Charting Your Fertility Signs: Basal Body Temperature
Charting your fertility signs is like running a fascinating science experiment, with you as the subject. You will be amazed at all you will learn about your body and your cycles by charting. And, of course, charting allows you to better time intercourse for conception or avoid intercourse for natural birth control.
In this article, I will share how I chart my waking temperature, or basal body temperature. I am limited by space, so I encourage you to do more research. Try the links I've provided at the right, or read Toni Weschler's Taking Charge of Your Fertility (my charting "bible"), available from amazon.com and from most bookstores and libraries. You can also bring the topic up with your doctor, although, in my experience, most doctors are not very receptive. Perhaps yours is different!
-Getting Started- *Buy a digital thermometer, available at local drugstores. The typical digital thermometer registers a temperature in less than a minute, is easy to read, and saves the last temperature in case you need to record it later. I've never had a problem with a digital thermometer, but, if you are getting erratic temperatures, then it's recommended that you try a glass basal thermometer.
*Pick a chart to use. You can download one from the internet (see my links under "Charting How-To's and Services"), copy one from Taking Charge of Your Fertility, or use the ones that come with the thermometer.
*I recommend "practice charting" for three months before relying on your charts for natural birth control.
-Getting It Right- *Take your temperature first thing upon awakening in the morning, before you move around, go to the bathroom, or take a drink.
*Get at least 3 consecutive hours of sleep before taking your temperature. In other words, time your middle-of-the-night bathroom visits well. If you don't, make a note of it on your chart, so you can throw out aberrant temperatures later.
*Try to take your temperature at the same time each morning. If you can't, then make a note of the time on the your chart. The general rule is that your temperature rises .1 degree for each half-hour of oversleeping.
-Getting It on Paper- *Record your temperature right away by drawing a dot at the intersection of the temperature and the day of your cycle.
*Make a note of anything unusual, such as fever, travel, alcohol consumption, oversleeping, etc. so that you can interpret (and probably disregard) strange temperatures later.
*Connect the dots with lines. If a temperature seems strange, wait a day before connecting a line to it.
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