Taking Basal Body Temperature

I second the response that mentions monitoring cervical mucus. Several of my friends tried for months and months using different methods (basal temp, ovulation kits, etc.), but got pregnant right away once they started monitoring cervical mucus. Because of their experiences, I monitored mine from the get go and got pregnant within two months. Good luck!

Start using the kit about 10 days after the 1st day of your period. You should be about peak around your 14-16th day. Start at day 10 though because women vary.

Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Wechsler is the way to go. Go to half priced books and pick up a copy! The book is magic - and I agree with the other posters, everyone I know was pregnant within 3 months of reading the book. Seriously.

Good luck!

I will agree with the others that posted about reading Taking Charge of Your Fertility. BBT does not tell you when you are going to ovulate only that you DID ovulate (as your temperature drops after you have ovulated).

So, you can keep up the love making until the temp drop OR if you are following your cervical mucus/fluids those tell you exactly when to make love to catch ovulation before it happens.

I eventually stopped temping altogether and only watched my cervical mucus. (This was after a full year of charting and knowing my body). Oh, and be careful of the everyone ovulates give or take around day 14 "rule"...I found out I ovulate around day 26 of my cycle.

We got pregnant the first or second cycle trying with this book every time. (I have gotten pregnant eight times...we had 6 miscarriages due to other issues).

TCOYF is the best resource to help you know your body and get pregnant or in our case now NOT get pregnant (just use it in reverse).

Good luck and most of all have fun!!

Have you read Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler? It's really a must-read for all women, especially if you are ttc. She explains in full detail how to predict ovulation using basal body temperature. It will probably take a couple of months for you to see what your pattern is. I highly recommend the book, though. For me it was WAY better than the kits. Good luck to you!

Basal temp also has to be taken immediately upon waking at the same time every day to be effective. Once you get up and move around, it skews the temp.

Get the book Taking Charge of Your Temperature by Toni Weschler...she'll tell you all about it. She tells you how to chart your temperature and all other factors. It's very interesting to really know what your body is doing. Your temperature will rise the day after you ovulate (I think-it's been a while since I had my 2nd)...if you are pregnant it will stay high (to incubate the baby)...very cool. Get the book, sometimes you can find it at half price. Have fun!! Definitely take your vitamins and start eating correctly and take plenty of folate. You may start gaining weight before you get pregnant-I did-cause you have to eat a lot of food. I had 2 perfectly healthy babies both delivered at 39 weeks without any medications and both weighed approx the same weight and same length even. Oh, and start exercising too...at least walking and maybe some yoga to help your body get ready and to help you learn to relax for labor. People underestimate how easy it is to have a baby...don't take it for granted and be healthy for that little miracle you are about to have.

Your basal temp will rise about a degree when you are ovulating. You should start taking your temp the first day of your cycle. That will give you a good baseline. It will take 10 to 14 days after the first day of your cycle to see the temp spike.

Mine went up about 1/2 a degree each time, so that would be about 98.2 for you. Both times I got pregnant on the first try using just the basal body temp method. Good luck to you!

My old co-worker swears by it! She got preg. With both her boys this way on the 1-2 try! I have heard it really works!! She told me that your temp will be a little higher than normal the day you ovulate. Map it for 3 months and see what it does.

It is important to take the temp immediately after you get up and at the same time - if you sleep later on weekends or days off, you should set alarm, take temp, then you can resume snoozing. I used to keep thermometer on nightstand as a reminder. Also the temperature will rise only slightly to indicate ovulation - it is measured in tenths of a degree if I recall correctly (from 20 years ago). Also, my doc gave me a chart to make the temp each day and it was easy to see the slight rise. This also clued him in was to when I might have not checked my temp at the same time (like on weekends or when I would forget to do it right away).

The last post says your temp falls after ovulation; it rises after ovulation. Infact, you can tell that you're pregnant early if you're basel body temperature remains high about 2 weeks after ovulation. This wonderful aspect of our bod;es let me know when I was pregnant. It also let one of my friends know when she had an early miscarriage.

In addition to the fertility book mentioned in other posts; you could take a Natural Family Planning (NFP) Course. They go over charting, etc. in the class. Most Catholic churches offer the class.

Another method for checking (if you have a pretty regular cycle) is yourdays.com. You just put in some basic info and it tells you when you're ovulating and your chances of getting pregnant. You can also use it to try and prevent pregnancy. I've been using it for several months now (to prevent) and it has been spot on in predicting when I will start my period. So maybe you could add it to your temp taking and get a better feel of when you're ovulating...good luck!!!