Help with basal temperature - Cycle 4!

[midwifeandttc]

Hi everyone, I would really appreciate advice/help with understanding my basal temperature. I am a midwife but ttc baby 1 - this has made me realize how little I really knew about my body and cycles!

Hello! Did you mean to attach a chart or would you just like a low down of how it works/what to look out for?

Hi! Do you have a chart to show or any specific questions?

I want to attach a photo but apparently I can’t until my account is 48 hours old! Doh!

What app are you using to chart? Might be able to advise without a pic for now

If it's Fertility friend you can link directly to your chart :)

To summarise... I had my mirena coil removed in August 2020, TTC October 2020 so this is 4th cycle. I have been tracking my BBT using Natural Cycles and doing OPKs. This month started using clear blue digital tests and had a smiley face on CD14, but then Natural Cycles is putting my ovulation on CD18 based on my temps - so confusing! I have been having 27-28 day cycles with 4-5 day periods. My temp rose from 36.13 on CD15 36.40 on CD 17, so I was pretty sure I had ovulated on CD15 which was 24 hours after my positive ovulation test! Confused 🤪

What's your cover line usually?

I also use natural cycles, did you enter the positive OPK into the app?

I've noticed sometimes it delays when it states I've ovulated but usually only by a day. It waits for the increase in temp but when I've read up on this the increase can happen straight away or within 48 hours in rarer cases.

In your situation you may have ovulated on CD15/CD16 but it's taken the full 48 for your temps to rise. So natural cycles has marked it late. I find NC is accurate at ovulation with a day either side but not the exact day until your period comes to confirm it.

@midwifeandttc the natural cycles prediction doesn't sound quite right to me. What was your cd16 temp?

Try inputting your data into FF for a second opinion - I find their algorithm by far the best out there. Just remember to include the opk results as the two should be considered jointly. Does natural cycles take opks into account at all? If not then that would explain the discrepancy.

Thanks for the help guys. I don’t have anyone to talk to about this as not wanting to discuss with colleagues or friends as don’t want to draw attention if it takes a while! Natural Cycles doesn’t take into account LH surge results which seems silly to me?

Here are my temps:

CD10- 36.26
CD11- 36.21
CD12- 36.19 (negative ovulation test)
CD13- 36.16 (negative ovulation test)
CD14- 35.96 (positive ovulation test)
CD15- 36.13 (negative ovulation test)
CD16- 36.33
CD17- 36.40
CD18- 36.24
CD19- 36.52
CD20- 36.78

thank you everyone! really appreciate it!

NC does take a positive OPK test into the algorithm but temps take priority.

I can see why it has struggled to mark your ovulation as there does not seem to be a massive shift in temp from when you ovulated so it will struggle.

I would stick with your positive OPK and can you exclude CD15 or CD18 temp to see if either of those works and confirms it? Obviously don't do both but it may give the nudge to confirm.

I would agree you ovulated CD15

CD15 as ovulation day - definitely! The rule of thumb is 3 temps higher than the previous six to confirm a temp shift. You get that starting on CD16 so both opk and temps are saying CD15 was your day :)

Thanks so much both! I really hope it is CD15 as had sex on CD13, 14 and 15 and not at all near CD18 (which is when the app told me I ovulated😳)
I am measuring at the same time each morning (usually between 6.30-7am) before I’ve got out of bed. I agree I don’t see a huge rise in my temps but I couldn’t understand how I could have positive OPK (I did clearblue and also a cheap one, both positive) on CD14

I used natural cycles for a long time to prevent then when TTC. The more data you input the more accurate it gets I found. I would say you ovulated around CD15, you have a dip the day before then temp rose. It’s the dip again on CD18 that’s throwing it off. Try marking it as “off” temp (can’t remember the term) and see if it changes your ovulation day.

@midwifeandttc I’ve attached my chart if it helps .. similarly to your temps, it doesn’t rise much for the 3 days following ovulation and then jumps up. It’s my first month temping and when I woke up earlier than usual I took my temp and adjusted it by 0.1 degree per half hour .. there are sources that say you should do this and others that say you shouldn’t Either way, taking your temp early/late or adjusting it will skew the results slightly, but I definitely felt ovulation this month and it tied in with the 17th as the chart shows.

@HT1507 just a heads up that any bbt temp adjuster I've used would do 0.1 per hour - so therefore 0.05 per half hour. Just in case your 0.1/half hour is being too harsh on your chart!

I can see why the app said CD18 for ovulation, I'm debating whether it's CD15 or CD18. A temp of 36.24 is quite low for the luteal phase. A positive OPK doesn't guarantee you ovulation, sometimes you get multiple peaks before ovulation actually happens. Next cycle I recommend continue doing OPKs for a few days after your positive, incase you get another peak. Also get the Fertility Friend app, it's much better at understanding and presenting your cycle data 🙂

Agree with butterscotch on getting FF and multiple peaks!

@Juno231 you’re right .. I used the calculator on whenmybaby.com to work it out and I’ve just checked that it does adjust it by about 0.05 per half hour as you say! Confusion was the first result in Dr. Google says adjust by 0.1 per half hour so I had that stuck in my head lol. Thanks for the correction

thanks everyone this has been really helpful! 😊

@HT1507 that’s so interesting! Perhaps there is just too much variation in my temp timing 🤷🏼‍♀️

@midwifeandttc I set an alarm to take my temp at 7:30am every morning .. but it’s not always that easy! This morning, for example, I was woken up to my dog being sick at 6am so had to get up and sort that out .. if I took my temp then the result wouldn’t be accurate compared to other days, and if I took it at 7:30am I wouldn’t have had the 3 hours of consecutive sleep that’s recommended and I’d already been out of bed and walking around. I used the whenmybaby.com calculator to adjust my temps (I did adjust by 0.05 degrees per half hour, not 0.1 degrees .. I got confused over the figures in my first post lol).

Not every chart will look the same anyway though. I’ve got my BFP but I didn’t seem to have an implantation dip .. my temp also didn’t increase massively until 3 days after ovulation whereas I’ve seen some charts where there is a big jump the day after. Good luck in your TTC journey by the way

@HT1507 I think i’m not measuring at the exact time every morning. It’s difficult because I work shifts 😫 I also feel I’m getting a bit obsessed with this all which is tricky! Congrats on your BFP 😀🥰

@midwifeandttc thank you! It’s easy to become obsessed with it, for sure! My husband had to remind me to chill out a bit lol