fertility friend or TCOYF software?

[mokey4]

Hey everyone, I'm new here. In fact, I've just read through most of Taking Charge of Your Fertility, and I'm on my 2nd day of charting. I think it will take me a couple of months to really figure out what the different kinds of cervical fluid look like, and get used to taking my temp first thing

Comments

[papilio_luna]

I'm a really really light sleeper and the 3 hours of sleep thing is hard for me because I rarely sleep for 3 hours at a stretch. I've started just temping the first time I wake up in the AM, which is rarely when I actually have to get up--normally I wake up around 4ish and then fall back to sleep or just toss and turn until my alarm goes off. So, husband be damned, that thermometer beeps and he can just deal with it at whatever time I wake up.

Though last night I had a dream that my thermometer had a vibrate setting like my cell phone. Now THAT would be something!

[beanrows]

I like FF well enough, although it certainly can make mistakes (especially if you don't have it on the FAM setting). I initially gave up on charting by hand in part because my pre-O temps tend to be too low to record on the standard charts, but I'm thinking of going back to it and/or making my own charts.

I did the 15-day trial run of OvuSoft when I happened to be going through a long anovulatory stretch. It kept detecting ovulation where there definitely wasn't any, as though it were really, really determined to put the little egg thing somewhere. FF seems to be slightly less gung-ho on the FAM setting, but you should definitely go by the rules outlined in TCOYF over anything it tells you.

[twentymilehike]

When I first started charting I tried two different online places, and eventually I would spend so much time messing around on the site that it was really taking up a lot of my time. I ended up writing the temps down, and then entering a bunch all in at once, but that ended up not being really helpful if I was not in front of a computer and wanted to know how fertile I was. I ended up downloading paper charts from ovusoft.com, with the intent to enter them online later, but several months have gone by and I've just been charting on paper. Honestly, it's SO much easier for me interperet it myself if it's on paper. Everyone has their own thing that they like, but I'm glad I tried online, excel charts, AND paper, because I found what really worked the best for me. I would suggest trying a variety of things for now, and then after you do it a while, you'll just sort of fall into the pattern of doing the one that works the best for you

[caitilin]

1) I have used Ovusoft from TCOYF since 2003 now. I really like it. I did use that and FF for a while to compare and probably because Ovusoft had more of my past history, I think it was more accurate. I have used it for 2 cycles while still on BC so I could get in the habit of charting, several cycles trying to avoid, ttc with my son#1, post pardom while breastfeeding and trying to make sense of my wonky hormone confused cycles, then again ttc for son #2. Once this one is born we will be charting with Ovusoft again to avoid

[aunteater]

I can't keep up with online charting-- if I have to go upstairs, boot up the computer, and enter data... it's not gonna get done. I print out the paper charts from the garden of fertility website, and those have worked perfectly well for me for years-- I keep on on my bedside table and fill in the info first thing every morning. I've been thinking of entering a month here and there into the software to see what it says, and to be able to compare with others... but so far I'm too lazy.

[mokey4]

Wow, this is an old post! Since I posted this I got pretty good at charting and didn't even need to make charts- I just wrote down the data and could tell what was going on just by keeping track. Of course then I went and got pregnant, had a baby, and I still haven't had a menstrual cycle since May 2008!

No harm done, it's just funny to look back on this old part of my life...

[aunteater]

haha! I didn't even look at the date, I've just been reading through posts by topic.