[princessmelissa]

I'd like to start charting my fertility, but have NO idea where to start.... can anyone point me in the right direction?

[IamMom]

Hello welcome....many of us have used or do use fertility friend website or taking control of your fertility (TCOYF).....however you'll get MUCH more help I'm sure at the fertilty charting board! Good luck!

[CandaceDianne]

Originally Posted by IamMom

Hello welcome....many of us have used or do use fertility friend website or taking control of your fertility (TCOYF).....however you'll get MUCH more help I'm sure at the fertilty charting board! Good luck!

good luck!!

[Mars]

[*krista*]

Go get yourself a basal body temp thermometer and sign up for a fertility charting website (free, like Ovulation Calendar and Ovulation Chart - Fertility Charting). Take your temp every day at the same time of day, and in the mean time go get the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility, it explains it all pretty well. There is a lot to it if you know nothing about it.

[midnight_starr]

I charted with Fertility Friend.. They basically tell you how to do everything!

[~*sierra*~]

yep fertility friend has a little course you can do too!

[Kiwi]

Hey there!

I'd recommend reading 'Taking Charge of your Fertility' as the girls above have mentioned. I think you can buy it on Amazon and it's the 10th version you are after.

Check here:
Amazon.com: Taking Charge of Your Fertility, 10th Anniversary Edition: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health (9780060881900): Toni Weschler: Books

I read that from cover to cover, then contacted a fertility place in New Zealand who did correspondence courses via email/phone and mail. My instructor gave me one thing to do each month, and built on that over the following four months (ie first month: take temperatures every morning, second month: take temps and write down what cervical fluid I was feeling/seeing each day, third month: then take temps, check cervical fluid and check cervical position every day and so on).

I 'charted' for 4 months with my instructor who got me to send my charts to her every month to see how I was going and to make sure I was using the 'rules' correctly as I was using charting to avoid pregnancy for the first 18 month or so.

I would recommend doing a course if you can. I did try using the website 'Fertility Friend' for a while, however it kept telling me I wasn't ovulating. My instructor showed me that my ovulation 'signs' where much more subtle than what was normal, but that I was still ovulating ('Fertility Friend' even told me I wasn't ovulating AFTER I fell pregnant!!).

I personally think it's much easier to chart on paper, so you can get your head around it all before you start using something like the 'Fertility Friend' website, as you need to trust your own instincts and signs your body is giving you rather than what a computer is telling you, if that makes sense!

Maybe post on the 'Natural Family Planning and FAM' (Under 'Women and Family Health') as well, as I know the host there will be able to recommend where you could do a course.

Good luck!

[sara~b]

I did Fertility Friends course and then charted using both ovusoft and FF software. Being able to compare my reading from TCOYF with two different charting softwares really helped me see when I most likely ovulated. I successfully charted to avoid pregnancy for many, many months. It looks like we did have some medical issues going on that prevented conception as well. But thanks to charting I did get pregnant the first time I had a normal cycle!

[princessmelissa]

Thanks for all the info ladies. A starting point!