Fertility 101 - Tracking BBT Basics

Tracking your Basal Body Temperature can give some a clear understanding of theircycle. It could potentially tell you if your cycles are "normal," when you ovulate, and a few other clues about your  health and hormones. There is a lot of skill that goes into deciphering the peaks and falls of the BBT and I am just starting to learn about this so I may not be able to help you with deciphering. What I CAN help you with is getting started.

The first thing you will need is Basal Body Thermometer. You can pick one of these up at a local drug store like CVS. It is important that you pick a BASAL body thermometer, as it has a different reading than a regular thermometer.

When you get home, open the thermometer and test to make sure it works. I think they are all digital and that is obviously the easiest to use. I keep my BB Thermometer on my night stand next to my bed.

To track your BBT by taking your temperature first thing when you wake up in the morning before you even put your feet on the ground. You are going to take your temperature every day (including on your menstrual days) for at least three months to get an accurate read. Since you are keeping track of your temperature every day, it is easy to keep track using an app on your cell phone. My favorite app for tracking BBT and fertility is called OVIA.  Ovia collects the data from each temperature and generates a fertility chart for you. How easy is that?!

Try to take your temperature every day. If you miss one day, that is okay, but your chart will NOT be accurate if you miss multiple days in a row.

At the end of one cycle, you may be able to tell where you ovulated if you have a "normal" cycle. Your temperate will be level in the first part of you cycle and when you ovulate, the BBT will spike. You will not know when you are ovulating beforehand. The BBT can only tell you after the fact, but it helps you to develop an understanding of your cycle for the future. If you need to know when you are ovulating that month, use an Ovulation Predictor Kit as well as monitoring your cervical mucus.

Below is a sample of what a BBT chart may look like: 

From fertility plus.com

In the above chart, you can see the BBT drops on CD14 and spikes on CD15. This is an indicative of when ovulation happened. After ovulation, BBT remains elevated if you are pregnant. As you can see in the graph above, the BBT drops at the end of the cycle, indicating the start of menstruation. The extent of the dips and peaks in temperature vary from person to person.

Below is a snapshot of my BBT tracked on Ovia this past month:

As you can see, mine looks different than the sample graph. I also did not track my temperature during my menstrual cycle as I just recently started tracking again. I am also not sure of the double drops and double spikes in my BBT, but the first drop/spike corresponded with my Ovulation Predictor Kit and my cervical mucus. 

I am still learning how to decode my BBT and it will take a few months for me to develop my baseline, but I love learning about my cycles this way! It is so interesting to learn about how our bodies work. 

Have you tried tracking your BBT? Did you learn anything about your cycle by tracking BBT?

Fertility 101- The Female Factor

I am going to start out this page at the most basic of all basics and work my way towards what some might consider the more complicated aspects of (in)fertility.
If you are just starting your fertility journey, this may provide some vital information in understanding how your cycle works.
Here we go into...

The Female Factor

There are a few elements that go into the creation of a baby form the beginning-  one part female factor (egg), one part male factor (sperm), one part the environment (fallopian tubes, womb), and lots of other parts like hormones. Each month, your cycle begins the day you start your period. In many fertility books, they mention "Cycle Day 1, 2, 3..." Cycle day 1 (CD1) is the day aunt flow comes 'a knockin' on your door! On CD 1, your uterus is shedding the lining of the previous cycles endometrium that would have become the cushion for implantation for your little embryo if you were to have conceived. Since you are experiencing your menstrual cycle, then you are most likely not pregnant.

CD 1- 7 (give or take a couple days)

The Menstruation Phase will last about a week, but varies from person to person (4-7 days).  I am one of the unlucky people who bleeds for 7 days! This time your uterus is shedding that extra tissue to create a new clean environment for your embryo to land and hopefully implant. I like to look at it as a new beginning! It is your body saying "Ok lets do this!"

During Menstruation, hormones are at their LOWEST.

CD 7- 13 (give or take a couple days)

When your period ends, you enter into The Follicular Phase. During this time, the follicles that are in BOTH of your ovaries grow (if you do not know where your ovaries are, they are located at the end of your fallopian tubes which are attached to your uterus). There may be 10- 20 follicles (or more or less). The follicles grow larger and larger until they are ready for ovulation. It is super important to always be healthy, but especially at this time. This is also the time you would want to start having sex to increase your odds of getting pregnant!

