COULD SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME WITH CHARTIN BBT..

[afy]

I bought Basal body themotere from walgreens for a while now and seem to have lost the instructions.. do any of the BBT experts know how i should start using it..

[Adia]

I don't completely understand the question.

Are you confused at how to use the thermometer itself or how to chart BBT?

If you want to chart BBT you need to take your temp while you are still in bed at the same time every day after your longest stretch of sleep. When you plot those temps on a chart you can see how long your luteal phase is, when your estrogen rises, when you ovulate, etc. Hope that helps.

[afy]

Sorry it's actually taking the temp.

[atomic sagebrush]

How to Take Your Basal Body Temperature - iVillage (http://www.ivillage.com/how-take-your-basal-body-temperature/6-n-145385)

Is it digital or mercury?

If digital, you'll have to keep it under your tongue (or in the VJ) till it beeps. If mercury, keep under your tongue or in VJ for 3 minutes.

[afy]

Thanks AS that's what I needed to know.. I wasn't sure if I need to take it out before it after the beeping.. And I always get up like 1-2times In the night to pee.. Don't we need to be having certain amount of hours asleep?! I'm finding it hard keeping up taking temp because of me constantly waking up !

Thank you Adia that's what my concern is because I'm constantly gettin up..at night time

[luvalittleman]

Hi Afy.
I've been charting for two months now. I keep the thermometer next to my bed and as soon as I am awake and know I am going to get up I pop it in my mouth and wait till it beeps. Once I get up, I go straight out and log on to FF and put my temp readings in.
While I might sometimes get up to pee at 4am, I always make it a habit to take my temp when I wake up to start my day (sadly that's always 5am...sigh...).
Don't worry Afy, you can't mess it up.
Your temp will fluctuate a little in the first two weeks. What you should see is 2 weeks of lower temps. The day before you ovulate you will see a sharp drop in temp (ideally - but not always) and then you will hopefully see 2 weeks of slighlty higher temps.
You still have a couple of months to practice. Just make sure you do it each day.

[atomic sagebrush]

Well, in an ideal world we'd have 3-6 hours of sleep before taking our temp, but in the real world, just take it at the same time every day and FX that a pattern will develop. If you always get up 2 times to pee, that's actualy not that bad. It's if one night you sleep straight thru, the next night you get up 8 times, then you get up 3 hours late the next day - you want the pattern, and in order to see the pattern, the rest of the stuff has to be the same, if that makes sense.

[afy]

thank you so much ladies.. so im guessing im best off taking my Temp whenever i get up for a pee? its been few days now i always seem to wake up 4ish but does it matter if were slightly up or down with timing when taking the tests?

Luvalittleman im really keen on charting my BBT so I can have more of an insight of my fertility.. I do have FF account but havent yet charted down temperature, my attempt will hopefully be in April if all goes well so i have some time..

[luvalittleman]

Here's my chart for last month Afy if that helps.
http://www.fertilityfriend.com/ttc/index.php?d=2012-11-10
I generally tested between 4am and 6am and always went back later in the morning to add my CM readings. You can see I didn't add a temp in on day 18 of my cycle (the girls played with my thermometer and I couldn't find it when I woke up).
Hope this helps.

[Momofboys]

Just want to add that keeping a note pad next to your bed is a good idea to. That way you don't have to get right on ff and put in the temp, you can do it later just make sure you set a default time or adjust the time to when you took the temp ;) FF also has a temp adjuster if you take your temp a couple hours later then normal (I do this sometimes on the weekends lol) it will adjust your temp for you.

[LacePrincess]

Take your temp at the same time in the morning. It's affected far more by time of day than by interruptions in your sleep. If you take the temp more than 30 min outside your usual time you need to note that and/or discard it if it's WAY out of trend. If you need to get up to pee, try and do it in the dark as much as possible (maybe get a nightlight), it'll disturb your temp less. I pee like a million times a night and it doesn't seem to skew my charts too much as long as I do it quick and don't turn on the full bathroom light.

Don't worry if your first few charts are a mess, it takes a bit to get the hang of it! I temp vaginally, it's not for everyone but I find it gives me a much steadier result than orally.

