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Friday, October 12, 2007

Charting My Basal Body Temperature (BBT)

How do I chart my basal body temperature?

Items Needed:

Thermometer - I use a digital thermometer since its much more convenient. I don't need to shake it before taking my temperature. For those using the regular one (with mercury) make sure that you shake it before going to sleep. Shaking it after waking up and just before taking your temperature will affect the reading.

I keep it right beside my bed or beside my pillow every night before going to sleep.

Notebook or Phone: I use my phone to jot down my temperature everyday. This is also easier for me because the time is also recorded so when transfer it to my excel file, all the data I need is there. Some may opt to just s notebook where they can jot down their temperature.

BBT Chart or Graph: I use this for the actual tracking of my menstruation or day of my cycle, intercourse with hubby, temperature, time my temperature was taken and my cervical mucous. It also helps me keep track of the length of my cycle. Here's a sample for this month.

When and How do I Take My Basal Body Temperature:

I take my temperature immediately upon waking up without getting out of the bed and without much movement. No intake of anything even water before taking my temperature. I should have at least 5 hours sleep to get a more accurate reading. I also try to take it at the same time everyday or at least only with a gap of 30 minutes.

Interpreting My Basal Body Temperature

Here's a sample of a good chart/graph of my BBT:


I've been charting my BBT for almost a year and it helped me establish my normal body temperature. It also give me a trend on my exact ovulation period together with the status of my cervical mucous.

As you can see from my chart, my temp went down to 36 degrees Celsius on the 17th day of my cycle. The best time for our contact/intercourse would have been on 16th, 17th and 18th day of my cycle. Since the sperm can live 3-5 days it would be better if there's a sperm present during the actual ovulation. This is the critical part because the eggs can only live for 12-24 hours. Before, I thought that we should have intercourse during the sudden surge in my temperature when ovulation has occurred already. This is still acceptable but then our chances of conceiving is slimmer because the eggs have been released.

By the way, don't mind the first few days of my cycle because I had the flu then, so my temp was really high.

I am no expert on this but this how I got about taking my basal body temperature. It gives me a good indication of my menstrual cycle and more importantly the best time to conceive.

Then some may ask me, how come you have not conceived? As you can see in my previous posts, we were beset with a lot of problems and sometimes the timing of ovulation does not coincide with me and my hubby's desire to have sex. This is another issue altogether. We just want to relax a bit on this and not to pressure ourselves too much. We don't want it to be too mechanical and we end up not enjoying ourselves.

Our next step is to go out of town/country trip to make it more relaxing and conducive to conceiving a baby. Good Luck to us :)

3 comments:

Philomena Ojikutu said...

Hi Milky,

Concerning your Voxant Newsroom embed, check out and take a cue from how I embedded it on my Telenovela Love Garden

maria said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ser Sanchez said...

Hello Milky,

I came accross your blog while looking for BBT charts. I am sorry that you had to suffer problems with fertility and a miscarriage but glad that you could give birth to a very cute baby. I am in the same shoes regarding the problems with fertility.

Recently, I read an article about how to interpret the BBT charts. According to it, you seem to be having saw-toothed and short lutheal phase, which is an indication of low levels of progesterone. And, that leads to problems with conceiving and sustaining pregnancy.

I dropped for you the link of it. Please read the pages numer 10 and 12. I hope it will help you.
http://www.gardenoffertility.com/pdf/9911-ehling.pdf

Take care
Ser