Anyone TTC #1 and 30 or older?

[Angel5000]

DBZ You take cinnamon to create more EW/Watery cm? Do you use capsules or actual cinnamon powder ? I hadn't heard of doing that before.


Star_E: Here’s my “simplified” version of BBT (sorry it’s a little long but I wanted to include the important things).

First: Temping. You have to take your temp using a basal thermometer (one that is digital and has 2 decimal places after the decimal point). It’s important to take your temp first thing in the morning, after at least 3 hours of sleep, before you get up or move around. It’s also important to take it at the same time every day (or as close as possible) as often as you can.

Example: I take it at 5am every day because that’swhen I get up for work. On weekends I have a quiet alarm that goes off, I temp , then go back to sleep. The thermometer I use has a memory so when I wake up I can look at it and record it.

Second: Using Fertility Friend and Calculating Ovulation:
Put your temps into fertility friend and it will automatically put it on the chart. Now, your temps will possibly jump around a lot. That’s okay. For a lot of women you will see drops in temp around ovulation, but you cannot predict that ovulation is going to happen from the temps, temps just help you pinpoint the specific day that O happened.

Temps before Ovulation are typically lower than those after Ovulation. Once you O, your temps shift to a higher amount. It is not always EVERY temp, sometimes other things can make them drop (being super cold, not enough sleep, being sick can affect temps up or down, etc). You can confirm ovulation has occurred when you have 3 temperatures that are above your “Cover Line”. A cover line is a line that you can draw (horizontally) that will be above MOST of your Pre-O temps, and your Post-O temps will (mostly) be above it. Fertility friend will do this automatically for you when it detects 3 days of temp shifts.

Now, because temps fluctuate, they suggest that you need 3 temps that are higher than your Pre-O temps, but generally the rule is that if the temp you record is higher than the previous 6 temps it can count as a “rise” (so it doesn’t have to be all of them). There isn’t a guaranteed rule that always works because we are different. The important thing to know is that if you leave the Fertility Friend settings to “Advanced” (the automatic setting) Then it will calculate the actual date for you. Just put in your temps.

As for checking CM: I check my CM internally. I cannot get enough to check externally. This may be TMI for some people so read with caution:

Spoiler

So To do that I make sure to wash my hands (you want clean hands), insert a finger inside (this lets you feel and check your cervix height and softness but this is much harder to learn so save that for later), and then you can look at your CM. I actually will insert 2 fingers up to my cervix and do what is called “Scooping” by making a scooping motion and pulling out. Then you can look better.

CM is usually dry (nothing), sticky, creamy (lotion look and feel), EW (very very stretchy, can be clear or opaque color) or watery.

 

[AshNAmber]

Soo. I'm 7DPO and couldn't help myself At a glance looks pretty BFN but when I was looking at in the light not holding it up to the light where you can see through it put looking at it in better light DW and I both saw something.. Now it was it in the 10min time frame so we either saw a line or a shadow or a evap line no idea.. But I thought I was crazy and asked DW to look at it and she was like yeah I see something what does that mean and I said nothing yet but maybe something .. I tried doing the whole pic thing where you make it a negative or whatever but I couldn't figure out how to do it on my phone I don't know maybe we are just wishful thinking If my temp goes up more tomorrow maybe I'll test again in the am. I know its still early.

 

[Xokittycatxo]

Soo. I'm 7DPO and couldn't help myself At a glance looks pretty BFN but when I was looking at in the light not holding it up to the light where you can see through it put looking at it in better light DW and I both saw something.. Now it was it in the 10min time frame so we either saw a line or a shadow or a evap line no idea.. But I thought I was crazy and asked DW to look at it and she was like yeah I see something what does that mean and I said nothing yet but maybe something .. I tried doing the whole pic thing where you make it a negative or whatever but I couldn't figure out how to do it on my phone I don't know maybe we are just wishful thinking If my temp goes up more tomorrow maybe I'll test again in the am. I know its still early.

Ah I can't see anything but it's hard to see anything on my phone. Hopefully it gets darker! 7dpo is very early.... Fx for you.