During Follicular Phase, the hormones estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone are low, but increase towards the next phase. 

CD 13-16 (give or take a couple days)

This is The Ovulatory Phase- the phase in which ovulation occurs.  This is the peak of all peaks when it comes to your cycle! This is when the biggest, healthy follicle releases the best egg that month. They egg bursts out of the follicle and gets scooped up the fallopian tubes. As the egg travel through the fallopian tubes, it is the perfect chance for it to meet the SPERM and get fertilized. 

During Ovulation Phase, the hormones estrogen and testosterone are surging as well as Luteinizing Hormone. 

What the heck is Luteinizing Hormone (LH)?

LH is a hormone that is released from the pituitary gland in your brain. This hormone sends signals to your ovaries that says "RELEASE THE KRAKEN!" Well, not the Kraken, but the EGG! Have you ever heard of an Ovulation Predictor Kit? It is a kit that you pee on just like a pregnancy test, but this doesn't tell you if you a pregnant- it tells you when you are ovulating. It measure the amount of LH hormone in your urine, which is a good indicator that the LH hormone surged, causing you to ovulated..and "RELEASE THE KRA...err..I mean, egg!"

CD 16-31 (give or take a couple days)

You may think all the great and amazing things have happened already, but that is not the case! The last phase of the cycle, or The Luteal Phase, is just as important as the other cycles. The luteal phase is the time period that if the egg was fertilized, it becomes an embryo (A.K.A. the start of a little beautiful baby!) and it implants in the uterus. It is EXTREMELY important that this phase is at least 14 days long. If you are experiencing infertility and the time between ovulation and the start of your next period is LESS than 14 days, that may explain your infertility! This time, emotionally, is always about taking it easy and enjoying life. Its kind of like "Sit back, relax, and let the magic happen!" I personally rarely do extreme exercise or anything that would stress my body at this time because I want to increase my odds that the embryo "sticks" or what I like to say "stays with mama!"

During the Luteal phase, progesterone dominates as well as estrogen. If your luteal phase is short, you may be lacking in the progesterone department. Progesterone is necessary for the pregnancy to stay.

Here is a recap of everything mentioned above (give or take a few on the cycle days):

CD 1- 7 : Menstrual

CD 7- 13: Follicular

CD 13- 16: OVULATION

CD 16- 31: Luteal

If you are not pregnant, Menstruation will immediately follow the Luteal phase. 

So does that mean I can get pregnant all month long?

No. You can't.

Timing is very important when it comes to making a baby. It is important you try to conceive during the Follicular Phase up until ovulation and I always do it after ovulation to help my chances. You are fertile about 3-5 days before ovulation and 3-5 days after. 

But what about people who get pregnant by accident or when they are on their period?

To be completely honest, when someone gets pregnant by accident, it just makes me think they do not know their cycle very well. I could be very wrong, as getting pregnant by accident has never happened to me. It is very important to understand these phases of your cycle, track them (I will post different apps that help with tracking), and know your body! I do know that some people have odd cycles where they can possibly ovulate during their period or they ovulate twice in a month, but it is very rare. And if you know your cycle, you will know when you ovulate.

How do I get to know my own cycle?

The most important way to know your cycle is to pay attention! On CD1 when you start your period, start taking your BBT (BASAL BODY TEMP) every day in the morning  (see instructions below). Tracking your temperature and understanding the fluctuations will tell you when you are fertile. Track your temp for 3-6 months to get an accurate baseline. Next, track the days of your cycle on an app. My favorite app is called OVIA but there are others like P TRACKER. Most are free and pretty accurate. Finally, purchase an Ovulation Predictor Kit and use it for two months to see if the results of the kit coincide with when your temperature and your app says that you are ovulating. 

Another way is to pay attention to how you feel and also pay attention to your cervical mucus (I do a separate post about that). 

You can purchase a Basal Body Thermometer at CVS.

Here is a digram of the uterus in case you are not familiar.

Make note of the ovary, fallopian tube, and the uterine cavity. 

From NurseLabs.com