Archive for December, 2009

Basal Body Temperature – BBT

Basal body temperature is the lowest temperature attained by the body during rest (usually during sleep). It is generally measured immediately after awakening and before any physical activity has been undertaken, although the temperature measured at that time is somewhat higher than the true basal body temperature. In women, ovulation causes an increase of one-half to one degree Fahrenheit (one-quarter to one-half degree Celsius) in basal body temperature (BBT); monitoring of BBTs is one way of estimating the day of ovulation.
Worldwide, the basal body temperature method is the oldest and most widely practiced of the fertility awareness methods.

HOW ?
This method is useful to confirm that a woman is ovulating each month and by recording her temperature on a chart over several months she can begin to predict when the most fertile days of her cycle are going to be, which is of course necessary for couples either trying to obtain, or trying to avoid, pregnancy.
If a woman has regular cycles she could use this method to help detect the period of the month that she usually ovulates. In this way she could guess the best time to have intercourse to have the greatest chance of becoming pregnant. However, the BBT method is simply not very easy to use or convenient. It relies on detecting small differences in BBT and this can be unreliable in practice because it is hard for a woman to comply with the testing regime. In addition the results can be influenced by numerous factors including eating spicy food, drinking alcohol, lack of sleep or having a cold. All these things make this method difficult to use and in practice even experienced doctors can find the charts difficult to interpret.

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How to prepare a Pregnancy Calendar ?

How to prepare a pregnancy calendar ?
Your past menstrual cycles will work as a guide for estimating your fertile times. In order to track your menstrual cycle and to identify your expected ovulation follow the step by step process below:

Step 1: Plan on tracking your menstrual cycle for 8 to 12 months.
Step 2: Day 1 will be the first day you start menstruation.
Step 3: Pick the longest and shortest of the cycles from your monthly tracking.
Step 4: The first day of your fertility period is determined by subtracting 18 days from the length of your shortest cycle. If 26 days was your shortest menstrual cycle, take 26 and subtract 18 to come up with the number 8. This means that the first day of your fertility window starts on the 8th day of your cycle.
Step 5: The last fertile day is determined by subtracting 11 from the length of your longest cycle. If 32 days was your longest menstrual cycle, take 32 and subtract 11 to reach the number 21. This means that the last day of your fertility period ends on the 21st day of your cycle.
The time in between these two days is considered your fertility window. In the above example, your fertility period would be from the 8th day of your cycle to the 21st day of your cycle. Your ovulation is expected during this time frame. You cannot get pregnant everyday during this period, but it is sometime during this period that pregnancy can occur.

Determining your fertile period

Fertility awareness is a collection of methods using your body’s natural and normal functioning to determine the days of the month you are most likely to get pregnant. The fertility awareness method is used both as a means of preventing pregnancy as well as targeting the most fertile time for getting pregnant.
The most fertile period is that period in a woman’s life when her chances of getting pregnant are the highest. Each month during ovulation the ovary releases an egg or ovum that travels down to the mouth of the fallopian tubules.
To determine the fertile period of a woman it is necessary to study and analyze the menstruation cycle. It varies between 23 and 35 days among women and many classify the cycle into two parts, before ovulation and post ovulation.
The first day of the period is called day one. During day seven the ovum is getting ready for fertilization and during day seven to day eleven the uterine lining thickens getting ready for the implantation of the fertilized ovum. During day fourteen the ovum is released and it travels down the fallopian tubules. If a sperm is waiting for it the ovum is fertilized and implants itself in the uterine lining resulting in pregnancy. The ovum has a life span of only about 12 to 24 hours. Sperm can survive up to 72 hours inside a woman. In the event that it is not fertilized the ovum breaks down and is shed along with the uterine lining during day twenty five.