It's Official...

I am out this month. For the fourth day in a row, my BBT has dropped. For those who are not BBT savvy, BBT (basal body temperature) is when you take your temperature with a special thermometer (reads out two decimal places instead of just one for a more accurate reading) first thing in the morning at the same time every morning. So for the last 30-ish days (I didn't make the decision to do it until after my cycle started), I've been waking up with Casey's alarm, taking my temperature, and then plotting those temps on a chart.

Ideally, through the first part of your cycle, your temp stays low (for me it was in the 96.7-ish range), dips slightly the day of ovulation, and then spikes way up the day after. On the second part of your cycle (the luteal phase after ovulation), your temperature stays high (for me it was in the 97.8 range). This two part cycle is a biphasic chart, and can help you pin point when ovulation happens. Because it only confirms ovulation after it's already happen, I was pairing this method with other things like tracking my CM (cervical mucus) and using OPKs (ovulation predictor kits).

Here is what my chart looks like for this month:

You can see the biphasic part I'm talking about. Not entirely sure why I had two really high readings in the first part of my cycle, but aside from those readings, that's what a biphasic chart looks like.

Now that you know the basics and have seen the chart, the reason I am out is because on a normal biphasic chart, your temperature will start to decline about 5-6 days out from AF showing up. If you are pregnant, they stay nice and high. Today I had my lowest reading yet (97.66) and I'm now convinced AF is lurking. It's OK though, I don't consider this month a total bust. We finally found a formula that works for me. And now that I'm more comfortable charting BBT, CM and using OPKs, we'll have a much better chance at getting our little rainbow baby.