We've practiced Natural Family Planning for a year and a half so charting was part of how we avoided pregnancy and now that we are TTC it will be part of how we get pregnant. We use the Sympto Thermo method (STM). I started using the online TCOYF charting tool but found it cumbersome. We use Ovu-view App on Android now and we love it.
What charting method are you using? Are you using any iphone or android apps?
pea / 9 posts
i used fertilityfriend - just the basics, didn't pay to be a premium membership. i don't have a smartphone (and i'm going to hold off as long as possible!), so don't really use any apps.
cherry / 153 posts
I've been charting for a few months now. I started only tracking bleeding because I was having erratic cycles. I'm at CD 32 of my second cycle off Loestrin 24 fe and have been charting temps CM and various other symptoms fairly religiously since coming off the pill.
I use Ovuview and Fertilityfriend. I like Ovuview because it's it's so easy to use and so nice to look at, but I find that it's much easier to read the chart on Fertilityfriend. They have so many handy features that Ovuview doesn't: DPO count, comparing your symptoms to pregnancy charts, letting you overlay your chart to others...
I love charting, though. It's pretty cool to see what's going on with my body!
cherry / 181 posts
@jenna i would love to figure out how to get a coverline on ovuview. Does fertility friend calculate your coverline?
honeydew / 7968 posts
@parkerhaus - i know you were addressing jenna, but fertility friend automatically calculates the coverline as long as ovulation was detected. it has solid lines when it's detected, and dotted lines if it's not that clear but possibly ovulated.
cherry / 181 posts
Tequiero12, thanks! @jenna, I checked out ff and I also prefer the ovuview interface, but I think ff gives me better overall data. The hubs and I decided he would keep tracking in ovuview and I would start using ff. I love that he enters all of my data, makes this whole thing a shared responsibility and experience
cherry / 153 posts
@Parkerhaus, it's awesome that your husband is so involved with charting and TTC! The only part my husband is really excited about so far is, well, you know. Though he does remind me to take my prenatals : )
coffee bean / 30 posts
I chart! I read TCOYF and LOVED IT. I have been charting since last December, my first cycle off the pill. At first I charted to avoid, and then to conceive! I use a couple of different methods. Pink Pad and iPeriod on my phone, and then TCOYF charts online.
apricot / 302 posts
I just started charting and for now I'm using FertilityFriend! I'm only halfway through my first cycle, so I'm still learning the ins/outs of the app/website.
cherry / 181 posts
@Jenna, he kinda has to be- charting isn't just how we are TTC, its a lifestyle of sorts. We don't believe in birth control (hormonal or barrier) so charting is how we make joint decisions every month regarding playing twister during fertile times. If he wasn't actively involved in charting and being in tune with me it would be like I was making the decisions for the two of us.
The hubs is good about reminding me to take my prenatals too- men are adorable!
@MamaDreams- I love TCOYF too! Its good to hear other people use fertility awareness method to avoid as well as conceive.
hostess / wonderful apple seed / 16729 posts
I used to chart but then my dr told me that I don't have to if I don't want to. She said to just look for EWCM when I want to TTC. That's fine with me. I wasn't really good with taking temps at the same time everyday, either. haha
apricot / 302 posts
I wish I could get my husband more into it, he just kinda rolls his eyes when I take my temperature every morning, but he's of the "it'll happen when it happens" mentality. I, on the other hand, am of the "Baby NOW" mentality.
cherry / 190 posts
I charted, and used the Period Tracker app for my iPhone (ironic, I know). You could not only chart temp and cm, but moods, and a little heart for those baby-dance days. When I actually did get pregnant, it was awesome since it was the temperature elevation that tipped me off.
pear / 1664 posts
I chart using "My Days" on my phone. It doesn't let you add as much detail as the 'paper charts' provided with the TCOYF book, but my problem with those is that the temps given on the chart didn't go high enough for me. (Apparently I'm "hot".) My days lets me just enter in my temp no matter what it is.
pea / 7 posts
I used fertilityfriend.com when I was charting. I thought it was a great resource. Once I was on Clomid, I stopped because the meds really messed with my temps.
pomegranate / 3764 posts
We're charters! My cycle is all over the place though, so sometimes I think it's pointless - but I'm a tad OCD, so doing it as a routine each morning works fine for us.
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
I'm currently charting and am using FF as a guide. I use the FF app on my phone to update my temp and other stats every morning.My temps are all over the place but I refuse to do anything that involves "invasive action." Jaguar - I feel the same way about thinking it's pointless.
pomelo / 5073 posts
@Parkerhaus We chart, doing NFP also. Husband wasn't able to go to the classes with me because of work schedule, but I would go over everything with him when we got home. I do all the stuff--entering data, etc. but only because I'm a litle anal in how I like it done. Husband and I do talk about everything though.
pear / 1664 posts
@jaguar me too. I feel like my temps in particular are totally nuts. It actually worries me a bit about when we ttc; my temps stay lowish until about 3 days before my next period. :-\
cherry / 168 posts
I started charting last cycle. I'm so glad I did - I ovulated almost a week before I thought I would! For now, I'm just using a good old pen and paper on a chart that I found online.
