Podcast EP 54
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[00:00:00] Tracking when you're trying to conceive doesn't have to feel like a full-time job. And since we're now in the great fertility lock-in, we can make it a little bit simpler and still get all of the data we're looking for. In today's video, we're diving into why it's to track what three methods you should be tracking and how to avoid overwhelm when you've been tracking for a few months.
Let's dive in.
Hi, I'm Sophie Byfield and when I decided I was ready to be a mama, I thought it would be so easy. Get off birth control. Baby dance, like no one's watching. And poof, I was pregnant. But like many of you, that wasn't my story. After months of negative tests, endless treatments, and more supplements than you can count, I realized that getting pregnant isn't about fixing one piece of your fertility puzzle. It's about bringing your whole body. Back into balance so it feels safe enough to conceive. And this is where we focus on what really matters. Healing your whole body so that you can see those two pink lines. Welcome to the Heal to Conceive podcast.
So recently I was on an Ask me Anything session within our community, and one of the ladies was on a tracking break. She was feeling mentally overwhelmed. She was done for the summer and was just going to live her life. And if I'm being honest, I am completely here for it. Tracking once you've [00:01:00] been doing it for a while can feel super overwhelming and sometimes we need to take a break.
But also in the same breath, the data that we are collecting from tracking can make the journey a little bit easier in pinpointing your fertile window in knowing what supplements to take and what things to look for and ask your doctor about. So why do we track in the first place? When you're trying to conceive, tracking is like a GPS for your body.
Tracking tells us that our body is getting ready to ovulate. If it's ovulated and if the egg has enough time to fertilize and implant without that data, we can be left in the dark. We can be left guessing and wondering and try to figure out if we're baby dancing at the right time. I even have people come to me and say they [00:02:00] don't know if they're ovulating, and when you start tracking and you get that data, that question gets cleared up right away.
Tracking CIS is just simply a map. There's no guessing, there's no wondering. It's giving you detailed information about what is going on with your cycle, which can help you get pregnant faster. Now the three main things that we track are your BBT, which is your basal body temperature, OPK, which is just monitoring your LH and your cervical mucus.
Your cervical mucus tells us the doorway is open and your body is gearing up. For ovulation, BBT, we are looking for the shift. After you have ovulated to confirm you dropped an egg. And with opk, we are looking for the lh, which is the hormone that rises when we are ready to release that egg. [00:03:00] So each of the three methods of tracking also have multiple ways that that particular modality can be tried.
Like BBT for example, you can use a thermometer when you first wake up and put it directly under your tongue. You can sleep all night with a temp drop, which is an armband skin temperature thermometer. All of the methods will work. It's about finding the method that works best for you, but BBT isn't the only one that has multiple ways to track it.
With lh, you can use LH strips, the digital version, or even a temp drop or a mirror, and then with cervical mucus that's a little bit more manual or looking at the tissue when you wipe. The name of the game, sis, is about finding a method that makes it easy for you. For me personally, the digital LH strips would stress me out.
It would go from [00:04:00] solid to flashing and I had no idea the. The lead up, it just really just overwhelmed me if you want me to be quite honest. But the strips worked better for me because I could see the line gradually getting darker, which allowed me to better time my baby dancing. Okay. Then something like an Anita when that came on the market Girl game changer for me, but I love data.
If you are somebody who is overwhelmed by data and the information is gonna be too much, and you're gonna be spending more time Googling and researching and wondering what is wrong with you because you're not in the norm, then I suggest you stay away from fertility technology. It ain't worth the mental health headache to be in that world.
Stick with the strips. I know lots of people who have conceived with just the strips and like I talked about in the beginning, [00:05:00] doing all three can be super overwhelming. It can be a lot for some people, so I suggest you make it as simple as possible for you, which one of the methods is easy to do. If BBT stresses you out too much, then let's put it down for a minute.
Let's just stick with our LH and our cervical mucus. We got this. BBT is easy for you. You have your thermometer or you wear your 10 drop and you don't worry about it. You just write the number down and you go about your business. Then girl, stick with it. Just because all three methods give you the most information does not mean that you cannot get pregnant with using one single method.
Don't overwhelm yourself. Make yourself feel good in this journey, sis. We don't have to do it all. Figure out what is low hanging fruit and go from there. [00:06:00] So if you're feeling overwhelmed with all of the track and stuff, 'cause girl, I know I did a couple times, I want you to know these key things. It is about consistency, not perfection.
If I was gonna pick one, I would pick LH strips and stick with that. Number two, it is okay to put it down. It is okay to take a break. Some of my clients know their body so well that they can feel when they're ovulating or when they're gearing up, they can see it. So if you have been tracking for a minute and you're feeling overwhelmed and stressed out by it, put it down sis and just allow your body to do what is doing.
And number three is to lock in on one tracking method, the one that feels the best and easiest for you. And then do that for one month. And if you would like, add another afterwards. Remember, it's all [00:07:00] about progress over perfection. And I want you to know that you got this. And when you don't got this, I got you baby.
Dust for all.
