Hey! I'm a newbie here on CMOMs and my DH and I have been TTC for about 7 months. I have never charted, although I have tried OPK's (they stress me out something awful!). A friend of mine is seeing a fertility doctor and he is having her chart her cycles for a few months before taking further action. I figured that charting certainly couldn't hurt and if it comes to point where God leads me to see a fertility doc, I will have already done my homework. So ladies, how do I take the plunge?? I'm smack-dab in the middle of a cycle right now. I assume that I need to wait until my next cycle begins??

Hi! I would start with reading Taking Charge Of Your Fertility. Your library might have a copy. :-D

http://www.amazon.com/Taking-Charge-Your-Fertility-Anniversary/dp/0060881909/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241717566&sr=8-1

Then I would jump onto Fertility Friend and sign up for their free course. It teaches you the basics and is great. You can also set up a free chart there. It is very helpful.

http://www.fertilityfriend.com/

Happy charting it is very interesting! :-D Lots of the ladies around here are experts so you should be able to get lots of help.

Kathaleen

Ditto what Kathaleen said...FF has a great mini course on everything related to charting. It really helped me 2 years ago! sending baby dust your way!!

Thanks for the suggestions, girls! I will try them out immediately :-D

yes, start with your next cycle. I ditto what was already said. You can also search the ttc for questions and answers. Charting is a exciting thing to do since you are learning more about your body, but it can be frustrating trying to figure everything out since our bodies are constantly changing.
Can you tell us a little about your cycles? are you about 28 days? do you know what signs to look for that indicate Ovulation is in sight?
Welcome to c-moms and ttc it definately is a journey. both physically and spiritually!

Hey there newby!! :) Welcome to the TTC board! Esther and Ruth are our local Fertility/Charting guru's~ ;) They have been sooooooo helpful to me (and everyone) in learning more about charting and such. They got me started on Fertility Friend and it has been so helpful. Feel free to ask any questions here, we're not squimish! :) I really got a lot of use out of Fertility Friend's FAQ's too, they were very helpful. I also found it helpful to just go ahead and pay for the VIP membership, it's not terribly expensive and a lot comes with it. Hope you receive a blessing soon! :D

Yep, Esther (savedbygrace) and Ruth (BlessedMommy) are our local experts :) When I first started charting and was pretty confused by the whole thing, Ruth recommended I take a Natural Family Planning Class ( http://www.ccli.org )and it was really helpful.

Thanks so much for all your responses! I started BC about 8 years ago, when I was 14, because of another medication I was taking (Accutane). Because of this, my knowledge of my "normal" cycle is very limited. Since I've been TTC my cycles have ranged anywhere from 21 to 40 days...crazy, I know! A clear pattern hasn't been established as of yet. I don't notice any pronounced cramps that would lead me to believe I ovulating. If I did feel them, I'd probably pass it off as gas anyway! I've also read where you ladies talk about measuring CM. I have never noticed any EWCM, but I wasn't looking either...

I took Ms. Plaid's advice and ordered Taking Charge this afternoon. I also joined FF and looked around a little. I'm on the bandwagon, girls!