GOLD / cantaloupe / 6703 posts
We started charting the day after we got married and used it for 18 months to avoid, and the first cycle we were TTC, we got our BFP. Unfortunately we did miscarry and haven't been cleared to try again yet, but we started charting again once I got my period (about 5 weeks post-miscarriage). We use a chart from online that we've printed; however, when we wanted to TTC we did use fertilityfriend.com's premium version. I liked how it confirmed what we already knew and how we were able to put in symptoms. The site tells you your likelyhood of being pregnant based on the symptoms that you entered.
In order to make this joint, my hubs is responsible for waking me up (at 6:30 every day, ugh) handing me the thermometer, and recording the temps. I record CM, period, etc. Also, if we go back to online charting, I'll be responsible for that, but he'll look at it with me every few days. It's a system that works well for us.
Sorry about the novel!
honeydew / 7968 posts
i don't like checking for ewcm... they kinda all look to same to me at a certain point.... i mean, i can tell between creamy and egg-white, but egg-white and watery seem similar to me.
GOLD / cantaloupe / 6703 posts
Taking Charge of Your Fertility has a really in depth set of pics for CM, which was helpful at first. The charts that we use only list three categories: dry, sticky, eggwhite. It's easy for me to choose one of those 3, instead of trying to decide between like 5.
cherry / 181 posts
@maisymay, love the husbands being involved! I also like the pregnancy monitor feature of FF. Sorry for your loss, hopefully you'll be cleared to try again soon.
apricot / 302 posts
@tequiero, I was the same way at first, it all looked the same to me, but I googled some images and even though sometimes its still a big ambiguous, I'm much better at determining!
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
@tequiero - I read recently that those two can seem like the same and can both mean fertile cm.
pomegranate / 3764 posts
@nodakademic - starting early with temping helps - you'll get to know what's 'normal' for your body. I always get jealous that my charts are all over the place, as it means it's hard to compare them to anything BUT I sort of have an idea of what's going on. Sort of. Sometimes. Eh. 
pea / 15 posts
I was charting for awhile in the beginning of the year after I went off the pill, but I never got my period (still waiting - 8 months and counting). My temps were all over the place (and seemed quite low) which made sense because I wasn't having a cycle.
I started charting again when I went on Clomid to see if I could tell if I ovulated... so far my temps are again all over the place and my OPKs are always positive. I read that is likely because of my PCOS.
@Jody216 We you ever able to tell if you ovulated using Clomid? I don't know how to know!
honeydew / 7968 posts
@livingbrighter - when i was on clomid, i'd have to test to see if i got the positive for surge on opk. if i didn't surge by a certain time, my RE told me to use ovidrel, which induces ovulation. i think you should go see a specialist or something. i don't think it's normal that you haven't gotten your period in 8 months. also, the OPKs shouldn't always come out positive.
pomelo / 5628 posts
I use TCOYF to chart online and I really like it. The site runs slow, but graphically I like how the charts look.
I've been charting for about 8 months and it has changed my life! Now to make it work to get me PG! This was actually the first month that my EWCM occurred the day before O (and we did get pg briefly - chemical) so that's a good sign...
pea / 18 posts
Trying to chart, but honestly not doing the best job -- wake up for the gym some weekday mornings (5:00 a.m.) and not on others (so 6:30 or 7:00 a.m.), and then weekends are another deal, too. Argh. It's actually been really frustrating. And I feel like an igloo, because I'm almost always in the upper 96-degree or lower 97-degree area!
cherry / 181 posts
Bru, you might try setting your cell phone alarm for 5am on all days. Take your temp at 5 every day and if you don't need to get up right then go back to sleep until your regular alarm goes off. The key is to hardly move before temping, no getting up etc. I hang out in the high 96 low 97s too
coffee bean / 30 posts
Ms Bruschetta- I am also upper 96's or lower 97's, before I ovulate. Once I O, my temps go up to the lower 98's. I actually set my alarm for the absolute earliest that I would wake up, and keep that wake up time on the weekends as well. It's pretty easy for me to fall back asleep now that I'm used to it. But my temps weren't consistent if I took them at different times each day.
GOLD / cantaloupe / 6703 posts
Ms Bruschetta - When we charted before, my temps were always 96's, and then mid 97's post-O, but this cycle seems of changed to mid-97's. I think that 96's are pretty normal, but when I first started I felt like it was crazy low.
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