Here come some helpful tips about charting the woman’s Basal Body Temperature:
• Any woman, who uses this method, should make a dot or a circle for her temperature every day, and then all these dots should be connected with a line, so, that it will be able to see the patterns;
• If a woman considers that one day her Basal Body Temperature might be falsely high or low because of the difference in waking time, or because of some illness, she should still chart it, but she should not connect it to the rest of her line. It would be good to make a special note for herself about the possible reason of this temperature difference;
• In case if the temperature falls between the two numbers, the lower one should be recorded;
• The chart should be observed for the classic pattern: a series of lower temperatures, which are followed by a temperature rise (this means that the ovulation has occurred), and then a series of high temperatures. In case if the woman’s graph matches this pattern, she practically be certain that her most fertile day was on or just before the day, on which there was a temperature rise.
Drawing a Coverline
There are women, who do not have this typical Basal Body Temperature rise. Instead of the rise these women may observe a slow or irregularly – patterned rise in temperature. Therefore, whether the graph follows the typical pattern or not, it is always advisable to draw a so – to – say “coverline” in order to be able to see her most fertile days. This coverline should separate pre – ovulatory from post – ovulatory temperatures.
Here are the steps of drawing a coverline:
1.In order to draw this coverline, the first thing a woman should do is to examine her chart and find the first temperature present, which is at least two – tenth of a degree higher than it was the previous six days;
2. Then, taking into consideration only these six days, a woman should identify the day, on which there was the highest temperature, and to this temperature one – tenth of a degree is to be added;
3. A horizontal line should be drawn across the graph at the level of the temperature a woman calculated. This is the very coverline;
4. The first temperature, that occurs to be risen above this coverline, represents the day of ovulation.
The Basal Body Temperature Method Effectiveness
This Method of Fertility Awareness, if the BBT is recorder for several months in a row, is considered to be quite an accurate one if it goes about detecting when the ovulation occurs, however, it is not able to predict when it is about to happen. This is why the typical effectiveness rate is only about 80%. Moreover, the reliability of the Basal Body Temperature Method can be influenced by the following factors:
Illness;
Interrupted Sleep Cycles;
Smoking Tobacco and / or Drinking Alcohol;
Emotional Distress;
Using an Electric Blanket.
Anyway, the Basal Body Temperature Method of Natural Family Planning would be much more accurate, if it is applied in combination with other methods of Fertility Awareness.
Advantages of the Basal Body Temperature Method
This method of Fertility Awareness is quite an inexpensive one, as except the investment of between $5 and $10 for a basal body thermometer, there is no need to spend any money;
The Basal Body Temperature Method can prove to be very effective, if used correctly and consistently;
With the help of this method any woman can get to know how to read her body’s signals;
This method of Natural Family Planning may be used by women, who have irregular menstrual cycles;
Disadvantages of the Basal Body Temperature Method
The Basal Body Temperature Method is considered to be inconvenient, as it is necessary to check the temperature the first thing in the morning;
This Fertility Awareness Method can be very messy;
Any unusual event, such as illness, emotional stress, bad sleep, extra moving can disrupt the woman’s menstrual cycle, which will lead to skewing her pattern for that month;
A woman may need practice from her physician, nurse, gynecologist or any other trained person;
The Basal Body Temperature Method does not pinpoint exactly when the ovulation is about to occur, and it can take two or three months for a pattern to emerge.
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