FAM fans- help needed

[SapphireLover]

I was wondering if I could asking those of you who follow the FAM method (either for contraception or other wise) a couple of questions. I have started charting about a week ago and have a couple of questions.

1. How long do you wait before you take your temp in the morning? I have been starting to chart, and have my therm by the bed. As soon as I wake up, I give myself a couple of minutes before I open my eyes and then take my temp. This morning I was half awake for about 5 minutes before I took it. Is this ok? Should I be taking it as soon as I am half awake?

2. I have a digital basal thermometer, but the beep is annoying, especially when I am half asleep and if DF is asleep. Is there such thing as a vibrating thermometer? I was thinking a vibrating one would be great as it would let me know when it had finished taking my temperature, without waking us up. A manual thermometer wouldn''t let me know when it had finished taking my temp.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

 

[April20]

Date: 1/10/2010 11:51:46 AM
Author:SapphireLover
I was wondering if I could asking those of you who follow the FAM method (either for contraception or other wise) a couple of questions. I have started charting about a week ago and have a couple of questions.

1. How long do you wait before you take your temp in the morning? I have been starting to chart, and have my therm by the bed. As soon as I wake up, I give myself a couple of minutes before I open my eyes and then take my temp. This morning I was half awake for about 5 minutes before I took it. Is this ok? Should I be taking it as soon as I am half awake?

2. I have a digital basal thermometer, but the beep is annoying, especially when I am half asleep and if DF is asleep. Is there such thing as a vibrating thermometer? I was thinking a vibrating one would be great as it would let me know when it had finished taking my temperature, without waking us up. A manual thermometer wouldn''t let me know when it had finished taking my temp.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

Hi SL-
I take my temp as soon as my alarm goes off (unless I drift off). As long as you don''t get up, it really should be fine. Get up and moving around will tweak your temp. As long as you''re consistant, you should be fine (though double check that with TCOYF).

I haven''t heard of a vibrating thermometer instead of a beep. Mine doesn''t seem to bother DH and I actually fall back asleep while I''m temping. Mine remembers the last temp, which is a lifesaver.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

As long as you haven''t gotten up you should be fine.

Get a thermometer that stores your temp and you''ll be a lot better off...

GOod luck!

 

[SapphireLover]

Thanks for the tips! The noise of the beep is quite quiet, but DF is a light sleeper and its difficult for him to get back to sleep once he''s woken up. I don''t want it to get to become an issue once I go back to working the odd shifts on the ward at the hospital.

The thermometer does store the temp, so I actually check it and mark it down after I''ve got up and dressed, rather than switching the light on straight after taking my temp.

Also, is there a good iPhone app for charting? I have the P Tracker app, but you can''t mark everything on it, or draw the lines that TCOYF teaches you.

 

[cara]

My temp doesn''t shift if I''ve been awake for awhile, as long as I''m still horizontal and comfy under the blankets. You can experiment for yourself also by taking it several times in a morning and seeing what kind of variation you get.

I don''t know what to do about the beep, I''ve had that problem too but decided that I just had to get over it and hope my husband''s sleep isn''t too disturbed.

 

[drk]

I got around the beep by just getting up when I woke up/alarm went off, taking my 7-8 steps to the bathroom, and temping while peeing each morning. I didn''t notice any big changes in the temp because of that. Even on sleep-in weekends, I''d usually wake up within the hour that I tended to temp during, and would just hit the bathroom to take my temp, then crawl back into bed to sleep in.

 

[nicolejrx]

FAM fanatic here! I just started my sixth cycle of charting. My DH is deployed so it has made it super easy to figure out all of my fertility signs without worrying about pregnancy.

As far as your questions go, technically the books say that you should temp as soon as you wake up as laying in bed and being awake can affect your temps. But like another poster mentioned, it doesn''t matter for some people. So, it is just a matter of figuring out if it makes a difference for you. For me, I can still wake up and use the restroom up to 90 minutes before I officially wake up and temp and it doesn''t affect my temps, but I have figured that out over time.

I just have the B-D thermometer which doesn''t have too annoying of a beep but I haven''t seen a vibrating one!

I use the fertility friend mobile website on my iPhone and that works well when I can''t get to my computer in the morning. I like being able to pull up my chart on my phone!
Nicole