Dumb Question: How do you chart?

I have no idea.. I was told that I should do this even if I'm not TTC. Is this true?

THis is what I found on one site

Boost Your Baby-Making Chances: Chart Your Basal Body Temperature and Cervical Mucus
Looking for a cheap, low-tech way to pinpoint your fertile time? Experts say the best way to detect ovulation is to combine a daily reading of your basal body temperature (your temperature when you first wake up in the morning) with monitoring the texture of your cervical mucus. Chart your cycle for a few months so you can recognize your pattern and have a better chance of predicting your most fertile days.

How to do it: Start keeping track of your temperature on the first day of your period using a basal body thermometer, which shows minute changes in your temperature. A digital thermometer can also work, although it's not as accurate. Take your basal body temperature, and plot it on the chart. Then go to the bathroom and check your cervical mucus. Using your fingers or toilet paper, note its consistency. You may also want to monitor its texture throughout the day each time you go to the bathroom. Most women will see a spike in their temperature, signaling that they've ovulated, and notice that their mucus looks and feels like raw egg white at around the same time. When the two coincide, it's baby-making time.

Here is a chart


If you want to chart here is a link to print one to do it
Charting

What is basal body temperature?
Basal body temperature (BBT) is your temperature when you first wake up in the morning. Before you even get out of bed to brush your teeth or start your day, pop a basal thermometer (available at drugstores) into your mouth. (It's important to try to wake up and take this reading at about the same time each morning.) This thermometer shows the minute incremental degree changes that a regular one can't. Most basal thermometers come with a temperature plotting chart. (For instructions on how to fill one in and a sample you can download, click here.) Make some extra copies of the chart in case it takes you a few months to get pregnant.

Your BBT probably ranges from 97.2 to about 97.7 degrees before ovulation. During the two or three days after you ovulate, hormonal changes have caused a rise in your BBT of between 0.5 and 1.6 degrees, which lasts at least until your next period. You'll probably notice your temperature spiking on other days, but unless it stays that way, you probably haven't yet ovulated. If you become pregnant, your temperature will stay elevated throughout your pregnancy.

It's helpful to chart your temperature for a few months so you can see whether there's a pattern to your cycle. If you're sick or fail to take your temperature immediately upon awakening, any pattern you find may be inaccurate.



What is cervical mucus?
There are many different types of ******l discharge, one of which is cervical mucus. The type of mucus your body produces provides clues to your fertility. You can check your cervical mucus using either your fingers or toilet paper. On days when you're not fertile, the mucus from your cervix is either light or sticky (about the same texture as sticky rice). During the few days leading up to ovulation, when you're most fertile, you'll have more discharge — clear and slippery with the consistency of raw egg white. You are most fertile on the last day you notice cervical mucus of this kind. It usually happens either the day before, or the day of, ovulation. The change in volume and texture of your cervical mucus is due to the increase in estrogen levels that accompanies ovulation.

Which one should I chart?
Both, say many fertility experts. A combined approach will give you the clearest picture of your cycle, so you can more accurately predict ovulation.

BBT charting: How reliable are the results?

I have just started to chart my temperatures. With so many factors affecting a person's temperature, how can this method be reliable?




Toni Weschler

Toni Weschler is the author of the popular book 'Taking Charge of Your Fertility.




I really recommend charting the other two fertility signs (cervical fluid and cervical position). We are not all Barbie dolls. There are factors that can affect temperatures, but the trick is to learn how to see the forest through the trees and identify a pattern of lows and highs before and after ovulation, rather than focusing on any one particular temperature.

This is where the coverline is so critical. To draw the coverline, identify the first time your temperature rises at least 2/10ths higher than the highest of the last six days. Then draw the coverline a tenth of a degree above the highest. In a typical cycle, your temperature will remain above the coverline for about 12 to 16 days before you get your period. Whenever you have a temperature that seems out of line, you may be able to apply the rule of thumb, which says that you can choose to cover the outlying temperature with your thumb when you are drawing your coverline. Doing so will allow you to connect the lines without including the outlying temperature, making it easier for you to see the big picture.

