Whether you want to have a baby or are trying to avoid it altogether and also want to avoid hormonal birth control, you’ve come to the right blog!
When I first learned about charting in my obstetrics class, I couldn’t understand what each point in the chart meant, but you can learn a ton.
First things first, you need a way to measure your basal body temperature. This requires a special thermometer that measure to the hundredth of a degree because we are talking small but significant changes in temperatures. Luckily you can get them almost anywhere and prices vary greatly. Now that you’ve got your thermometer, you have to make sure to take your temperature at the same time everyday. Make sure it’s before you get up and start moving around, this temperature is measuring when you’re at rest, so it’s best to do it after about 4 hours of no activity, like in the morning before getting out of bed.
There are different tools that try to make it easier for you to track your BBT, like the Ava or OvuSense, which are wearable trackers. One you wear on your wrist like a watch while you’re sleeping and the other is inserted like a tampon.
So, now you’ve gotten your chart going, but now what are the key points you should be zeroing in on? Before ovulation, your temperatures will be lower and then there will be an exponential spike and then them temps will continue to stay high. Sometimes there will be a slight dip in temperatures before the spike, which is called an ovulation dip.
There is so much more to track, and we will save them for another post, this should get you on the right track though on starting to track your ovulation. Check back later for more ways to track your fertility.
