own body and i got pregnant on the first cycle trying.

Its a great site good luck.

 

[runnergrl]

Hey. Its not as complicated as it looks. Make sure you use an actual fertility thermometer as they are accurate to 2 decimal places (the shift in temp is not always huge you see!).

Personally, I take mine every morning at 6am. The thermometer I have always remembers the last temp you took so you don't need to wake up too much to write it down!

I've attached my chart for this month although its a bit weird as I had a mc on the 5th Sept, went on holiday for a week (hence the wonky temps with open circles), ov'd on the 29th, got pregnant again, and am now waiting for another miscarriage! But at least it shows what a pregnant chart can look like too!

www.fertilityfriend.com/home/29deab





Hope it helps, but feel free to ask if you have any other queries!

WOw, thank you so much for this info, and Im so sorry to hear of the MC's! Best of luck to you as you move forward!!

 

[runnergrl]

It's really simple once you've done it a few times. The tutorials that FF send you are very clear and answer all sorts of questions. Just starting with the temps first is def a good idea. You need to do it first thing in the morning, at pretty much the same time every day - ideally after 3 hours' continuous sleep - before you get up/start moving about (I found that after a few days I remembered nbot to go to the toilet etc until I'd done it).
You need to use a fertility thermometer - one which measures to 2 decimal places - as a normal one isn't accurate enough; this is because the temperature difference you're looking for to denote a marked rise in temps could be as little as .2 of a degree. You can get fertility thermometers from babymad, online - they're really cheap and arrive quickly. You'll find it's all second nature after a little while - I would say that it's pretty much essential to use either OPKs or check your cm and cervix position, which will indicate when you're going to ovulate, as your chart won't tell you you've ovulated until 3 days afterwards, by which time you're no longer fertile (the best time to be trying to conceive is in the 3 days before, and the day of, ovulation). Hope this is helpful!
After conceiving our daughter in 2 months, we've been trying for our second for 12 cycles and I'm just waiting to ovulate in my 4th cycle charting. I now know that I'm ovulating every month and that I haven't fallen pregnant before now because my luteal phase is too short - and I'm now taking Vitamin B-100 complex to cure this. Needless to say, I wish I'd started charting in November 08, rather than August 09!!

Well I was about to waste my $$ on just a regular thermometer, thank you for the advice! I am excited about learning more about my body and getting to know about my cycles. Best of luck with #2! Im sure it will happen very soon

 

[abster]

[Well I was about to waste my $$ on just a regular thermometer, thank you for the advice! I am excited about learning more about my body and getting to know about my cycles. Best of luck with #2! Im sure it will happen very soon[/QUOTE]

I used a forehead thermometer for about 2 months and started panicking that I didn't ovulate, when what I should have been worrying about was being a numpty and not doing what FF says!
OPK's have never worked for me - this tends to be the case if your LH surge is very sudden and rapid, all of which will become clear to you once you've started using FF.
There are loads of FAQs in the help section, as well as the tutorials they snend you.
I check my cm and cervix position (this becomes very easy after a month or so, when yoju get used to the positions) - I find that my cm always tells me to start (is egg-whitey - I don't get the watery type) 4 days before I ovulate, so we get 5 nights of BD. This kind of thing becomes clear on your chart after a couple of months - it's great being able to get to know your body like this.
One thing - I introduced a friend to FF recently and they said they weren't taking on anybody without an invitation from a member as they're very busy. If you find this is the case, let me know and if you like I'll invite you to join.
Good luck!