temping question

[MrsHin2002]

Hi there,

Well it looks like af will come today, so now that I'm thinking about the coming month I thought I'd ask a temping question. Can I still get accurate info if my sleep patterns aren't very regular? I have a habit of falling asleep with my son (at least a few nights a week) quite early and then being awake for 2-3 hours through the night and then sleep a bit more before waking. When I temped while TTC my son I didn't have trouble sleeping through the night... but now I can't tell you the last time I slept even from 11-6 straight through. And when DS sleeps in his own bed he often wakes between 4-5 and we bring him in with us... just worried about trying to temp again without knowing if my results will be accurate at all?

My cycles have been a bit irregular since a m/c at 12 weeks in late October (af at 6 weeks, 4 weeks, 2 weeks, and now 30 days twice...) so temping should give me some helpful info. I also have 16 OPKs to use... will these be more helpful if my sleep isn't so regular?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice!!

Karen

38, married to DH, DS 7/7/07 and m/c Oct/05 & Nov/09. TTC #2, 3rd cycle

[karmab]

you probably just need to try it and see. and try to be as predictable as possible in your sleep schedule, too, i know that is hard, but just see if you can get yourself into a little more regular pattern if possible. with the opk's, i dont think that the sleep issue should cause any major problem. there is a diurnal rhythm to that, they say the 'best' time to test is like 2-4 pm, although a lot of women need to test twice daily to catch the surge, but i havent heard of sleep changes interfering with those results.

[MrsHin2002]

Thanks for the reply... I wonder if I should set an alarm for 4:30 in the morning... so then at least I can temp at the same time everyday... and then re-set for 5:45 on days I go back to sleep. If it's much later I won't be regular about it as I'm often up early doing chores or watching tv shows taped from the night before because I've gone to bed earlier. And this would be close to the time our son wakes when in his own room. Maybe I'll also try to stay up until 10 or so... to help try to get some solid sleep in. Am I aiming for at least 4 hrs of straight sleep? I have TCOYF but haven't looked at it in a while

[HulaJenn]

I think temping after a good 3-4 hours is more accurate than the same time every morning. If you know that 4:30 will be after a good 4 hours sleep then it couldn't hurt...but like PP said, you can try a month temping as you are and see if you see a predictable pattern...maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones...?