Wake up at the same time every day (be it 3am or 9am) after at least 3 hours of sleep.  But based on your million excuses that is not possible. 

OK, calm down. For some people's schedules, temping won't work. Shift work, toddlers, etc. In which case they settle for opks or whatever.

If you are serious about trying temping, I think it could work for you! You said you work 12-9? Why can't you go to bed earlier than 2am? Get home at 10, have a quick dinner, and it sounds like you can be in bed by midnight. Then set an alarm for when DH is likely to be waking you up anyway (6-7am) and temp then. Go back to sleep if you need more rest after that time. 

Because you go to bed so late I'm assuming you must do your shower/hygiene at night? Can you move any of that to the morning, by chance? Is there anything you could move to the morning so that you could just wake up at 6 or 7 instead of 9? 

If all of these changes sound too drastic to you, just keep temping through the fluctuating temperatures. You might still see an obvious shift when you ovulate. 

kat81again2:

OK, calm down. For some people's schedules, temping won't work. Shift work, toddlers, etc. In which case they settle for opks or whatever.

If you are serious about trying temping, I think it could work for you! You said you work 12-9? Why can't you go to bed earlier than 2am? Get home at 10, have a quick dinner, and it sounds like you can be in bed by midnight. Then set an alarm for when DH is likely to be waking you up anyway (6-7am) and temp then. Go back to sleep if you need more rest after that time. 

Because you go to bed so late I'm assuming you must do your shower/hygiene at night? Can you move any of that to the morning, by chance? Is there anything you could move to the morning so that you could just wake up at 6 or 7 instead of 9? 

If all of these changes sound too drastic to you, just keep temping through the fluctuating temperatures. You might still see an obvious shift when you ovulate. 

Some people mentally can't wind down after a shift that quickly. I know with my husband, when he worked 2nds, he wouldn't get to be before 1-2AM after getting home at 11.  But I agree with temping around the time your husband wakes up, that would still give you at least 3 hours of sleep, then go back to sleep. On your days off, things will be a little different, but I would think FF could pick up on that pattern?

krptcmschfmkr128:

kat81again2:

OK, calm down. For some people's schedules, temping won't work. Shift work, toddlers, etc. In which case they settle for opks or whatever.

If you are serious about trying temping, I think it could work for you! You said you work 12-9? Why can't you go to bed earlier than 2am? Get home at 10, have a quick dinner, and it sounds like you can be in bed by midnight. Then set an alarm for when DH is likely to be waking you up anyway (6-7am) and temp then. Go back to sleep if you need more rest after that time. 

Because you go to bed so late I'm assuming you must do your shower/hygiene at night? Can you move any of that to the morning, by chance? Is there anything you could move to the morning so that you could just wake up at 6 or 7 instead of 9? 

If all of these changes sound too drastic to you, just keep temping through the fluctuating temperatures. You might still see an obvious shift when you ovulate. 

Some people mentally can't wind down after a shift that quickly. I know with my husband, when he worked 2nds, he wouldn't get to be before 1-2AM after getting home at 11.  But I agree with temping around the time your husband wakes up, that would still give you at least 3 hours of sleep, then go back to sleep. On your days off, things will be a little different, but I would think FF could pick up on that pattern?

Ah, yes, that is a very good point. I fall asleep easily at night and wake up easily in the morning even though DH is the opposite I insensitively forgot that other people are really not like me! On the flip side, I find it very hard to get back to sleep if I am woken up early so I was thinking that if the OP has to get up at 6 or 7 to temp she might have to just be up for the day. 

OP, I hope that you can work with either being a night owl or being a morning person. If you're a morning person, I hope you can quickly transition from working to sleeping after you get home. If you're a night owl, I hope that you will be so tired at 6/7 that you can fall back asleep after a quick temp break at that time. 

If you find both hard, maybe temping is just not for you. Or you can temp through the fluctuations. People on this board make a really big deal about temping and for reason, but it's not the be-all, end-all. Opks, combined with tracking cm, can accomplish quite a bit. 

Have you tried V temping?

I find it is more forgiving when it comes to sleep patterns.

At least for me.

Temp at 6 am when your husband gets up.  Even if you don't go to bed until 2, your still getting 4 hours of sleep.  That should be enough to get consistent temps.  Do you know if you are a mouth breather?  That can also make your temps inconsistent.  If you are a mouth breather try vaginal temping.  GL.

