Tag: charting comparision

A Day in the Life of a Billings Ovulation Method User

Have you ever wanted to know what it is like to chart with the Billings Ovulation Method? This blog attempts to give an overview of what it is like for one individual to chart with the Billings Ovulation Method (BOM) over a single cycle. I go through each day of the cycle and explain my overall charting habits. All times are just approximate. I get personal and discuss some challenges I experience with natural family planning. BOM involves tracking sensation felt at the vulva along with the visible appearance of cervical mucus as a person goes about their day to day activities.

Day 1: Record heavy bleeding. Heavy bleeding feels wet. Done! Users are not allowed to use heavier days in the Billings method when avoiding pregnancy. This is a true day one of a cycle because it was preceded by a Billings peak day.

Day 2: Record heavy bleeding. Heavy bleeding feels wet. Done!

Day 3. Record medium bleeding. Medium bleeding feels wet. Done!

Day 4: Very light bleeding. It is now possible to observe my basic infertile pattern of dry.

8am: I feel dry and see a small amount of blood.

10am: I still feel dry.

8pm: I still feel dry. I see no mucus. Sex is allowed in the evening of this day. We use this day.

Day 5: Extremely light bleeding. Technically this day is not allowed for intercourse since I used the day before and Billings method rotates alternative evenings. We use this day anyway #rulebreaker

Day 6: I feel dry. I do not see anything. I record this day as “possibly fertile” since I broke a rule and used the day before. Every day after intercourse gets this white stamp in the pre-ovulatory time of the cycle.

Day 7: My basic infertile pattern of dry is still there! I notice nothing the entire day in the bathroom and my vulva sensation is dry. Sex is allowed in the evening. I consider my evening 8pm because I go to bed around 9pm on average. We use this day.

Day 8: I feel dry all day and see nothing. However, this day is not allowed since Billings alternates days. We skip this day.

Day 9: I feel dry all day and see nothing. However, we do not use this available day because we are both tired. It happens!

Day 10:

9am: I feel a bit moist. I don’t see anything when wiping in the bathroom.

11am: Still feel moist. I do not see anything in the bathroom.

2pm: Still feel moist. I do not see anything.

4pm: Still moist. Nothing seen.

4:45pm: Walking to my car from work. Still moist!

8pm: Overall observation for the day is moist. I record it. The fertile window has opened. This is known as the point of change.

Day 11:

7am: I feel moist as soon as I walk to the bathroom. I see very scant clear mucus on the tissue.

I do not see or feel anything for the rest of the day.

8pm: Overall observation for the day is “moist, clear”

Day 12:

7am: I feel moist, but see nothing.

10am: I feel moist, but see something white.

8pm: The feeling remains the rest of the day. I record “moist, white” for the day.

Day 13:

7am: I feel dry.

11am: I still feel dry.

1pm: I feel wet sensation when walking to my office. This is a change, so I keep that in mind.

I feel damp the rest of the day. I never see anything in the bathroom. I record “wet” as the most fertile sensation that day.

Day 14:

6:30am: I immediately feel moist.

9am: I see long clear strings when wiping in the bathroom.

11am: I have a wet sensation when walking around.

3pm: I walk around my work place. I still feel moist.

5pm: I see clear strings again.

8pm: I record “wet, clear strings” on my chart.

Day 15:

7am: I feel a gush as soon as I wake up. I do not see anything in the bathroom.

9am: I see scant, clear mucus on the tissue when wiping.

11am: I feel very wet walking around my work place.

1pm: I do not see anything on the tissue.

3pm: I do not see anything on the tissue.

5pm: I feel wet sensation while making dinner.

8pm: I record “wet, clear” as my observation for the day.

Day 16:

7am: I do not feel or see anything when waking up.

9am: I still do not feel or see anything.

12pm: I go for a 20 minute walk. When I get back, I feel slippery sensation. I go to the bathroom and see copious amounts of long, clear mucus.

8pm: I felt slippery the rest of the day. I record “slippery, long clear” on the chart.

Day 17:

6am: I feel dry when waking up.

8am: I don’t see anything or feel anything.

11am: I don’t see anything or feel anything.

8pm: The day was nothing felt, nothing seen all day. I record dry. This means yesterday was my peak day because it was a changing and developing pattern ending in slippery followed by an abrupt dry up to no longer wet or slippery.

Day 18 and Day 19:

I have the same experience as day 17. I pay attention all day and observe no mucus or sensation.

Day 20:

Ovulation is expected to be over and the cervical mucus plug has re-closed for the cycle. Sex is available any time for the rest of the cycle until day one of menstruation occurs. I can chart, but it is not necessary to wait until the evening and observations are less important as sex may interfere at any time.

Day 28: I record heavy bleeding and the rules restart.

Real Talk: Diffulties / Obstacles With Billings Not Seen on the Chart

These are things that I find can be difficul in my own personal experience. I know that people in really long cycles or with other irregularities may have different issues than me.

Challenge One: Alternative evenings only can be a struggle, and it seems even harder for me right before the fertile window opens due to my mood at this time of the cycle. This follicular phase is much longer for me than my luteal phase on average, and this means alternative evenings is the rule for most of my cycle. If someone has a partner with a conflicting schedule, this can especially be offputting. I think anyone who is going to practice this method should consider whether this is practical for their lifestyle.

Challenge Two: Expected abstinence in Billings can be hard, and I have fairly short fertile windows on average. I originally practiced sympto-thermal, and I switched to Billings when I realized that overall consecutive abstinence was much less overall (for my own cycle, Billings: 9 days, Sympto-Thermal: 14+ days). I tend to break some rules still, but this is much more suitable for my fertility intentions level than sympto-thermal.