 

[AshNAmber]

yea I think I just have line eyes

 

[star_e]

can someone give me the dummies version break down of how to bbt? i want to use the fertility friend app, but find it a bit confusing. likely b/c i have not spent enough time reading it. just glanced over it last night and a bit this morning. i just want simple instructions. its confusing b/c it says when there are three higher temps, the ovd day is calculated as the day before the first higher temp. but does that higher temp have to be higher than all the days prior to that day? cause i see some peoples charts and that higher temp is the same temp as some of the prior days. also, my cm is not a very clear source of evidence of ovd for me. can you all tell me how you check your cm? its a rare day where its actually on the toilet paper for me. i have heard people say to take mucinex and drink a lot of water. but its hard to drink a lot of water and hold my pee for four hours so that its concentrated enough to do a after 2pm opk test.

The nice thing about fertility friend is that you just input the temps and it will figure out ovulation for you.

In general, you start temping at the beginning of your cycle and that gives you a baseline of temps. Then after you ovulate, your temperature will rise. If your temp rises and stays up at least three days, that is how you know you have ovulated for sure and FF will give you crosshairs, which show you your baseline average temp and the day of ovulation.


That said, I have had cycles where my pre-ov temps are high, I have a dip, then my next temp is right around the same level of the pre-of temps, but the next two are definitely higher. FF will mark ovulation as the day the little dip happened in that case.

I would say at least two of the three temps should be higher than previous temperatures in order to confirm that you ovulated. If they are the same, then chances are you haven't ovulated yet because you want a clear rise in temperatures to confirm ovulation.

As for CM, I have yet to do any checking other than looking at the toilet paper, but since I take cinnamon, I get a lot of ewcm/watery cm, so I know when fertile time is upon me. Plus I do opks too. I know of other ladies who stick a finger up their bits to check cm, but it seems like too much work to me.

Okay so once I get my thermometer I just plot the temps and it will do it for me? I think it would be awesome to actually understand it but I don't seem to be able to. I look at other peoples charts and I see dips and temp rises before ovd. It's very confusing. I see how it's helpful bc it does the work on its own and I'll be able to tell when I ovd. But I want to also know other than using an opk, that I'm about to ovd. I want another tool to figure that out and I just don't see how on my own I can figure it out w bbt. The charts I see have lots of temp falls and rises before it marks the chart w the cross hairs.

Do u rely on this to figure out when to bd? Or do u mostly rely on your opk?

 

[star_e]

DBZ You take cinnamon to create more EW/Watery cm? Do you use capsules or actual cinnamon powder ? I hadn't heard of doing that before.


Star_E: Here’s my “simplified” version of BBT (sorry it’s a little long but I wanted to include the important things).

First: Temping. You have to take your temp using a basal thermometer (one that is digital and has 2 decimal places after the decimal point). It’s important to take your temp first thing in the morning, after at least 3 hours of sleep, before you get up or move around. It’s also important to take it at the same time every day (or as close as possible) as often as you can.

Example: I take it at 5am every day because that’swhen I get up for work. On weekends I have a quiet alarm that goes off, I temp , then go back to sleep. The thermometer I use has a memory so when I wake up I can look at it and record it.

Second: Using Fertility Friend and Calculating Ovulation:
Put your temps into fertility friend and it will automatically put it on the chart. Now, your temps will possibly jump around a lot. That’s okay. For a lot of women you will see drops in temp around ovulation, but you cannot predict that ovulation is going to happen from the temps, temps just help you pinpoint the specific day that O happened.

Temps before Ovulation are typically lower than those after Ovulation. Once you O, your temps shift to a higher amount. It is not always EVERY temp, sometimes other things can make them drop (being super cold, not enough sleep, being sick can affect temps up or down, etc). You can confirm ovulation has occurred when you have 3 temperatures that are above your “Cover Line”. A cover line is a line that you can draw (horizontally) that will be above MOST of your Pre-O temps, and your Post-O temps will (mostly) be above it. Fertility friend will do this automatically for you when it detects 3 days of temp shifts.

Now, because temps fluctuate, they suggest that you need 3 temps that are higher than your Pre-O temps, but generally the rule is that if the temp you record is higher than the previous 6 temps it can count as a “rise” (so it doesn’t have to be all of them). There isn’t a guaranteed rule that always works because we are different. The important thing to know is that if you leave the Fertility Friend settings to “Advanced” (the automatic setting) Then it will calculate the actual date for you. Just put in your temps.

As for checking CM: I check my CM internally. I cannot get enough to check externally. This may be TMI for some people so read with caution:

Spoiler

So To do that I make sure to wash my hands (you want clean hands), insert a finger inside (this lets you feel and check your cervix height and softness but this is much harder to learn so save that for later), and then you can look at your CM. I actually will insert 2 fingers up to my cervix and do what is called “Scooping” by making a scooping motion and pulling out. Then you can look better.