Twinkie0612:

Temp at 6 am when your husband gets up.  Even if you don't go to bed until 2, your still getting 4 hours of sleep.  That should be enough to get consistent temps.  Do you know if you are a mouth breather?  That can also make your temps inconsistent.  If you are a mouth breather try vaginal temping.  GL.

All of this.  OP, your schedule doesn't sound as crazy as you think compared to a lot of people.  You can make this work, you just have to want to.

Pretty sure 3AM to 6AM is a 3 hour block of sleep. Temp when your husband gets up and then go back to sleep until 9. Pretty damn simple. There is nothing in your schedule that prevents you from doing this properly. Quit making excuses.

My DH gets up at like 4:15 for work, I go to bed around midnight... even if I toss and turn for an hour, it's still over 3. He hands me the thermometer and I temp while mostly asleep, then get right back to sleeping. Even if you go to bed at 2-3 , couldn't you just temp when your DH gets up for work? Good luck.

The most important part of temping is to have three hours of sleep before you do it, doing it at the same time every day is ideal but not as important. Your shift stays the same all the time, so it's not even nearly as crazy as some women on here who have rotating shifts that change all the time and still manage to temp successfully, so you have at least that much going for you that others don't. Either you'll be serious about temping and do it, or not, its really up to you.  As PPs have said, you can try just OPKs/CM and see how that goes, but as so many of us here have found, temps just give that extra bit of info that we really need to pinpoint our cycles accurately. 

But based on your laundry list of excuses you're not in the mindset to even give it an honest try, and maybe not quite as ready for TTC as you'd like to think. If you think waking up for half a minute once a day to temp is so inconvenient and impossible, a baby will really throw you for a loop!

Thank you EVERYone for your input. I understand why not everyone sees my situation as hard to work with but as stated in OP I have trouble sleeping. I can't wind down when I get home, no matter how I try. I also can't fall back asleep in the mornings for at least an hour and so it really messes me up when he does wake me up. I'm so tired all throughout the day and then when I get home I'm all wound up. For 8 years I was a morning person and got up for work around 4am was at work at 6 and off by 2 and was in bed by 10 or 11 on a super late night and my new shift just doesn't work well for my sleeping even though I've been on it for a year now...my body hasn't adjusted and I don't think it will...I guess not everyone has a hard time when sleep schedules aren't normal for them and it makes it harder to understand just how hard it is to fall asleep.

I understand how hard it can be to fall asleep. I struggle with it as well.

It's still an excuse.

 

krystlelynn212:

Thank you EVERYone for your input. I understand why not everyone sees my situation as hard to work with but as stated in OP I have trouble sleeping. I can't wind down when I get home, no matter how I try. I also can't fall back asleep in the mornings for at least an hour and so it really messes me up when he does wake me up. I'm so tired all throughout the day and then when I get home I'm all wound up. For 8 years I was a morning person and got up for work around 4am was at work at 6 and off by 2 and was in bed by 10 or 11 on a super late night and my new shift just doesn't work well for my sleeping even though I've been on it for a year now...my body hasn't adjusted and I don't think it will...I guess not everyone has a hard time when sleep schedules aren't normal for them and it makes it harder to understand just how hard it is to fall asleep.

I still fail to see the problem.  It takes a while to wind down before you fall asleep.  Big deal.  That alone probably won't affect your temps and as long as you DO eventually fall asleep and have 3 hours of sleep before you wake and temp, you're fine.  If your H is already waking you up so why not temp when he does?

ETA: clarity

gscoville:

The most important part of temping is to have three hours of sleep before you do it, doing it at the same time every day is ideal but not as important. Your shift stays the same all the time, so it's not even nearly as crazy as some women on here who have rotating shifts that change all the time and still manage to temp successfully, so you have at least that much going for you that others don't. Either you'll be serious about temping and do it, or not, its really up to you.  As PPs have said, you can try just OPKs/CM and see how that goes, but as so many of us here have found, temps just give that extra bit of info that we really need to pinpoint our cycles accurately. 

But based on your laundry list of excuses you're not in the mindset to even give it an honest try, and maybe not quite as ready for TTC as you'd like to think. If you think waking up for half a minute once a day to temp is so inconvenient and impossible, a baby will really throw you for a loop!

Seriously?  

I'm a pretty serious insomniac - I wake up randomly at all hours of the night, and always have trouble falling asleep either when I first go to bed or once I wake up in the middle of the night. I completely understand sleep problems. But I still temp, and I see a very clear shift even though I sometimes temp at the wrong time or without even getting my full three hours of sleep before I temp. I just do it no matter what my sleep patterns are, no excuses, and it works.

