Another BBT question thread

[KittyFantastica]

Hello,

Yet another BBT thread, sorry . We are taking it easy this month as it's my first cycle after having had a D&C. The aim for this month is just to find out whether I have/will ovulate in the next few days. I can then go from there for when we decide to try again. My cycle hasn't been consistent since December when I first got pregnant, then again in February. Both pregnancies were losses.

It's my first time temping and I seem to have a very low temperature in general. Any one else seen this? The data is gathered from my smart watch, and collects my BBT at 07:15 every morning as soon as my alarm goes off. I've done a few OPKs, but have had really inconsistent results, which is unusual for me as I've been able to track ovulation with them before and got pregnant last time using them.

On the 13th, I had a slight rise in LH to 0.53, though it went back down again the next day to the 0.30s for the next few days. I only had one more opk from a different brand left today so did that and it immediately showed a stronger line, though was still 'low' at 0.43. I don't have any more opks left to check with. I ordered some, but they've not arrived yet. First time I got pregnant, I missed the peak but obviously had still ovulated.

In the meantime, my BBT has been consistently low, then it dropped to what Google tells me is almost hypothermic before shooting back up to normal. Fertility Friend doesn't seem to think I've ovulated yet, but I'm wondering if this might be the rise I'm looking for seeing as my temp has been so low? I know the next few days will tell, but I'd like to be as prepared as possible because despite saying we wouldn't 'try' this month, we had sex yesterday and a few days ago - I wasn't expecting to be in the fertile window just yet as I ovulated later before.

As a total newbie, I'd just be grateful for, and interested in, anyone else's interpretation. Thank you :).

Hi @KittyFantastica
Really sorry for your losses.
I temp but use a little themometer at the back of my mouth each morning. I know everyone is different but your temps do seem low. I wonder if it’s worth trying a themometer in your mouth to compare? I think to confirm ovulation you would need to see a rise in temps compared with your follicular phase temps so if yours keeps rising in the next few days above the follicular phase temperatures it would seem like you might have ovulated!

Thanks so much for looking @Coffeeandcake29!

I did try it once before but the thermometer I had never worked and I sent it back. I figured my watch would be more convenient as it can do it automatically at the correct time, but it does seem unusually low. I've always run cold, but this seems excessive.

My temp hasn't really changed this morning, it's only .1 higher. It's got me so curious as to what's happening. When I missed the peak the first time we decided we were TTC, I thought I hadn't ovulated, so the positive pregnancy test later was a massive surprise. I haven't had any ovulation pains, which I usually get, though did notice some EWCM yesterday, which I usually get about 3 days before a peak.

I find how it all works so interesting. I'll see if I can get another thermometer for next month :).

Whoops, was meeting around with user names for another thread I didn't end up using. Changed back now 😆.

Updated chart, in case anyone takes a look and thinks they could interpret. FF seems to think I've now ovulated, but it has picked a day when I didn't have even a remote rise on OPKs. No positive OPKs at all this time. Still just trying to confirm I've ovulated at this point and I'm not entirely convinced.

If this were your chart, how would you interpret it?

Sorry for the late reply here! I think it looks like you ovulated there on day 15!

No worries, thank you @Coffeeandcake29

Unfortunately, AF arrived on CD18. Started as very light spotting but soon became a light period for 7 days running.

I had two positive OPKs yesterday, but BBT is baseline and actually went slightly lower than yesterday, so haven't confirmed ovulation. The MMC is messing with my cycle so much still 3 months on :(

Temperatures from a wearable will often be lower overall than temperatures taken orally with a thermometer, so I wouldn't worry about them looking 'low' - in principle it shouldn't affect the overall trend, and the level of your temperature doesn't really matter provided you can see the trend of change. That said (and I don't use one so genuinely not sure!) is the temperature reading on an Apple Watch designed for BBT tracking? It strikes me that being on the wrist it would potentially be more prone to being affected by environmental factors like room temperature, clothing etc than an oral reading. This might be causing some of the ambiguity you're seeing.

Either way, I hope your cycles straighten out soon and you're able to start confirming ovulation - good luck!

Thanks so much @blackberryhill!

Yes, you're absolutely right about wearables being affected by other things. It gives you a baseline to work with and that's where you'd look for notable changes. I'm getting the hang of it now after a while wearing it. There is an option specifically for BBT, but you can choose to use a manual input instead, so it's quite good.

I did buy a thermometer but, to my shame, I've forgotten to take my temps two days running with it now as I'm still half asleep when my watch vibrates to take the temp 🫣. At this stage, it's interesting just to see what my body is doing.

Thanks for much for taking the time to look :).