Taking Charge of Your Fertility {book review}

To be able to take charge of your pregnancy and birth, you must do several things including educating yourself in regards to the process that your body naturally goes through. This is the same when it comes to taking charge of your fertility. Now you might be wondering how fertility ties into birth etc, but in my mind it truly does. It starts at the very beginning of what could lead to birth, and has everything to do with how a woman's body works.

I am sharing this with you because I think out of the many things that women aren't educated about (which could include pregnancy,birth, risks, interventions etc), fertility and knowledge of how a woman's body works throughout a cycle is right up there.

After experiencing a lot of negative side effects from my birth control pills, I began looking into different options. I contacted my OB/GYN and tried a few different brands that she recommended, but nothing seemed to help. Then a friend of mine mentioned what most people know as Natural Family Planning. After asking around for more information, a very kind lady mailed me a book called "Taking Charge of Your Fertility." I was immediately hooked. It is based off the the FAM method which stands for the Fertility Awareness Method. While similar to NFP, it has a few differences. This method takes you step by step through charting your temperature, and changes in cervical fluid, position etc which can potentially tell you everything about your fertility.

Once again, I am sharing this with you because I have to admit that I didn't understand a lot of things about my body, even after getting pregnant and having children. I had no clue that not every woman ovulates on day 14, as most OB's assume and that there are specific signs to show whether a woman is ovulating (fertile) or not. I didn't know there was such thing as cervical fluid and that a woman could check her own cervix (whoa!).

While I understand that charting isn't the birth control method for everyone, I think it is so beneficial for a woman to know her cycle, especially when attempting or avoiding conception. For those who aren't a fan of their birth control pills, IUDs, etc. it is nice to have another option, because honestly I felt I was at a dead end.

When TTC for the first time, I just figured I would ovulate on day 12-16, as most websites will tell you. Assuming this can be detrimental as not all women are fertile around these days. You might think something is wrong with you, when in reality you are TTC at an infertile time.This can also have a big effect on the estimated due date that your doctor will give you. Most OBs go off of the 14 day rule, which can be off for those who don't ovulate on that specific day. This could potentially push your due date forward or behind what it should be, and cause unnecessary inductions when it seems that your baby is "late". Boy was I surprised when after charting for one month, I didn't ovulate until Day 22. If I wouldn't have known this, and would have gotten pregnant at this time, my EDD could have been set for more than a week earlier then it should have been. For someone like me who is trying to avoid being induced or c/sectioned due to post dates, a week can make a world of difference!

The other benefit to charting and knowing your cycle is learning that you are pregnant without having to wait for a pregnancy test. After charting your waking temperature for an entire cycle, you should be able to tell whether you have achieved pregnancy by looking at how many high temperatures follow in the luteal phase (or final phase) of your cycle.

There are so many benefits to knowing this information and I would highly recommend this book. It has really been eye-opening to me and I am sure it would be to other women out there too.

{I should note that I am not at all bashing the use of birth control pills (or other contraceptives) as I used them for several years and found them to be extremely effective}