Temping is the New Black

Some people look good in every single new style to hit the runways. Board shorts, leggins, skinny jeans, you name it, they can pull it off. The rest of the world (and I'm lumping myself in with this group) survive on the staple of the fashion world: black. Anyone can wear it. It can be trendy or dressy or casual. It's flattering without being pretentious.

In much the same way, some people get knocked up just by looking at their husband. Or boyfriend. Or some random guy in a bar. They think, "Oh, I think I'll start thinking about making a plan for when I'm going to begin transitioning off the pill" and two weeks later are yacking their breakfast (and lunch...and dinner) into the toilet and reading What to Expect When You're Expecting. The rest of the world has to work a little harder.

Our first month trying, I blithely skipped into the TTC world, hoping to be part of the blessed TTC elite who, much like the fashion elite, can do no wrong and the world falls into place at their feet. Our second month of trying, a bit of the naivety gone, I still hoped to pull off the latest trend (I'm sure we've all noticed that being pregnant is very in right now). I was that girl in school who kind of dresses like the cool kids and hopes that nobody notices.

This month, I've accepted the fact (looking at my middle school and high school pictures, I should have known all along) that I am not part of the elite. I am achingly normal. I don't look good in bright prints or skinny jeans. I look good in black. So I started doing the one thing that every girl who is TTC can do to level the baby-making playing field as much as possible: I started temping.

For those of you not versed in the techniques of procreation, temping involves taking your basal body temperature before you do anything in the morning...and I mean anything. Before you sit up, get up, pee, brush your teeth, AN-EE-THING. When you ovulate, your body temperature rises and stays higher than normal until you either a.) start your period, or b.) get your BFP. Temping, and then charting the temps you record, can tell you all kinds of things about your cycle, including when and IF you are ovulating and how long your body gives a fertilized egg to implant before clearing it all out to try again.

On the "Getting Pregnant" chat boards, the first thing anyone wants to know if you have a question about what's going on with your body is "Are you charting/temping?" Everybody's doing it (well, almost everybody), and for good reason: it gives all us "normal" girls a way to pull off what comes so easily to some: timing sex as best you can to give you the ultimate chance for getting pregnant.

TH is totally on board with the whole temping/charting thing. In fact, he's the one who sets his alarm in the morning and hands me the thermometer. There's a website where you can go and enter all your temps and it will chart your cycle for you, identifying when (if) you ovulated and when your fertile days are.

I was showing TH my chart this weekend. Since we are still pre-ovulatory, there hasn't been the tell-tale temperature spike. Right now, it's just kind of bouncing up and down.

So TH sees my chart and says "All right! That looks GREAT!"

I, knowing it does not in fact look great because it doesn't look like anything, and knowing he doesn't really know what he's talking about, just look at him and wait for him to continue.

TH: "That's good, right? It makes a W!"

me: :::silence:::

TH: "Wait, what? What am I looking at?"

I think we still have some work to do on the charting knowledge.

But I'm thrilled he's involved and participating, and I'm thrilled I'm one of those girls who looks good in black. The classic looks work for me, and I'm hoping this will, too.