taking temperature when ovulating-please help

Deja the temp taking doesnt predict ovulation, it confirms once you have ovulated.
What happens is when you ovulate your body produces progesterone which increases your basal body temp. As Julz says by at least 0.2 degrees, but I always found it to be closer to 0.5
After 3 sustained higher temperatures FF will confirm that you ovulated 3 days prior so temp taking certainly does not predict when you will ovulate.
But it does help you determine your cycles and your luteal phase. If you have a regular period you can then estimate when you need to have sex in order to increase chances of conception.
Average luteal phase is between 12 - 14 days long. If you have a 28 - 32 day cycle that means that ovulation can happen anywhere between day 14 and day 20 for you. So during this week you should be having sex every 48hrs or more although some say the sperm requires 48hrs to recover / be of good quality.

Google SMEP (Sperm meets egg plan) for a good idea / range of conception. It basically beans that from day 12 till 20 or so you should be very sexually active and you will greatly increase your chances of conception.

Remember each month there is only a 20% chance of conception for a healthy couple so it may not happen the first try.

An ovulation test can be confusing too. Its not like a pregnancy test where you just need to see a second line for it to be positive. The test line needs to be equally dark as the control line for it to be positive. For some it will stay dark (but not equally dark) after ovulation and for others it will get very light quickly again so there is room for misreading it or seeing a false positive for ovulation.
Also you probably ovulate within 12 - 36hrs of a positive ovulation test so the day you see positive and the following day you should be active.

Good luck!

Julz is spot on.

Temping is very handy for getting to know your cycles, but unfortunately it can not predict ovulation untill a few days after it happened.

If you temp in the next few months you will get to know your body, and with the help of OPK´s pinpoint ovulation.

Get a digital thermometer, i think the girls on the ttc thread said they have good ones at Edgars. And sign up at www.fertilityfriend.com

You will learn as you go along. I found it all extremely interesting.

Good luck!

Deja the thermometer you put in your mouth is best. It takes longer but is more accurate. It should have one decimal place at least.



charting is not ideal for giving an indication as to when you ovulate. Rather it is used as a tool to see if you ovulate and what your cycle looks like.

Ideally you start on day one of your cycle. First day of bleeding.

You take it first thing in the morning at the same time each morning before you sit up or drink or go to the loo so as you wake up or you will not get a reliable chart.

Take it each day and record it. Sometimes you may see a drop just before ovulation but not always.

Your cycle is broken in two parts. The first phase is where your temp is lower, then you ovulate and then the temp rises at least .2 degrees above all the previous temps. It should remain higher for at least 12 days before af starts again. The second phase should remain constant as far as days go each month. It is the first phase that differs which is normal.

I can call you and explain a whole lot more if you like.