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See information on Cervical Mucus below!!!
Charting and understanding your Basal Body
Temperature (BBT)
Your Basal Body Temperature (BBT) is your temperature at rest, when
you first wake up in the morning (before you get out of bed and do any
physical activity and even before you speak or go to the bathroom). By
charting your BBT you will learn, with the help of your doctor, if you
are ovulating normally. The BBT is typically lower during the first two
weeks of the menstrual cycle and ranges from 97.2 to about 97.7 degrees
before ovulation. It increases anywhere between 0.5 to 1.6 degrees after
ovulating, or in other words, the BBT ranges from 97.7 to 99.0 after ovulation
has occurred. The increase on the BBT will last until your next period,
but if you conceive your temperature will remain elevated throughout pregnancy.
Tip 1. When your temperature increases by at least 0.5
to 1.6 degrees, and stays high, it means that you ovulated one or two days
prior the temperature increase.
Tip 2: If your temperature stays up for more than 18 days
after it has risen you may be pregnant
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Infertility affects one out of every ten couples in the
U.S. attempting to have a baby.
On average, it can take about one year for a couple trying to
conceive, to achieve pregnancy. It is adivised that the couple seek professional help after one year of trying, so the possibility of infertility can be investigated.
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You should take your Basal Body Temperature using a BBT
thermometer (easy to find at most drugstores). It is best if you take
your BBT close to the same time every morning, and it has to be immediately
after you awaken. Make sure you have had at least three hours of uninterrupted
sleep before you take your BBT.
For directions on how to use your BBT thermometer, follow
the manufacturer's instructions included with your thermometer. The instructions
should tell you where in your body you should place the thermometer, for
how long, how to read your temperature and how to take care of it.
You should start taking your BBT on the first day of your
cycle (the first day you notice menstrual flow) and take the temperature
throughout your cycle into the next period. Keep charting it for at least
3 cycles to help you identify a pattern in your cycle, and identify the
best time for intercourse if you are trying to conceive.
Record the temperature reading on the BBT chart by placing
a dot on the appropriate horizontal line (BBT read on the thermometer)
in the column beneath the date. If you miss a day, leave that day's entry
blank. Connect the points with straight lines. Indicate in the appropriate
column on the chart which days you had sexual intercourse and make sure
you record any events which would affect your temperature (such as a cold,
insomnia, stress, medication, and so on). You get the picture.
To take a look at a sample
BBT chart go here.
To download a free BBT chart for
your personal use go here.
Tip 3. leave your thermometer and your chart at your bedside
every night so you don’t have to move much to get it when you wake up.
If you use a glass thermometer, make sure you shake it down the night before.
Since BBT charting lets you know when ovulation has already
occurred, it would be wise to use another method of ovulation prediction
in conjunction with this one, such as cervical fluid observation, which
will help to determine when you are in the most fertile phase of your cycle
(see more information below), You can also use in conjunction with the
other methods our ovulation predictor calculator, which will estimate your
ovulation date. Try to keep all the information on your fertility signs
together in the same BBT chart. Keeping all the information together will
help you to time intercourse better.
If you want to use a more high-tech approach to ovulation
prediction and invest more money then the price of a BBT thermometer,
you will find many other options such as a fertility monitors and ovulation
predictor test kits (which both measure in the urine, the different levels
of hormones that control fertility). You can also use a saliva fertility
monitor or use a microscope to observe samples of your dry saliva which
will changes it's patters do to hormonal changes during different phases
of your cycle.
Charting and understanding your Cervical Fluid or
Cervical Mucus (CM)
Cervical Fluid or cervical mucus (CM) is a vaginal discharge whose
appearance and consistency varies depending on the stage of a women's
monthly cycle. The cervical mucus also protects the sperm from the vaginal
acidity during the fertile stage.
Cervical mucus will change in appearance, consistency,
and amount depending on the stage of your menstrual cycle. During the non-fertile
days of the cycle, it usually starts dry and goes to some clear or white
mucus that feels sticky to the touch. When ovulation is approaching the
mucus becomes more abundant, cream-like in consistency and white or yellow
in color. At the most fertile stage of the cycle the mucus can be compared
to an egg-white in the way it looks. It's feels slippery to the touch and
it stretches to at least one inch.
One way to chart your cervical mucus, is by examining your
toilet tissue after wiping yourself and taking note of your mucus consistency
(dry, sticky, creamy, or egg-white) in addition to indicating it's color
and any other observations. You should write everything down for the appropriate
day in a chart, perhaps on your BBT chart.
Tip 4. You can usually observe your cervical mucus better
after a bowel movement.
Please tell a friend and
stop by again.
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