I couldn't be *THAT* lucky right..?

[Tkgrl88]

So we just started TTC and with my irregular cycles I have *no* clue where I'm at in my cycle I just know that it's been at least 2 months since having a period. Anyway so I've had some very light cramping the past few days and then just now I had some pinkish spotting.. I did a double take because I have *NEVER* had anything pink before...! I googled it and read that it can mean implantation.. We did bd about 5 days ago our first official TTC attempt but there is no way I could be that lucky right..?? I wouldn't even ask except for the fact I've *NEVER* seen it that color before and it came out in very light drops.. also never happens to me..

Either way I am just excited that *SOMETHING* is happening in my cycle and I can know where I'm at...!!

Here is my chart.. kinda weird.. what the heck is going on with me lol
http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/2e3ad7

I don't think it is very helpful because my sleeping patterns are NOT normal.. for example last night went to sleep around 4am (husband works late shift) and woke up about 8:30 hubby went to work out, I got up and moved around the house, went back to sleep, took temperature again at 11:30 and used that one..

[karmab]

oooh, crazy temp times, that will be tough!

as a rule, we tend to see temps in the 97s pre-o, 98s post-o, and then a good sized drop just before af. i would say that looks more like a chart headed for af than a pregnancy chart,although they dont usually go back up like yours did a little. but it might be either or neither, since you dont know what's going on really with a long cycle that you just started charting, and your times are so mixed up. temps that go up and down dramatically are usually anovulatory, which can also cause long cycles- not that there is near enough info to suggest that, im just mentioning it to look for. time will tell. hang on, i think it's going to be a bumpy ride.

[Tkgrl88]

I know it's really weird..! I am hoping it's just my sleeping patterns.. I am going to try really hard to even them out maybe that will help. My chart freaks me out right now...

I already don't like this

[Tkgrl88]

Oh and also I keep hearing about adjusting for waking times..? Does anyone know how to do that..?

[karmab]

yes, but you cant do it if it's like 4 hours! it works for maybe an hour and a half, but after that, it gets funky. it's a 1/10 of a degree increase for every 30 mins past your regular temp/wake time.

i better clarify- it's like righty tighty, lefty loosey. if you normally wake up at 7 and on that day you wake up at 8. if you take your temp and it's 98, you adjust it to 97.8. that's what i mean.

[nintendork]

I don't know anything about charting but based on the number of teenage girls who get pregnant after having sex once, I would say you could easily be that lucky! Good luck, my fingers are crossed for you!

[Tkgrl88]

Haha I know right.

*WHEW* looks like that huge drop was actually 2 temperatures from the same morning .. one from around 7 and the other around 11.. I write them down in my phone and I had mistakenly put it as 2 separate days in my chart..!

OK so if anyone can take a look at my chart now what do you think..??
I used this to make them all match up to one time. http://www.whenmybaby.com/basalbodytemperature.php

Do you think it's OK if I set the time to a median of 10am even though I am usually doing my temperature at 8:30 and/or 11:30sh? Or should I set them all to 8:30 even though we go to sleep at around 3 or 4.. Basically even if I start trying to follow a strict 2am-8:30am sleep schedule - Would temps that I took this week at 11:30 and recalculated even be able to be compared to temps taken next week at 8:30 .. ? Or should I just leave my temps from this week adjusted to 10:00 and then adjust next weeks temps to 10:00 as well..? Ahhhgh I hope I am making sense..!

Also how accurate do you think the recalculating is in the first place..? I tested it by using 2 temperatures I took this morning from 8:30 and from 11:30 and seeing if the adjusted temperature would be close to what I actually got at 11:30 and it was pretty close.

[saimeiyu]

Um. This early in the game, please don't go adjusting your temps. You don't know what they "should" be. You have no idea what your "normal" is. And some people really do not change that much over a few hours. I could temp at 4:45 AM and then again at 8:30 AM and the temp will be *exactly* the same.

So just start from now and see what happens. You are establishing patterns, right now. You are trying to find your normal.

[karmab]

i think your plan is good for sleep/waking. just do your best. for most people, the adjustment thing works well, like i said, as long as it's not too far off in time. i very rarely will adjust a temp, myself, i usually will write a note about that day and why i think it might be off, but my schedule is pretty steady. it's up to you. you wont know really if it's working until hindsight. you will learn alot by temping, what works for you and what doesnt, and if you dont get pg this cycle, you will be armed with a little experience to start off fresh next time! it's all good

[SoCaliMommy]

You should have started your chart using your last period as a start date, if you did O a few days ago it's going to look really odd with O so early. and you won't get a great picture of cycle length either the way you have it now.

I also agree you shouldn't start changing temps at all.

[Tkgrl88]

But if I don't adjust temps then I have some from 830 and some from almost 12 noon isn't that highly unhelpful ? Plus I tested it and one morning my temps varied by like .7

I know its not ideal to start in the middle but unfortunately my last period was over 2 months ago and we were not ttc then..