Basal body temperature basics: Answers to your most-asked questions

What is basal body temperature? Basal body temperature (BBT) is the temperature of your body at rest.

Why would you measure your BBT? BBT charting is a useful tool for couples trying to conceive because of its ability to confirm ovulation. BBT charting also helps the couple understand more fully the physiological processes surrounding ovulation. Not all women ovulate 14 days before their next period. In fact, for many women, the time between ovulation and their period (called the luteal phase) is shorter. A woman needs to have at least 10 days in this phase in order to allow enough time for the fertilized egg to reach the uterus and implant. If it is less, she will need to resolve the short luteal phase if she desires to maintain a pregnancy.

Is BBT charting enough? No. Charting temperatures will only tell you when ovulation has already occurred. Since an egg can only live about 12 to 24 hours, by the time your temperatures rise a day or two after ovulation, the egg will already be gone. So when charting your fertility signs in order to time intercourse, it is most useful to chart your cervical fluid to determine when you are in your most fertile phase.


How do you take your BBT? Your BBT is taken orally with a special BBT thermometer. This type of thermometer is graduated in easy-to-read one-tenth degree increments. Your temperature must be taken before any activity, first thing in the morning, after at least three hours of consecutive sleep. The thermometer must be shaken down the night before, because even this activity can raise your temperature -- and you are looking for as little as two-tenths of a degree of difference. Be sure to read the instructions that come with the thermometer. They are usually very complete.

What BBT changes can you expect during your cycle? Your BBT is lower during the first two weeks of the menstrual cycle, prior to ovulation. The presence of the hormone estrogen keeps the BBT low. Typically it will range from 97.0 to 97.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Immediately following ovulation, progesterone 'turns up the heat' a bit, and there is typically a rise of at least 0.4 to 0.6 degrees until the time of your next menstrual period. This temperature rise will let you know that ovulation has occurred.

How can you chart your BBT? Using either a notebook or graph paper, start recording on day one of your menstrual cycle -- the first day of your period. For each day, record your temperature, any reason for a variation in temperature (if applicable), if you made love that day, and if you were menstruating. This charting will not only be invaluable to you but will provide your health care provider with important information in helping you achieve your fertility goals -- of achieving or avoiding pregnancy.

What factors can affect your BBT? Your temperature can be affected if you didn't get a good night's sleep, if you didn't have at least three hours of consecutive sleep after making love, if you have a fever or if you had an alcholic drink the night before.

How reliable are the results? The Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) is highly effective in achieving and preventing a pregnancy when used correctly. The more data you have, the more accurate your method will be. It is really best to chart your other two fertility signs, cervical fluid and cervical position, as well as chart your temperature. There are factors that can affect temperatures, but the trick is to learn how to see the forest through the trees and identify a pattern of lows and highs before and after ovulation, rather than focusing on any one particular temperature.

Can you detect pregnancy by BBT changes?Yes. If your BBT remains elevated even past the time that your menstrual period is due, it could be a very early indicator of pregnancy. When you conceive, the egg is fertilized in the fallopian tube, after which it takes about a week to travel to the uterus, where it will implant. It is at this time that your body is finally able to detect that you are pregnant. When hCG is released, women often experience a third temperature rise, not as dramatic as the first, but can usually be seen anywhere from about a week to 12 days after the first temperature rise.

Can falling BBT predict a miscarriage? Waking temperatures are very useful if you continue to take them during the first trimester. Most miscarriages occur during this time and waking temperatures typically start dropping below the coverline as a warning of an impending miscarriage. You can usually tell that you have had a miscarriage, even if your pregnancy was never confirmed by a pregnancy test. You may have had 18 or more high temperatures, followed by what appears to be either a normal or heavier period.

How many women easily become pregnant?

My partner and I have been trying to conceive for one year. I'm starting to get jealous of my friends who seem to conceive so easily. What percentage of women get pregnant without the fuss of tracking cycles, ovulation, body temperature, intercourse and cervical fluid.




