School me please

daisies05

I've held out on the whole charting and temping thing. But two m/c later, and crazy cycles every since, I just feel like I don't know what to expect anymore.  After reading all the posts about temping, I'm thinking it's time to give it a try....but where do I begin? 

damabo80

Buy a thermometer. You can get a "BBT" one at Target for about $10. It will go down to the 100th of a degree. I just use one I got at the grocery store ($4) and it goes to a 10th of a degree.

Start an account on fertility friend (link in my siggy). I wouldn't recommend a VIP (paid) membership inititally. Instead, test it out for a month or two, and then think about the VIP. Personally, I don't find the VIP membership to be worth it, but other girls like it.

Start temping when you get up in the morning. It's tough to remember the first month. I put my BBT on top of my phone (which I use as an alarm clock). It's also handy because ebfore I got to a point where I could remember the temps, I could note the temps on my phone.

When I get to work, the first thing I do is enter in my temp into FF.

Good luck! It's really nice being able to look back and see exactly when you Oed each month and for keeping track of all the things your body does so you can start recognizing patterns.

Aubs13

Read the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility.  If you want to start before reading the book, go to www.fertilityfriend.com and take their "courses".  Basically, you need a BBT (not a regular thermometer) and a set time to wake up every morning.  Everything is explained in the book and on the website.

Good luck.

ravenorchid

I'd also add that I've found doing the OPKs helpful. For the first month, I'd start testing on CD10. Once you get a positive test, you should be ovulating in the next 24-32 hours (I think tests may vary on the exact number of hours). Then your temperature should show a sustained temp spike after ovulation - which will be easy to see using FF.

With regards to temperature taking, I take mine as soon as my alarm goes off - before even sitting up (I keep the thermometer next to my bed). It's important to take your temp the same time everyday, so I keep my alarm set on weekends. I sometimes wake up in the night and if there's a chance I might not get back to bed, I do take my temp then. If I end up falling back to sleep, I use the temp from my normal wake up time.

 

daisies05

Thanks for the responses! I'll check out the fertility friend site too.