[karmab]

yeah. there's no ideal when temps are 4 hours apart. just do your best. use this cycle to figure out how it works best for you. maybe there wont be a next one, but if there is, you will have all this figured out by then. did you take the ff charting course online? it's good.

[BathrobeGoddess]

Is it possible? Of course...I have done it twice, gotten my BFP on our 1st month TTC but I am very regular and tracked like crazy, almost obsessively.

I think your best bet is going to be a wait and see...you don't have enough temps to tell yet and even if you adjusted them, your cycle picture wouldn't be clear at all. Without having a benchmark of temps from past cycles, adjusting them won't tell you anything and may actually hinder your TTC efforts because it might make your day of ovulation look like it is at a time it is not.

Keep temping (try to get on a normal sleep cycle) and tracking you CM and you will get better and better at it, even if it takes a couple cycles

[kalamos23]

You could temp vaginally - my temps are MUCH more stable vaginally than orally, and you might not see as big of a difference even with the time difference. The other thing you could do is to count out 3-4 hours from 2am (or whatever would be the latest you think you would be going to bed normally) and then set an alarm to temp then and go back to sleep. I used to do that too, and it worked fine. In fact, in conjunction with the vaginal temps, you would probably see a nice trend.

It looks just by your temps though that either you run cold, or you haven't ovulated yet.

[karmab]

you could even do just a very careful assessment of cm/cp with opks, and skip the temps if your sleep cycle is so varied. google billings method and see what you can learn. if you have questions about your cm/cp, just ask. that too takes a little time to figure out, but once you get it, it's easy.

[M.Q.]

It's for sleep pattern reasons that DH and I invested in the Lady Comp. My work is irregular to say the least, so I never know when I will need to wake up at a weird hour. I keep the Lady Comp alarm set to about an hour before I want to actually be awake so I can just roll over, pop the thermometer in my mouth and go back to sleep. If I need to wake up earlier than normal, I just re-set the Lady Comp alarm (not to be confused with my ACTUAL alarm clock, which is always set for at least half an hour after the lady comp) and temp when it beeps. But the machine does all of the math for me as far as calculating what needs adjusting and what doesn't. It's not an inexpensive gadget, but even DH thinks it's well worth it (and treats the red 'possibly fertile' light as though it's a biohazard sign on my forehead).

Best of luck TTC!!!
-MQ

[Tkgrl88]

Ugh what was this spotting about.. I thought maybe it was AF but no more spotting since yesterday.. literally has never happened to me before..

[Tkgrl88]

Can anyone make any sense of this..

April 13 - went to sleep at 4am
98.04
Adjusted for 10:00am - 97.74

April 14 - went to sleep at 4am
98.20
Adjusted for 10:00am - 97.90

April 15 - went to sleep at 4am
98.50
Adjusted for 10:00am - 98.20

April 16 - went to sleep at 4am
97.73 - 8:45am
98.34 - 11:55am
Adjusted for 10:00am - 97.96

April 17 - went to sleep at 4am
97.73 - 10:30am
Adjusted for 10:00am - 97.63

April 18 - went to sleep at 4am
97.6 - 10am
Adjusted for 10am - 97.6

April 19 - went to sleep at 4am
97.9 - 11:30am
Adjusted for 10am - 97.6

April 20 - went to sleep at 2am
97.73 - 8:30am
98.34 - 11:30am (wasn't really sleeping more like tossing & turning)
Adjusted for 10am - 98.02

[karmab]

tkgrl, relax! you just started! you are in the middle of a loooong cycle. dont expect to be able to see a pattern that makes sense so quickly. it will be ok! the chart isnt what get's you knocked up anyway. it's just a tool to help, and trillions of babies have been conceived without it!

now, that said, you did have some fertile mucous recently. some women, not many, but some women see spotting with o'ing. if you o'd with the spotting, and that's a huge if, your temp will rise over the next few days and stay up until you get af or a for 9 mths if you dont!

in the meanwhile, take it easy and concentrate on learning. check your cm and cp everyday so you get to know the differences. keep temping. and do not get frustrated! the more we obsess about our charts etc, the harder ttc is on us, and believe me, it can get agonizing.

hang in there. youre doing great. your temps will be wonky, not only because of your waking but because you are having these long cycles. look through the chart gallery for long cycles with late o's and anovulatory cycles so you get an idea of what they look like. dont expect an answer overnight. if you get one, great. but dont expect to see a pattern at this stage in the game!

good luck!

[bcblondie]

I just wanted to say 2 things.

One, you don't have crosshairs so you don't even know if you O'd. You'll need to temp a little longer before you can know that.

two,

as a rule, we tend to see temps in the 97s pre-o, 98s post-o, and then a good sized drop just before af

This is generally true but there are many many women who are the exception. I myself am one. My temps are in the 96's before I O and 97's after. like, 97.4 is a great temp for me!