CM is usually dry (nothing), sticky, creamy (lotion look and feel), EW (very very stretchy, can be clear or opaque color) or watery.

Thank you so much!!! This helps a lot! I was totally confused. I very much appreciate all the extra tips too! Now I know I am to use this to check for ovd date and not necessarily to know before it actually happens. So I need to rely on opk and cm for before ovd tips?
As for cm, are there really times when u check and it's actually dry? I just can't imagine sticking my finger up there and having it be totally dry. Am I reading into everything too literally? It's hard bc i don't know what dry would mean.

 

[Xokittycatxo]

can someone give me the dummies version break down of how to bbt? i want to use the fertility friend app, but find it a bit confusing. likely b/c i have not spent enough time reading it. just glanced over it last night and a bit this morning. i just want simple instructions. its confusing b/c it says when there are three higher temps, the ovd day is calculated as the day before the first higher temp. but does that higher temp have to be higher than all the days prior to that day? cause i see some peoples charts and that higher temp is the same temp as some of the prior days. also, my cm is not a very clear source of evidence of ovd for me. can you all tell me how you check your cm? its a rare day where its actually on the toilet paper for me. i have heard people say to take mucinex and drink a lot of water. but its hard to drink a lot of water and hold my pee for four hours so that its concentrated enough to do a after 2pm opk test.

The nice thing about fertility friend is that you just input the temps and it will figure out ovulation for you.

In general, you start temping at the beginning of your cycle and that gives you a baseline of temps. Then after you ovulate, your temperature will rise. If your temp rises and stays up at least three days, that is how you know you have ovulated for sure and FF will give you crosshairs, which show you your baseline average temp and the day of ovulation.


That said, I have had cycles where my pre-ov temps are high, I have a dip, then my next temp is right around the same level of the pre-of temps, but the next two are definitely higher. FF will mark ovulation as the day the little dip happened in that case.

I would say at least two of the three temps should be higher than previous temperatures in order to confirm that you ovulated. If they are the same, then chances are you haven't ovulated yet because you want a clear rise in temperatures to confirm ovulation.

As for CM, I have yet to do any checking other than looking at the toilet paper, but since I take cinnamon, I get a lot of ewcm/watery cm, so I know when fertile time is upon me. Plus I do opks too. I know of other ladies who stick a finger up their bits to check cm, but it seems like too much work to me.

Okay so once I get my thermometer I just plot the temps and it will do it for me? I think it would be awesome to actually understand it but I don't seem to be able to. I look at other peoples charts and I see dips and temp rises before ovd. It's very confusing. I see how it's helpful bc it does the work on its own and I'll be able to tell when I ovd. But I want to also know other than using an opk, that I'm about to ovd. I want another tool to figure that out and I just don't see how on my own I can figure it out w bbt. The charts I see have lots of temp falls and rises before it marks the chart w the cross hairs.

Do u rely on this to figure out when to bd? Or do u mostly rely on your opk?

If you download fertility friend there is a guide and tutorial that is very informative. I used it and started understanding right away and I was totally lost on charting!

 

[Angel5000]

Star_e Basically, yes. Just plot the temps and FF wil ldo the work for you. The more time you spend doing it, the more you will start to understand. Especially if you do the lessons with FF. It takes time. The only way to tell if you are about to O is through OPKs and CM. The temps can't tell you that you are about to O. I have been doing it long enough I can often tell that I'm coming close to O because my temps start to take a pattern but it's never exactly the same so it is not a reliable method for telling when to BD.

There are lots of temps and falls before O. Eventually you start to see the pattern. It takes a few months of studying them to understand it on your own though. For now just let the app do the work for you.

As for CM - sometimes I am actually pretty close to "dry". It depends on the time of month. Typically I'm never completely 100% dry, but it means more like there isn't anything when I check. It might be a little moist (as the inside of your body will be) but there's not really any fluid. If you google search it there are pics that you can see, but only if that isn't too mcuh TMI for you. I did a LOT of good image searches to try to figure out the differences in CM.


AshNAmber - Oh I hope it's something! I can't see anything but I never can when it's light. There are apps to do invert or if you have an iPhone (5 or newer I think) you can triple click the home key and it will invert everything on your phone. Give it another day or two and maybe you'll get a better line.

 

[DBZ34]

Angel - Nice charting explanation.

