A Beginner's Guide to Charting, Part 1

Also see necessary definitions.

Let’s talk a little first about what charting is and why I think all women should do it. Charting is a component of natural family planning (NFP) and the fertility awareness method (FAM). Charting allows you to analyze your fertility signs and determine your fertile and non-fertile days.

If you remember your 6th grade sex ed class, you remember how easy it seemed to get pregnant. Not quite so. Men are fertile all the time. Semen is always being produced; it always has sperm (in healthy men of course). Women on the other hand are not always fertile. We are not constantly releasing mature eggs to be fertilized at any time of the month. Most of the time, women are fertile for about five to seven days of any given cycle.

Why is this important? I’m no feminist (well, some would probably consider me one…), but I feel the birth control and birthing industries are to entirely male-dominated. Culturally, we consider it a woman’s responsibility to take birth control pills, even though women are not fertile all the time. Some even consider it a woman’s responsibility to make sure her partner wears a condom – even though that’s not her equipment shall we say. Birth control pills are costly, both financially and physically. There have been too many women who have had adverse effects from these supposedly “safe” pills. (I’m one; you’ll hear me rant about it all the time.)

Understanding your fertility through charting is non-invasive – unlike pills, spermicides (do I really want something that toxic in me!? In there!?), shots, patches, and surgical procedures. The United States has one of the highest incidences of surgical sterilization FOR WOMEN in the entire the world.

Understanding your fertility gives you more understanding about your body than taking something. This goes beyond trying to conceive. It can help you determine when your period is to be expected, when you can safely have unprotected monogamous sex, and where to start in diagnosing hormonal problems. It also gives you an intimate understanding of how your body works.

For today, we’ll just look at the supplies you’ll need. They are really simple and overall cheap. I’ll also let you know my personal preferences here.

1.A good thermometer. The heart of charting is based on your BBT. This is the resting temperature of your body – the next post will talk about how to determine it.

I like a digital thermometer that has a memory function. You need one that goes at least to the tenth decimal (97.6), but I like one that goes to the hundredth (97.68). The one that I’ve used is a BBT from Walmart. I bought my first years ago when I first started charting, and it lasted until I got pregnant. To be safe, I bought another after I started charting again post-partum. It’s white with a pink tip, and is specifically a BBT thermometer. It’s been very accurate, and it beeps when then temp is read after 60 seconds.

I tried a regular thermometer that was ready and beeped after 9 seconds. I found that it wasn’t very accurate for me. There are some that say that you must have a BBT thermometer to be accurate for those lower temperatures; that regular thermometers are just looking for fevers. I don’t know, but personally I’ve found that my BBT worked better for me. It’s worth saving your money buying one good thermometer than buying two after you don’t like the first. You’ll want this thermometer to be only for your charting.

2. Pencils and downloaded charts such as these:

(If you choose to do the next supplies, you won’t need the pencils and paper charts unless you want a backup).

Charting, in a way, is like graphing in high school math. You mark specific number points and connect the dots. You’ll want a pencil in case you make a mistake. The nice thing about pencil and paper charts is that they are relatively low-cost. I don’t regularly use them, though I have if I’m out-of-town and can’t use the next option – computer required.

3. Charting software: such as Ovusoft, Fertility Friend, and others.

The first thing you should know about charting software is this: you must be smarter than your software. Buying (or using free) software is not a substitute for understanding your own fertility and how to chart it. This is especially important when you are first starting out.

For example, most charting software starts out assuming you have a 28-day cycle, the average. It will make predictions based on those values. These predictions may very well be incorrect if your cycles are not average. However, the longer you use the software, the more it will understand your personal fertility.

I personally use Ovusoft. I bought it in 2007, and paid a one-time fee. In 2009 while I was pregnant, our computer crashed and I lost the software. Fortunately, customer service was able to send me the activation code. I downloaded the software again and started using it at no additional cost. It’s a very user-friendly software. The book that goes with it cannot be recommended HIGHLY ENOUGH! Every woman should own a copy of Taking Charge of Your Fertility. It’s explains the finer points of charting – things I won’t get into on a post.

I’ve also used Fertility Friend. It’s a nice simple software, online-based. And it’s free (though additional features are available by subscription). I highly, highly recommend putting it on the FAM setting if you do use it. The others are less accurate, especially in your first few cycles. Every once in a while, even on the FAM setting, Fertility Friend gets confused and doesn’t give you accurate assessments. This is where you need to be smarter than your software.

4. Your fingers. Yep! But I’ll explain this in later posts.

For the record: I have no affliation with any of the products mentioned here.