Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Charting

Recently I wrote about a book I'm reading called Taking Charge of Your Fertility (TCOYF) . I have been reading chapters as I have time but have started charting my temperatures and symptoms to gain a better understanding of my cycles. Alot of people, think this would be alot harder than remembering to take my pill. For me it's not. I set my alarm for 6:30 am every morning, stick the thermometer in my mouth, go back to sleep till it beebs at me and record my temp on a piece of paper that I keep right next to the bed. Then when I get up for the day, I record the temperature on Fertilityfriend.com.

From reading TCOYF, I have learned that by charting every month, your doctor will be able to rule out many infertility tests if there is problems conceiving. For example, if your Luteral Phase (the length of time from Ovulation to your period) is less than 10 days you may have a hormone problem. Your doctor would usually put you through a test to test this. By bringing your doctor your charts they will be able to tell right off that you have a hormone problem. How cool is that? It's crazy that we take these things for granted every day but our bodies are well oiled machines.

I've uploaded a picture of my chart so far. Here you can see I started taking my temperature on August 12 which was day 17 of my cycle. The point where the dotted lines meet is ovulation day. From there my temperature will probably remain high for about 10 days past ovulation (dpo). At that point there will be a dip which means Aunt Flo (AF) is coming. This dip should start to head down toward the dotted line. BUT if my temp stays up for more than 14 days this usually means it's time to start taking a Home Pregnancy Test (HPT).





You will notice that on the bottom of the chart there are symptoms, these are things that I have been feeling and trying to keep track of. The reason you do this is so if one month things are off, you can look back at your other charts.

Note: BD=Baby Dance (intercourse)
CM=Cervical Mucous

If you want to stalk my chart (Mom) here it is: http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/294e9b

Do you use natural birth control? What is your experiance with it?



3 comments:

Jen J. said...

Good job on starting to chart - now that I do it, I know I will never take hormonal BC ever again. I think charting can be a very reliable method of BC so kudos to you for starting to do it before you even start TTC!

Kim3278 said...

So are you all trying? I saw your baby names??? Cute. I can't wait to have another!!!! How is the charting going? I never used it for BC or for trying but curious on how it works out for some people!! Best of luck!

The Domestic Princess said...

Thank you! No, we're not trying. I'm ready, Chris still needs to warm up to the idea=) According to the books I read, its very reliable BC. There's a book called: Taking Charge of Your Fertility if your intersted in readying about it.