I use cinnamon powder. I used to belong to a honey and cinnamon group here on BnB, but most of them got their BFPs, so the group disbanded. The ladies there used to mix a 1/2 tsp of cinnamon with a tsp of honey and just ate that with a spoon.

I'm not a honey fan, though it's supposed to have a really great effect on egg quality and fertility in general, so I just put 3/4 tsp of cinnamon in my tea in the morning. It's actually pretty tasty with a little bit of sugar mixed in too.

It's great for cm and I get a load of it. I usually start as soon as AF arrives and keep going until ovulation and I notice the increased cm pretty soon after AF is gone. It's nice because I don't have to mess about with Preseed anymore for extra slick.

 

[Angel5000]

DB - Thanks for the info! I had never heard about that with cinnamon! I'll have to try that!

 

[AshNAmber]

Angel - Nice charting explanation.

I use cinnamon powder. I used to belong to a honey and cinnamon group here on BnB, but most of them got their BFPs, so the group disbanded. The ladies there used to mix a 1/2 tsp of cinnamon with a tsp of honey and just ate that with a spoon.

I'm not a honey fan, though it's supposed to have a really great effect on egg quality and fertility in general, so I just put 3/4 tsp of cinnamon in my tea in the morning. It's actually pretty tasty with a little bit of sugar mixed in too.

It's great for cm and I get a load of it. I usually start as soon as AF arrives and keep going until ovulation and I notice the increased cm pretty soon after AF is gone. It's nice because I don't have to mess about with Preseed anymore for extra slick.

I've never heard of this.. Totally going to try it next cycle seeing how my temp dropped again today so I'm guessing this month I'm out 8DPO my temps should be raising not doing this up and down stuff

 

[DBZ34]

Angel - Nice charting explanation.

I use cinnamon powder. I used to belong to a honey and cinnamon group here on BnB, but most of them got their BFPs, so the group disbanded. The ladies there used to mix a 1/2 tsp of cinnamon with a tsp of honey and just ate that with a spoon.

I'm not a honey fan, though it's supposed to have a really great effect on egg quality and fertility in general, so I just put 3/4 tsp of cinnamon in my tea in the morning. It's actually pretty tasty with a little bit of sugar mixed in too.

It's great for cm and I get a load of it. I usually start as soon as AF arrives and keep going until ovulation and I notice the increased cm pretty soon after AF is gone. It's nice because I don't have to mess about with Preseed anymore for extra slick.

I've never heard of this.. Totally going to try it next cycle seeing how my temp dropped again today so I'm guessing this month I'm out 8DPO my temps should be raising not doing this up and down stuff

8DPO is still early! Implantation is possibly still happening. A little fluctuation is fine. You just want the overall pattern to be a rise and above your pre-ov temps. Do you know how long your LP usually is?

To make myself feel better when my chart doesn't look the way I want it to, I sometimes compare my charts to others that people have posted to the site. If you compare post-ov temps, you might come across a few BFP charts with the same pattern.

 

[DBZ34]

Thank you so much!!! This helps a lot! I was totally confused. I very much appreciate all the extra tips too! Now I know I am to use this to check for ovd date and not necessarily to know before it actually happens. So I need to rely on opk and cm for before ovd tips?
As for cm, are there really times when u check and it's actually dry? I just can't imagine sticking my finger up there and having it be totally dry. Am I reading into everything too literally? It's hard bc i don't know what dry would mean.

Yes, you'd want to rely on opks and CM pre-ov. Those are good ways to predict when ov should happen. Temping will confirm that you have actually ovulated.

After a certain point (which I hope you won't reach because you'll have already gotten your BFP), you can figure out when you're going to ovulate based on temps. I only figured it out after months and months of charting. I get a little dip in temps right before ovulation, so I usually know the day I'm going to ovulate. Like Angel said, it's about learning your body's patterns. I used to solely rely on temps for years and I didn't use opks at all, so I really paid attention to my temps and the patterns pre and post ovulation.

 

[AshNAmber]

Angel - Nice charting explanation.

I use cinnamon powder. I used to belong to a honey and cinnamon group here on BnB, but most of them got their BFPs, so the group disbanded. The ladies there used to mix a 1/2 tsp of cinnamon with a tsp of honey and just ate that with a spoon.

I'm not a honey fan, though it's supposed to have a really great effect on egg quality and fertility in general, so I just put 3/4 tsp of cinnamon in my tea in the morning. It's actually pretty tasty with a little bit of sugar mixed in too.