Ultimately, though, I'm just not sure what you're really looking for here, you're so very determined to convince us you're unique in how hard temping might be for you, and none of our advice seems to be what you need.  So just don't temp then, the gist of all of your excuses is that you won't do it anyways, you don't need to keep telling us why you can't.

Pikachu369:

gscoville:

The most important part of temping is to have three hours of sleep before you do it, doing it at the same time every day is ideal but not as important. Your shift stays the same all the time, so it's not even nearly as crazy as some women on here who have rotating shifts that change all the time and still manage to temp successfully, so you have at least that much going for you that others don't. Either you'll be serious about temping and do it, or not, its really up to you.  As PPs have said, you can try just OPKs/CM and see how that goes, but as so many of us here have found, temps just give that extra bit of info that we really need to pinpoint our cycles accurately. 

But based on your laundry list of excuses you're not in the mindset to even give it an honest try, and maybe not quite as ready for TTC as you'd like to think. If you think waking up for half a minute once a day to temp is so inconvenient and impossible, a baby will really throw you for a loop!

Seriously?  

Yes, seriously...she spent more time writing out her list of excuses than it would have taken her to just grab a thermometer and temp for five mornings. 

Also OP can you link your chart please?

krystlelynn212:

Thank you EVERYone for your input. I understand why not everyone sees my situation as hard to work with but as stated in OP I have trouble sleeping. I can't wind down when I get home, no matter how I try. I also can't fall back asleep in the mornings for at least an hour and so it really messes me up when he does wake me up. I'm so tired all throughout the day and then when I get home I'm all wound up. For 8 years I was a morning person and got up for work around 4am was at work at 6 and off by 2 and was in bed by 10 or 11 on a super late night and my new shift just doesn't work well for my sleeping even though I've been on it for a year now...my body hasn't adjusted and I don't think it will...I guess not everyone has a hard time when sleep schedules aren't normal for them and it makes it harder to understand just how hard it is to fall asleep.

Again, I'm sorry that I was assuming most people sleep better than I do. I'm also sorry about your shift being bad for your overall well-being. 

I say just temp randomly (6/7 vs. 9) and see if it does anything. If not, use opks. I completely disagree with the person who said that if you can't temp you're not ready to ttc...that is a little extreme. That being said, pregnancy and definitely having a newborn will f up your sleep like no tomorrow. But when you're that sleep deprived you won't find it so hard to fall asleep randomly, so it will work itself out. You rise to the occasion when you have a kid.

I refuse to be judgy about childless and pregnant women who savor their sleep or complain about not getting enough sleep. In my third trimester I was regularly able to sleep for no more than 1.5 hours at a time and it took me about 30-60 min to fall back asleep. It was hell. I really hated the "your body is preparing you for the newborn days" comment because preparation in that way is not necessary. In fact, getting MORE sleep is better preparation. So be selfish about your sleep now! It keeps you healthy. Temping is really not THAT important, ultimately.

My concern is that my chart looks crazy. My temps are all over the place even when one day I temp at 7 and the next its 645..its like I'm doing something extremely wrong..I've never done this before and so I really don't know what to expect. I am temping and its not an inconvenience to do so...its hard for me to do it at the same exact time daily...it just seems like the tiniest slightest change in what time I do it makes a huge difference..as in a degree or more..and I didn't think that was normal...but like I said I've never done this before so I have no idea what's normal or not. And as far as not 'being ready' I never said we are TTC. I'm doing this because I want to learn about my body. I came off the pill last month and I just want to know what my body is doing. We decided to stop trying to avoid using hormonal BC.
ETA: We do want a baby..we just decided that we're not going to try and not avoid so I guess some consider that as TTC.

krystlelynn212:

My concern is that my chart looks crazy. My temps are all over the place even when one day I temp at 7 and the next its 645..its like I'm doing something extremely wrong..I've never done this before and so I really don't know what to expect. I am temping and its not an inconvenience to do so...its hard for me to do it at the same exact time daily...it just seems like the tiniest slightest change in what time I do it makes a huge difference..as in a degree or more..and I didn't think that was normal...but like I said I've never done this before so I have no idea what's normal or not. And as far as not 'being ready' I never said we are TTC. I'm doing this because I want to learn about my body. I came off the pill last month and I just want to know what my body is doing. We decided to stop trying to avoid using hormonal BC.