Look out for my next blog on “A Day in the Life of a Marquette User.”

Disclaimer: Do not try to learn how to chart from this post. Everyone has their own unique cycle and this is just an example of charting with Billings in a regular cycle. Please reach out to me if you would like to learn this method with me as your guide. Alternatively, you can find a teacher here.

One Cycle Seven Ways: Experimenting with Marquette (Clearblue Monitor), Billings Method, Sympto-Thermal, Daysy, Kegg, DOT, and more!

Over the last several months, I have been testing multiple femtech products (such as Daysy Fertility Tracker, Kegg, DOT) and comparing them to charting methods like Marquette, Billings Ovulation Method, and Sympto-Thermal (NFPTA). These products and methods rely on different fertility signs such as basal body temperature, cervical mucus, urinary hormones, electrolyte levels, and calendar dates.

Disclaimer: Do not attempt to learn to chart using this post. My own experience may not reflect your unique cycles. My fertility intentions may not be your intentions.

Keep in mind that different methods may change safe days over time. The following data is only a snap shot of what fertility windows for avoiding pregnancy could look like. In particular, the Daysy thermometer only has 4 cycles of data on me.

Expected Consecutive Abstinence Over 3 Cycles

Cycle 52

  • Billings Ovulation Method: 15 (9 consecutive)
  • Marquette: 13
  • Sympto-thermal: 16
  • DOT: 12
  • Daysy: 15

Cycle 53

  • Billings Ovulation Method: 14 (8 consecutive)
  • Marquette: 13
  • Sympto-thermal: 13
  • DOT: 12
  • Daysy: 14

Cycle 54

  • Billings Ovulation Method: 16 (9 consecutive)
  • Marquette: 15
  • Sympto-thermal: 19
  • DOT: 12 (EXTREMELY RISKY)
  • Daysy: 15

From this data, you can see that sometimes the amount of expected abstinence does not differ from method to method, and sometimes it differs a whole lot! On my last cycle with DOT, it ended my avoidance window on the day after peak fertility occured. Fertility is still potentially high on the 3 days following this date.

Billings method almost always had the least consecutive abstinence because it relies on real-time fertility signs to open the window. However, because it rejects calculation rules and relies on one primary sign, only alternative evenings are ever allowed for pre-ovulatory sex. In addition, heavy days of menstruation are not allowed due to the possibility of early ovulation, and the bleeding obscuring the opening of the fertile window.

Other methods like Daysy, Sympto-thermal, DOT, and Marquette do allow pre-ovulatory consecutive sex, but most of that falls during menstruation for my cycle ranges (25 to 30 days).

Whatever method works best for someone is very dependent on their lifestyle and what someone is willing to diligently track.

The Same Chart Seven Ways

The highlighted days represent days to not use in order to avoid pregnancy with these methods.

My hearts are left on to show the fertile window and for authenticity. Do not use these charts to try to learn the rules of any method or to determine when sex is safe. You will see some broken rules based on my own personal intention level and on the fact that not all fertility signs will show the same window.

The Billings Ovulation Method draws the fertile window based on vulva sensation and cervical mucus. Any heavy bleeding is considered potentially fertile because it obscures readings and ovulation can always happen early. It requires alternating evenings for sex during the established basic infertile pattern.
This is the Marquette Method while using only urinary hormones and calculation rules. Fertile window opening determined by calculation rule based on last 6 cycles or first “H” reading on the Clearblue monitor. Clearblue measures estrogen and luteinizing hormone. My first window is also closed by a progesterone test in addition to meeting PPHLL rules.
This is the double-check sympto-thermal method per Natural Family Planning Teachers Association (NFPTA) rules. It opens the fertile window based on the shortest cycle in the last year minus 20. It closes the fertile window based on cervical mucus and basal body temperature.
This is a chart with the Daysy Fertility Tracker. This basal body thermometer learns your patterns over time and opens the fertile window based on past cycle data. The fertile window changes with time, and this is technically my 3rd Daysy cycle. Caution days and Red X days are for avoiding intercourse. Daysy does not allow the user to mark temperatures questionable, but I have marked two days questionable because I drank alcohol or had the heater on.
This example chart includes my cervical mucus notes for more context. DOT is a calendar based method that looks at the last 12 cycles of data. Only people in regular cycles can use DOT. Black moons are days available for intercourse based on the calendar method. In the next line, I also have included Kegg. Kegg predicts ovulation for trying to conceive purposes only, so I am including it as a bonus comparison. By reading the electrolyte levels in my cervical mucus, it determined that these 3 days were the most fertile days of the cycle. A full Kegg review is forthcoming in December 2020.
This is a resting heart rate chart. Resting heart rate has been shown to correlate with the menstrual cycle. I convert my heart rate like this: 69 = 96.9, 70 =97.0, 71 = 97.1, etc to be able to fit it onto the graph. You can see that it very closely followed my ovulatory pattern.
Here is my chart with all the data in one. It is so cool how different fertility signs draw the fertile window!

Unfortunately, my Mira Fertility sticks were flawed, so I had to remove that data from this experiment. In the future, I will do a comparison post also using this device. I am currently still testing the Kegg device, and a review with full Kegg charts is forthcoming in December. Kegg cannot be converted to display on the Read Your Body app, so I could only include the fertile days in this post.

Do you have any questions about all of these methods?

Consider coming to my free Instagram Live on femtech on November 28th. You can find me @chartyourfertility.

On December 12th, I’m offering a “pay what you can” introduction session that is minimum $5 to $30 USD on regular FABM methods and what the main differences are. Reach out to me if you would like to come.

Finally, a special shout to the Body Literacy Collective and the Read Your Body app for making this post possible by creating the most versatile charting app on the market!