Toni Weschler

Toni Weschler is the author of the popular book 'Taking Charge of Your Fertility.




In any given cycle, women have about a 10 to 20 percent chance of conceiving, with age playing a large part in which side of the continuum you fall. But these stats are based on the average woman who does not chart.

Most women have heard doctors suggest that a couple needn't see a doctor until they have had unprotected intercourse for a full year. I personally believe that is inappropriate advise for several reasons: Women nowadays are often older when they start trying to conceive, and waiting a full year wastes valuable time at a point in their reproductive lives when they cannot afford to do so. Also, waiting a full year produces undo stress every month. And finally, it is totally unnecessary to try haphazardly to get pregnant, when you can so easily pinpoint when you are most fertile every cycle.

I believe the first step a couple should take when trying to conceive is to learn how to chart the woman's cycle. Then, if they don't get pregnant within about four months of timing sex perfectly, they would be nearly a year ahead of the game in terms of being able to identify potential problems in their cycle.

You didn't mention whether or not you chart, yourself, but if not, you will maximize your chances of conceiving if you observe your two primary fertility signs: waking temperature and cervical fluid. For all you know, the many friends who conceived so easily were charting their cycles!

Charting your cycle: How it can help you conceive

My cycles are 33 to 36 days apart. I read that ovulation happens approximately 14 days prior to the period's arrival. I must ovulate around day 19 to 22. How will charting my cycle help me conceive?




Toni Weschler

Toni Weschler is the author of the popular book 'Taking Charge of Your Fertility.




You are partially correct in assuming that you probably ovulate later in your cycle than the mythical Day 14, but, there are numerous reasons to still chart your cycles:

1) Not all women ovulate 14 days before their next period. In fact, for many women, the time between ovulation and their period (called the luteal phase) is shorter. A woman needs to have at least 10 days in this phase in order to allow enough time for the fertilized egg to reach the uterus and implant. If it is less, she will need to resolve the short luteal phase if she desires to maintain a pregnancy. Practically speaking, then, you personally may not ovulate until, for example, Day 25 and not only miss your most fertile time, but not identify a very important problem with your cycle, a potentially short luteal phase.

2) Even if you did ovulate exactly when you thought you did, it is imperative that your cervical fluid is the right consistency to allow sperm to swim through your cervix. You should learn how to identify if you are producing fertile quality cervical fluid as you approach ovulation. If your cervical fluid isn’t fertile enough, it doesn’t matter if you even are ovulating 14 days before your next period and you time intercourse perfectly. The sperm won’t be able to swim through your cervix to fertilize the egg if your cervical fluid isn’t fertile.

3) Finally, most women’s cycles are not so predicable that they can assume when they will ovulate based on past cycles. Occasionally, women ovulate much earlier or later than they are used to. You would then miss that fertile time if you weren’t charting.

I read in a few places that charting will not be recommended as often anymore.

Your temp can rise from illness, a cold etc. Also your tem can rise AFTER you have already ovulated. But hey it does work for some.


I also found this from a doctor:

For those of you who may have stumbled upon the older version of Taking Charge Of Your Fertility and read the introduction I do want to assure you that the author of the book was wrong in telling her readers that the Rhythm Method doesn’t work and its pretty much a bunch of bull. Keep in mind that this woman does not have any type of medical degree but yet found this information at a Dr.’s office and she has not tried the method herself. I want to reassure you that the method does work, 90% of the women I have recommended the method to in the past few years have had success with the method and I myself tried it for only a month before becoming pregnant.:-)

WOW Shamma! You are the QUEEN! Thank you!!!

*baby dust* for you

My mom used to use the chart to AVOID pregnancy. She ended up having seven children and only one of us was planned

So if it isn't recommended anymore, as Jennbaby said, then I wouldn't be surprised.

LOL Becky!!!

7 kids and only one was planned... I'd say your mom is the poster model for NOT charting!