by specmom » Sat May 29, 2004 08:07 am
Hoping that neither you nor Julie will need to do anything next cycle!! Lol! [:)]
I used Fertility Friend for both of my ttc episodes. The basic charting is free indefinitely, meaning bbt, some symptoms, and ovulation detection. They provide you with "VIP membership" for a 30 day trial period for free. With VIP you have their expert panel available to you for questions, chart interpretation, and a few functions like OPK optimizer and pregnancy planner, which tell you things like the best days to use OPK and when to test. Here's a link to the VIP differences: [url]http://www.fertilityfriend.com/vip.html [/url].
That being said, while it's fun to have them tell you more info, VIP membership currently ranges from $10-$45 depending on what time frame of privileges you want. If you read the Fertility Friend handbook (a link on the left side of their homepage) or have read Toni Weschler's Taking Charge of Your Fertility (TCOYF), you really don't need to spend the extra money. (You could even make up a chart on Word if you had loads of extra time--I did before I had kids.) If you want the extra assistance beyond basic charting, also check out Toni Weschler's site [url]http://www.tcoyf.com [/url], which has a 15 day free trial software and permanent software for $40. You can try both for free and see what style you like better before spending money. There are other planners and websites, but these are the two that I am most familiar with.
Honestly, the only thing I would spend money on is Weschler's TCOYF, which is in any bookstore. There is a full color insert that would probably be helpful for your cervical mucus questions, too. Most of the basics are free on the FF website under FF Handbook.
Best of luck!! Again, I hope you don't need it. Julie, any symptoms for you yet?
Tamara
*Cole(2/15/03)-Gest.Diab/PUPPP/HELLP/severe atypical PE/Emerg.C-Sect
*#2 (due 2/5/05)-Protein S