Charting-to-Avoid? Come on in!

[angelraven]

Tiffany: Nope, I haven't done anything that should affect my temps. Same blankets, same jammies, same temp in the house, same time.

Kamaji:Those are pre-O temps. Post O temps are usually 98.0-98.5 or so. I think I will test tomorrow and in two weeks if nothing has happened. Thanks.

[honeygirl]

Just wanted to check in. Nothing exciting or confusing to report (yet). I'm on CD 15. My last cycle was 44 days with 6 days of spotting and then a 7 day period. I read more in TCOYF about bleeding and basically learned that it is either normal or something is wrong. ;) I had already guessed that. But seriously, time will tell, this is only my 3rd cycle charting afterall.

Welcome new charters. :)

[tlew12778]

So... I am taking Fertility Friend this month. I don't remember exactly when I started it (sometime within the first week I think) but I have had SO MUCH watery CM this month it's driving me nuts. I swear, I feel like I'm incontinent most days :rolleyes:. The bottle says it takes 3 months before you will notice an effect on your cycles, so we'll see... I think I may have o'ed y-day as I've got a normal avg. CL temp today, so we'll see what the next 2 days brings. I kind of hope the watery CM goes away with O, although I have no idea how these herbs/vitamins affect that.

[chinadoll]

Chinadoll & dana92504, it is good to know that I'm not the only one who wakes up multiple times during the night. :) Do you just pick a time (say 6:00 AM) every day that you temp, regardless of when you last got out of bed?
I try to take my temp between 5:30 and 6:00 everyday. I usually wake up for the day around then. I've found that my getting up in the night (usually I get up to pee and then go back to bed) doesn't affect my temps. Sometimes I even get up for an hour or two and go back to bed -- as long as I sleep for a few hours after that my temps are the same.

I like using Ovusoft because it will automatically "adjust" your temps if they are not at exactly the same time every day. It may take a bit to see how your temps go up, but mine go up approximately 0.1 degree every half hour. Ovusoft will adjust a 98.0 temp @ 5:30 to be 98.1 (@ 6:00, my default time). When it does this it adds a note to the "notes" section so if your chart needs to be adjusted later you can see the original temp and time. It's a big help for me! As in anything, you have to take the adjustments with a grain of salt because they might not always be accurate -- but it is much easier to interpret my chart than if I took temps that varied by an hour or more in the morning.

[chinadoll]

so girls....do you think I really O'd or not? I was wondering if this might be an annov. cycle, but now there are indications that I might have O'd. CM is dry, I've had three slightly higher temps, but it's not a strong thermal shift. Also, day 27 for O day would be much later than usual for me (normally my cycles are 28-31, max).

possible causes?
stress -- late O?
new medication I'm on this month (Ritalin) for my narcolepsy
first snow of the year in the last two days -- warmer in bed?

I'm not sure about this. We are going away for the weekend and I am going to do my best to temp, but we'll be sleeping on the floor at a friend's apartment so I'm not sure if that will happen or not.

[Clattercote]

angelraven - It's definitely possible to O well before you usually do - sometimes the odd cycle just gets in there. I usually O around CD 17-18, but had one cycle in July when I O'd at CD 8-9. V. short cycle there and it was quite a surprise to me! Which is just to say, it is possible that you O'd at the end of Oct and given your higher more post O temps, I would probably consider possible/probable pg. It's also possible there are other things going on with your cycle this month - the lack of CM is a bit suspicious, for instance - it might indicate something else going on. Higher than normal temps do not necessarily indicate pg; could indicate illness or something else.

Chinadoll - I think you're thinking rightly - there's not an extremely noticeable shift, but you did notice CM dry up, so that counts for something. If you keep noticing no CM, here's how I'd interpret the temps: shave CD 22 to 97.8 and set the LTL at 97.8 and the HTL at 98.2 (or the CL at 97.9). This would mean that by Art of NFP rules you have a strong thermal shift and you could use Rule R, so that UDD is safe by evening of CD 31. If you want to go more conservative, then wait till you see another 98.2 (or higher) temp, plus dry up. UDD is safe for the evening of CD 31 as well, by TCOYF rules. The medication changes are the first thing I'd pin for your late O this month. As I mentioned above I usually O around CD 17-18, but my latest O has been CD 29 - so go figure.

Which is just to reiterate that you can't depend on your body Oing on a particular day - (to quote Alastor Moody from HP: "Constant vigilance!" I'm so glad the HP movie is out tonight, in a completely off-topic way!) What you can depend on from your body, though, is that it's telling you something about how it's doing when it Os early or late - that there is stress, that you've travelled too much, that you've been sick, etc. Bodies are very sensitive.

[kemaji]

Well ladies, it seems we've reached 1000 posts so I will put together a new thread this morning. I will be back with a link shortly.

[kemaji]

Charting-to-Avoid Volume 2 (http://www.constantchatter.com/showthread.php?p=341763&posted=1#post341763) is now open!

[TheMarieke]

Hello!! New Member here!

Someone referred me to this thread from another board when I posted a question about FAM and I am SO GLAD!! I don't know anyone else who regularly uses FAM to TTA (although I do know a few who use it to TTC and have used it temporarily to TTA, though they wouldn't really care if they got pregnant, so it's not quite the same).

Here's some background on my charting:

FH and I are waiting till we're married to DTD, so I'm very familiar with my CM without the effects of SR. Since I haven't had to worry about actually TTAing, I've TAB from charting for a full cycle and for parts of cycles previously.

My cycles are generally short (average 25 days, shortest 24, highest 27-once), and AF usually lasts about 5-6 days with a day of spotting, so I think that's why I have a "sticky BIP". Over the next few cycles, I want to get back into checking my CM and CP internally. I have mainly been temping and noting CM "as I see it" on my undies or TP. Also, I temp vaginally since I have allergies and am a mouth-breather.

I use FF as a guide/tool for charting since it's free and I can use it at home or enter in my info at work (I usually am rushing out the door and don't note my temps till I get to the office :rolleyes: )

I just had my annual OBGYN visit today and I have to say I'm a little disappointed that my Dr. didn't hear me out a little more in regards to my charts and FAM. I was hoping he might take a look at my charts, but even though he was really good about answering my questions about everything else, I didn't feel he didn't really listen to me very well when I asked him for advice about FAM/NFP.

He told me that from looking at one of my charts, it's obvious that I'm ovulating, but it's not clear when. I think my charts are pretty clear (unless I don't note everything or don't take my temp) and my cycle is very regular, so using FAM works well. He also said that the "infertile phase" I listed is longer than necessary because "sperm live a couple days". It is my understanding that sperm can live up to 5-7 days in fertile CM! I have my fertile phase starting 3 days after AF arrives and ending according to FAM rules. I figure better safe than sorry!

He wasn't against our choice and didn't try to get me to use the Pill, but I just left with a wierd feeling. Anyone else have an experience like that? I just don't know what to think...

Thanks!!

Here's my info:

TheMarieke
Real name: Marieke (22)
FH's name: Nathan (21)
Occupation: Insurance Agent/Broker
To be Married: 8/26/06
Started charting: May 25, 2005 (First full cycle)
TTC: 2009-2010 (unless God decides otherwise!)