Two different docs at two different hospitals told me not to temp. They said it was unreliable, and there were more accurate methods, such as OPKs. But, clomid caused my OPKs to be less reliable, and my body symptoms to decrease, so I realized I needed another method to monitor ovulation.Temping can provide a lot of information about a woman's cycle that OPKs can not. Most importantly, temping confirms that ovulation occurred, while OPKs can not. You can watch for patterns such as biphasic, triphasic, temp dips, see how quickly your temps rise or when they fall, or if they stay high - all these things indicate different information.
Temping is SO easy!! The hardest thing about it, was finding a basal body thermometer! Walmart doesn't carry them, CVS had one for $11, and Walgreens had one for $9 something, so I bought at Walgreens. This is how I do it: At 6AM I take my temp without turning on a light or putting on my glasses. It takes less than a minute and beeps when it's done, my husband never wakes up. Then I either get up and read the thermometer, or go back to sleep until 7AM. Whenever I get up, I use the handy memory feature and record my temp on paper. Then I enter it into Fertility Friend and it creates my chart. And I'm probably a nerd, but I love plugging in my values every day to see how my chart takes shape! It's so rewarding to believe I ovulated and then have my temps confirm it. I had always thought my temps would be very erratic. But, I am pleasantly surprised that it doesn't matter if my cat wakes me up at 4AM, or if I kick the covers off and wake up cold, or wear flannel pj's to bed and wake up hot and sweaty, amazingly enough, my core temp remains consistent regardless of how I feel outwardly. I never had any idea! Now I know. So simple.
Temping this month helped me definitively pinpoint when ovulation actually happened, something I haven't known until now. It confirms that I have been correct with my body symptoms, even the new ones while on clomid. And going just by them, I would have correctly guessed ovulation. I've been thinking the OPK's were turning positive the day I ovulated, but they really do turn positive the day before ovulation. I think I have a beautiful biphasic pattern this month. The most exciting part was when Fertility Friend put my ovulation crosshairs on the chart, it does that after three days of high temps. I'm new to BBT, so take a look at my chart and please share your analysis!
