I have been going back and forth on whether to go all out and track everything or to just wing it again or to start slowly and focus just on CM for a cycle. After much debate, I’ve decided to go for it and track everything for the next cycle. I think knowledge is power and even if it makes me a bit obsessed, it's the better alternative for me. I will be tracking cervical fluid, cervix position/firmness/openness, other symptoms/specifics and BBT. I’m hoping that I will then at least be able to tell that I am in fact ovulating and around when in my cycle that takes place which will also help me predict when AF is due. I’m also interested in drawing correlations between stress and exercise in my life and my cycles so I am going to do my best to track that too. I was wondering if maybe last cycle I was suddenly de-stressed and that’s why my cycle lasted so long… have you ever heard of this? I know it’s opposite of what all the literature says, but I can’t pinpoint any particular stress that would have delayed ovulation in my last cycle and it was a time of major stress release for me. This is the main argument in my decision to go for it, at least if I had been tracking that last cycle, maybe I would have an idea of what caused what happened to happen. :)
Next steps:
- Start tracking CM and cervix position now – today was my first day. (You can check out my chart even though there’s nothing to see there yet from the new ticker in the top right of my page - Thanks to Stephanie for explaining how to add it! I haven't purchased the VIP version. Is it worthwhile?)
- Get a BBT thermometer – I need someone to tell me what model is good and where to get it, I’m in Canada. I couldn’t find one at Walmart or Shoppers Drug Mart. Or I can always just order it online. I think I want a digital thermometer that beeps when done and has the recall function. Backlight would be a plus but not required
I might wait on buying the thermometer until AF shows up because in the slight chance that she doesn’t, I don’t want to have spent the money needlessly.
I bought my BBT Thermometer at Target for $8 USD. You should be able to find one at any drugstore for pretty inexpensive - I recommend checking your BBT, it's the easy to do. I track my BBT & CM but have yet to do my Cervix Positioning. Have you thought about doing OPKs? I am not going to do those unless we aren't successfull the first few months. I think you have a great plan though!
ReplyDeleteI have read about OPK's but haven't thought too much about them. They seem costly. I think my plan would be the same as yours, if we aren't successful for a few months, I'll consider investing in additional tools to help!
DeleteI can't wait for Target to get to Canada!! It sounds like such a magical place.
The cervix positioning is actually pretty interesting. I had never given it any thought before TTC, barely even knew it existed but it makes so much sense. From reading TCOYF, I don't think it's a necessary sign that requires tracking, but I think it will be good to corroborate the other signs we track - CM and BBT.
VIP on FF? Yeah, I like it and I think a must if you are the obsessive type who wants to see it from all angles. That and you get more access to previous cycles if it does happen to take a while. I like the ability to really define my search through the chart gallery etc. I would go through and play with everything, let your VIP trial run out and then see if you miss anything. :-) Cheap as chips though. I have the app on my iphone too.
ReplyDeleteI downloaded FF about 6 months ago on my iphone before I was educated on all of this, just as a way to track AF and estimate when ovulation would be... so I didn't even try out the VIP trial version. Maybe I'll sign up using a different email address just to try it out! Although it is really cheap. Thanks for your thoughts!
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