It's great for cm and I get a load of it. I usually start as soon as AF arrives and keep going until ovulation and I notice the increased cm pretty soon after AF is gone. It's nice because I don't have to mess about with Preseed anymore for extra slick.

I've never heard of this.. Totally going to try it next cycle seeing how my temp dropped again today so I'm guessing this month I'm out 8DPO my temps should be raising not doing this up and down stuff

8DPO is still early! Implantation is possibly still happening. A little fluctuation is fine. You just want the overall pattern to be a rise and above your pre-ov temps. Do you know how long your LP usually is?

To make myself feel better when my chart doesn't look the way I want it to, I sometimes compare my charts to others that people have posted to the site. If you compare post-ov temps, you might come across a few BFP charts with the same pattern.

This cycle is just so screwy I may have to do that to make myself feel better.. Thank you for the encouragement

One thing for sure this cycle is definitely different from my last few.. I'm CD27 usually by now I would start spotting and be on like 13DPO and expecting AF tomorrow or the following day also all the "symptoms" I'v had last 2 cycles are no where around this cycle no the only thing i have going on is some mild crampy feeling other than that usually my boobs are tender and hurt but yeah nothing.. This is so odd this cycles looks like its going to be 33 days instead of my normal 28-30

 

[Gagrlinpitt]

Good afternoon ladies.. How's everyone doing? I'm STILL waiting on AF after my mirena removal. It's been 11 days.. Hopefully it will come soon.

 

[star_e]

Thank you so much!!! This helps a lot! I was totally confused. I very much appreciate all the extra tips too! Now I know I am to use this to check for ovd date and not necessarily to know before it actually happens. So I need to rely on opk and cm for before ovd tips?
As for cm, are there really times when u check and it's actually dry? I just can't imagine sticking my finger up there and having it be totally dry. Am I reading into everything too literally? It's hard bc i don't know what dry would mean.

Yes, you'd want to rely on opks and CM pre-ov. Those are good ways to predict when ov should happen. Temping will confirm that you have actually ovulated.

After a certain point (which I hope you won't reach because you'll have already gotten your BFP), you can figure out when you're going to ovulate based on temps. I only figured it out after months and months of charting. I get a little dip in temps right before ovulation, so I usually know the day I'm going to ovulate. Like Angel said, it's about learning your body's patterns. I used to solely rely on temps for years and I didn't use opks at all, so I really paid attention to my temps and the patterns pre and post ovulation.

i see these things just take time. its not really that i am not understanding it. it just takes time to get enough data to be able to detect patterns. in the beginning it just is confusing b/c i dont have anything to compare it to. i am trying to learn about so many things right now and sometimes its info overload for me. the cm thing is very confusing to me. i wish just one little thing was simple.

 

[star_e]

Good afternoon ladies.. How's everyone doing? I'm STILL waiting on AF after my mirena removal. It's been 11 days.. Hopefully it will come soon.

yesterday i got another positive opk. i have had positives for about a week. i have read that people with pcos often get positives and i have pcos. i have no clue if i have ovd. im going to get my bloods checked today. only time will tell.

 

[Angel5000]

AshNAmber - You are still early, your temps fluctuating may not mean anything at this point. The "Charts like mine" section of FF always makes me feel better.


Gagrlinpitt - Did you get an approximation of when to expect AF after mirena removal? I don't know much about mirena. I know that with the pill I had an AF immediately (withdrawal bleed) and then it was about 6 weeks before I had another one.

Star - are your OPKs fully positive? As in, are you making sure that your test line is as dark or darker than the control line?
I have heard that PCOS can affect the OPKs but there are lots of ladies on here with PCOS that still use OPKs I think.

 

[AshNAmber]

Good afternoon ladies.. How's everyone doing? I'm STILL waiting on AF after my mirena removal. It's been 11 days.. Hopefully it will come soon.

yesterday i got another positive opk. i have had positives for about a week. i have read that people with pcos often get positives and i have pcos. i have no clue if i have ovd. im going to get my bloods checked today. only time will tell.

Hey Star have you tried to use Vitex to help regulate you since you have PCOS? I've read numerous of reviews and heard that it works wonders.

 

[Angel5000]

I got my blinky face today!

Of course this is not a great day for that, we've got the court stuff this afternoon and then a 3 hour drive home. :/

But hoping to BD tonight if it isn't too late or too bad at court, but then will try to BD daily until the solid smiley comes in.