Do join FertilityFriend, it's free and they have a huge FAQ on how to chart properly. The notebook beside the bed is a good idea, there are also bbt thermometers that will save your temp for you so you don't have to remember it. I highly recommend the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler, it's the bible of all things charting.

GL!

[afy]

Im SOO bad with the temp taking i wake up different times everyday .. DD is teething so she wakes me up once or twice in the night.. so Now im thinking to put an alarm on everyday same time so i can temp.. but then i will sometimes get woken by DD like an hour or 2 before im expected to take my Temp.. does it really matter if im woken up i dont get out of bed or anything i just try tap her back to sleep lol.. this is one thing im finding hard keeping up.. im trying to chart my BBT on FF so i can familiarise with my cycle!

[Cinss]

I would set the alarm, when it goes off pop your thermometer in and wait for the reading then get up, and dont worry if you have been woken up previously that night, see how your temps look and if there are huge variences each time we may need to come up with another way.

[afy]

yaaay i woke up with the alarm so far.. AF is here and my temps have been reading 97.45 yesterday and today 96.63??? i have no idea what that means for me lol

[vanasse2002]

That's exactly what you want to see. You're temp always drops when AF comes. It should stay relatively low like it was today until O. You may see a drop the day before O...not everyone sees this drop, but it is a clue that you are about to O. The day after you O, your temps will rise again and stay up until the next AF arrives...if your temp does not drop again when expected for AF, that is a clue that your are PG. When you do become PG, your temp will rise again around the time of AF instead of dropping. It will stay high throughout pregnancy. Temps are all about hormone levels...kind of like when women go through menopause they get hot flashes...hormones :)
good luck to you and I also agree that Taking Charge of your Fertility is an excellent book...we have used that method for over 10 years and have both prevented and conceived our two children without any other form of birth control...first attempts on both!

[afy]

Thank you vannase so Usually what does our temp range to and from when we see it drop right before we ovulate.. And soon as we get the first sign of temp going up O has already taken place is this right? I'm on FF but just started properly taking temps and recording so hopefully I shall see this month how it goes .. Yes I read about temp rising when we fall PG I still clearly remember mysel how hot and stuffy I would feel !

[Cinss]

afy on the left hand side of FF there is a "charting course" and "games" you can go into, its really helpful when learning about charting, if you have time its fun too :)

[vanasse2002]

I didn't have much luck when I used FF back in the day, I could never get it to tell me that O had taken place, eventhough it clearly had.
Each person is different in terms of how much their temps range throughout a cycle. It looks like your range may be as much a 1 degree which is a nice shift to make it easier for you to tell.
Again, not everyone gets the dip just before O, but it is something to look for. As you are charting this month, pay attention to how much your temp changes from day to day. If it is pretty consistent within .1 each day and then you have a day where it is more than .1, that's most likely the drop.
The day after O, you will see the rise. It could be gradual though where it goes up for a few days and then remains steady.
Don't forget that temping isn't the only signs to look for. If you are having CM, that is another great indicator of O approaching or having past.

[atomic sagebrush]

It matters for some people but not for others, and the only way you know if it matters for you is by charting!

[atomic sagebrush]

Thank you vannase so Usually what does our temp range to and from when we see it drop right before we ovulate.. And soon as we get the first sign of temp going up O has already taken place is this right? I'm on FF but just started properly taking temps and recording so hopefully I shall see this month how it goes .. Yes I read about temp rising when we fall PG I still clearly remember mysel how hot and stuffy I would feel !
People have temps all over the map, but what matters is taht your temp is lower and then it stays higher. That's what counts and not the range you're in.

[afy]

Thanks ladies yes I'm aare of some of the possible O signs last month I was doin opks and I got a smiley right at the time where I was experiencing cramping on the left side ovary and I then I had some EWCM although it wasn't alot but it was clear just like egg white and I knew I was close to ovulating but I want to be able to pick up when ovulation has gone which the temp taking picks up.. I've started my CBFM this month too right now I'm on cycle day 6.. Almost approaching 2months since being on the diet

[atomic sagebrush]

CD 6 - O should be coming soon!! Good luck afy :fx: