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I started charting my temps over a year ago. From doing it I found that I didn't ovulate. You need to make sure it is a basal thermometer. I got mine at Walmart for $10.... it is so well worth it. I also recommend the book, Taking Charge of your Fertility by Toni Weschler. It is a wealth of knowledge and explains everything about charting your temps. I got this on Amazon.com for maybe $13. I highly recommend this book if you don't really know a whole lot about temping -which I didn't. Good luck!!

Hey Nikki, I'm charting too this is going on my third cycle and I find it very interesting once you past your first cycle or two. Charts are not complicated at all. You just take your temp first thing in the AM before moving and going pee or anything. It helps usually if you keep the thermonitor by your bedside. Digital ones work the best, mine was only 2 dollars at Walmart so, they are not complicated. After you take your temp. then look on the chart where you write the days date and on the left hand side there's a list of 96.0 all the way up to probably 99.0 some go higher or lower. the numbers are usually counted by .2, .4, .6 ect...until you get to 97.0 and then it starts over. IN between each number is a space that's the odd number points like, .1, .3., .5 ect. so when you find the line for your temp mark it by putting a dot on it the next day do the same but connect the dots to together by using a line (kinda like connect the dots game), most charts have places so you can mark when you have your period, when you have sex, some even have a space for medications, and CM too. A very simple and free chart is at http://www.fertilityfriend.com you just fill in the blanks and it keeps the data for you, I use it and I noticed other women on here do to, it's very helpful, I use that and a paper chart my ob/gyn gave me too, sometimes I compare if I messed up on something or what not. These charts are hard to mess up on...they are very simple I just wish my ob/gyn taught me this when I was younger. I have PCOS too and VERY irregular cycles, one month my cycle was 76 days the next only 25 days and now I'm in the middle of ovulating so God knows when I'll start if I do.(fingers crossed). Speaking of when you ovulate after charting you will notice one day for example if your temps have been approx. between 96.7 to 97.8 well, sometime durring your cycle your temp will jump all of a sudden from 97.8 to maybe 98.5 or higher and stay up for most women a week or two other shorter and some longer don't know every woman is different...this is my first time actually ovulating so, it's kinda new to me too..if it wasn't for me charting I probably wouldn't have known. So, charting is a very good and cheap way to monitor your cycles, but it should never take place of a doctors advice. Next time you go to the dr. ask him/her for a BBT chart they should have them...lots of women chart or some online have some you can download and print out if you don't wanna ask your dr. I hope I covered and/or made sense to you if not I'm sure others will respond too. Well, best of luck with you and hope everything works out for the good, let me know how it goes!

You can also go to WWW.FertilityFriend.Com all you have to do is input your daily temps and it will let you know when you should ovulate, what Cd you are on and any other questions you may have.

Thank you all for the advice, it helped a lot!
I started my period today, so is it too late for me to start charting for this cycle? My last cycle was almost 50 days, so I really want to figure this out.
When I talked to my doctor, he told me just to take it easy and keep trying for a while, because I am still young.
But that was before I realized that my periods are that irregular, and if I am not ovulating, my age won't do me any good.
My doctor just treats me like an idiot because I am young and foreign, it is scary that I feel like the help I get here is so much better!

Hey Nikki, ur dr. is right in a way that you do need to relax or try...cause stressing over things like this can make matters worse. How old are you? I'm 23 and been ttc for almost a year-this summer. My first ob/gyn was a jerk, all he cared about was making money...and 98% of the women in his office were already either pregnant or trying for their second child so, when it came to me he took on look at me and told me I should have weight loss surgery because I'm overweight and that was his answers to every question I had...funny...I switch ob/gyns got a second opinion and actually found out that my new ob/gyn disagrees with him and said yes, I do need to lose weight but, I'm not that fat enough to take drastic measures in having surgery. In fact every time I visit his office I seem to have lost weight so I'm doing something right...but, anyways...if you aren't 100% comfortable or get along with your dr. or even if you have some small doubts about his/her opinion in treatment then ALWAYS seek another dr. if possible, perhaps maybe one who speaks your language if possible. It's your body, you know what's happening..what's right and what's wrong...if you're not happy...trying to explain this to ur current dr. could mean misunderstands and possibly legal matters later on and more complications...so, ALWAYS make sure communication is open and CLEAR as much as possible. After all, you're either paying or you're insurance is paying and it's only fair. As far as when you can start your charting the first day of your period is always the best time to start....if you started your period today then today would be CD1 (cycle day 1) but just in case you didn't take your temp. this morning then you can start tomorrow...but, asap is always best. Your cycle charting goes from CD1 being first day of your period and continues until you start your period again that would be your second cycle and so forth...hope you get it, and good luck!

Nikki- Since your period just started it is a great time to start charting. The charts start at the first day of period until the last of your period. Don't worry if you miss a few days in the beginning. Fertilty Friend is great and you can do it for free if you want. Good luck!

Charting is super easy. I bought the digital basal thermometer sold in the pharmacy section at my local wal mart. i bought a pad of graph paper, and started charting. it only took a couple months for me to get preggers. I'm due the end of oct. hope this helps you out. Good luck!

Well, once again, thanks for the advice. I just started charting today on that online thing, so I hope it goes well.
It does scare me a little, I mean, what if I do find out that I am not ovulating? Or what if I am fine? I don't know which kinds of infertility that can be helped and all that, so I don't even know what to hope for.
And MusikGurl, I am 22 and we've been trying since August 2005, so I know that I still have a few months left before I start to panic. My doctor told me to come back in June if I haven't gotten pregnant yet.
But the thing is, my husband and I are still in out honeymoon-mood, so if I've been ovulating, it's not very likely that we missed it more than once. And that makes me think that we have a problem of some kind.