Like I said before it really would be helpful if you could link your chart so we can look at it.  My first cycle temping was really wonky too until I got the hang of it.  It may just be that you still need to get more practice.  And FWIW I often temped at different times in the morning.  As long as I got 3 hours of solid sleep beforehand, it never affected my chart.  That's not true for everyone of course, but I think you should get a few cycles under your belt before you throw in the towel.

I set my alarm for 5am everyday, temp and go back to sleep. If I were you I'd set my alarm for 6am (when you say DH gets up), temp and go back to sleep.

I have a 2 1/2 year old and don't always get 3 consecutive hours of sleep. Actually Saturday night DD was up puking. I still temped at 5am and my temp wasn't off by much at all truthfully.

But if you don't think you can go back to sleep after being up for a minute, or you'll wake DH or or or, just don't do it.

krystlelynn212:

Thank you EVERYone for your input. I understand why not everyone sees my situation as hard to work with but as stated in OP I have trouble sleeping. I can't wind down when I get home, no matter how I try. I also can't fall back asleep in the mornings for at least an hour and so it really messes me up when he does wake me up. I'm so tired all throughout the day and then when I get home I'm all wound up. For 8 years I was a morning person and got up for work around 4am was at work at 6 and off by 2 and was in bed by 10 or 11 on a super late night and my new shift just doesn't work well for my sleeping even though I've been on it for a year now...my body hasn't adjusted and I don't think it will...I guess not everyone has a hard time when sleep schedules aren't normal for them and it makes it harder to understand just how hard it is to fall asleep.

Can you link your chart?

My 1st cycle temping, my temps where all aver the place as well, but a very clear shift change was noticeable.

I also have a hard time getting to sleep and staying sleep. I have had to set my clock early in the morning in order to temp at the same time and sometimes I can't fall back to sleep after I temp and sometimes I can. I deal with it because temping is important to me, so if it's important to you, then you will drop the excuses and just do it.

(I don't mean to sound mean, just crampy and extremely crabby today) 

Everyone has already said what I'm thinking, and it doesn't sound like you should have a problem temping if you really want to. I started half way through a cycle just to figure out the "best" times, and it took me about a week or so to do that. I have a pretty crazy schedule and sometimes don't get home till 10pm or even later. I also have insomnia. But it doesn't matter as long as you get 3 hours of sleep in. My husband wakes up earlier than I do, so I ended up setting my alarm to his alarm. Sometimes I go back to sleep, sometimes I don't.

Truth is, if you want to temp, it sounds like you can make it work with your schedule.

Banker&BSN:

Wake up at the same time every day (be it 3am or 9am) after at least 3 hours of sleep.  But based on your million excuses that is not possible. 

  Either temp or don't but your excuses are just bs excuses you are throwing out there to justify your reasons for "failing". If you don't temp, don't come to us asking if you ovulated or if you're late because we won't be able to tell you.

 

How do you link your chart?

krystlelynn212:

How do you link your chart?

Go to FF and click the sharing tab.  Click "get code." Put the HTML in your siggy or the link in a post.  Or click tickers and follow the directions to make a ticker to put in your siggy.

ETA: more

Worry about the 3 hours and just temp when you can.  Take a look at my chart...I am the queen of open circles because I NEVER temp at the same time every morning. It is anywhere from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m.  But although I have open circles, I can still see a temp shift.  And, be sure to use the other signs - CM, OPKs, CP, to give the most information possible for good BD timing. GL!

I'm not making excuses for not temping...I do that every day...whenever I wake up its the first thing I do. I just feel like I have all over the place temps one day its low and the next its high...or at least that's how it looks to me. Its my first cycle temping and maybe I just don't know how to read it that's why I said I'm not getting it...as in understanding it. I really didn't think 15 or even 30 minutes difference in the time I take my temp would have such a drastic effect. Maybe the longer I do it the more pattern it will have or something. I haven't looked at anyone elses chart so what I'm seeing may look normal but I just don't know because I've never done it.

krystlelynn212:

I'm not making excuses for not temping...I do that every day...whenever I wake up its the first thing I do. I just feel like I have all over the place temps one day its low and the next its high...or at least that's how it looks to me. Its my first cycle temping and maybe I just don't know how to read it that's why I said I'm not getting it...as in understanding it. I really didn't think 15 or even 30 minutes difference in the time I take my temp would have such a drastic effect. Maybe the longer I do it the more pattern it will have or something. I haven't looked at anyone elses chart so what I'm seeing may look normal but I just don't know because I've never done it.

Multiple PP's suggested temping vaginally might help if you think your temps are all over the place. Did you not read those responses?