Many of us going through the TTC (Trying To Conceive) journey – tend to chart the (TTC Basics) such as BBT (Basal Body Temperature), (Cervical Mucus), and (Cervical Position) – along with tracking our LH (Luteinizing Hormone) with the use of OPKs (Ovulation Predictor Kits).
So, what is a BBT? It’s your body’s temperature at rest.
For starters, (for those of you who are new to this whole process) you’ll want to get a BBT (Basal Body Thermometer) which is a very special kid of thermometer that can actually be extremely sensitive to minor changes and read up to .01 of a degree. For example, instead of 98.6 – it would read at 98.63, being able to distinguish the most minor changes. During your LP (Luteal Phase) your BBT will be lower due to the hormone Estrogen that essentially dominates that part of your cycle – the time from your period until Ovulation occurs.
Post Ovulation your BBT will be higher due to the heat-inducing hormone that is needed to sustain a healthy pregnancy known as Progesterone. Exactly how much it falls and rises varies from one woman to the next, but the changes are fairly subtle and may be tenths of a degree.
This is WHY it is so extremely important to make sure you have the right thermometer, that can detect these subtle changes, as you may be one of the many that cannot detect ovulation properly without one.
Your BBT and CM is considered to be your MAIN fertility sign, and other factors such as CP and OPKs can be considered secondary factors, as (unfortunately) your CP can move into different positions throughout the day – so it’s highly recommended to check that only once a day, whereas you’re encouraged to check your CM frequently throughout the day – recording only the most fertile type of fluid you observe.
Also, an OPK alone only indicates a potentially fertile phase, whereas BBT can confirm precisely when Ovulation takes place. Sometimes your body can, “Gear up,” – Positive OPK, fertile quality CM, CP, etc. It’s truly hard to know without the help of BBT, and/or Blood work/scans, to confirm whether or not Ovulation has actually taken place, whether it was, “A,” surge – or, “The,” surge.
We do highly push and recommend temping for those very reasons.
We decided to create a Chart Gallery on this website, so if you’re interested in submitting your COMPLETED Chart – be sure and fill out the following information when you do so. (Located up above on the header) We are creating a doc inside our Facebook group where you can very easily submit your charts. You can also submit your completed charts via email, by filling out this form.
[contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Website’ type=’url’/][contact-field label=’List here the details behind WHAT type of Chart you have’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’What kind of Chart?’ type=’select’ options=’Ovulatory,Anovulatory,Pregancy,Chemical Pregnancy,Miscarriage’/][contact-field label=’List of Medications Taken:’ type=’text’/][/contact-form]
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