One of the most annoying parts of conceiving is waiting to get pregnant. Getting pregnant is sometimes very easy while sometimes it is not. If you have been seeking to get pregnant for a long time, charting changes in your basal body temperature can make you conceive much sooner. Basal body temperature is the lowest temperature attained by the body during rest (usually during sleep).

During the first half of your monthly cycle, the estrogen hormone produces an egg and causes woman body temperatures decrease. In the second half of your monthly cycle, the progesterone hormone is the primary hormone in charge until it drops off just before your next menstrual period.

This period is called the luteal phase and this is when ovulation happened. Ovulation causes an increase of one-half to one degree Fahrenheit in your basal body temperature. By charting your basal body temperature every day, in a few months you can begin to predict when this temperature rise wills happen, and thus find the date of ovulation.

In order to have an accurate result, you need basal thermometer. It allows you to read temperature to within 1/10 of degree Fahrenheit while normal thermometers are limited to only 2/10 of degree, that case you will be able to determine your exact body temperature close enough to be able to chart the differences.

The best time to use basal thermometer is when you wake up in the morning. Put it under your tongue immediately and record the temperature on your notebook. Do this every day at the same time for a few months. By charting basal temperature, you will be able to see the peaks in temperature showing when you have ovulated.

Before ovulation, your temperature changes from around 96 to 98 degrees, and when you have ovulated, you can expect to see a spike in temperature ranging from about 97 to 99 degrees. Your fertile time is in the 2-3 days before ovulation and 24 hours after ovulation

There are two main types of basal thermometers, glass basal thermometer and digital basal thermometer. The glass thermometer is very easy to use but the digital thermometer can give you faster results and is more practical. One thing to remember is the digital thermometer can give false readings when its battery is low. Most of basal body thermometers are mercury free, so you do not have to worry if the liquid exposed to the air and other elements. Some come with feature, such as peak temperature indicators, memory recall and back lightning (which is very useful since you may take a reading in the early morning) or beeping that can make basal temperature charting much easier.