You absolutely need to begin learning about and then charting your menstrual cycles.
Let me back-track a little, and maybe I will start sounding a little less insane.
As most of you know, Iâve been thinking and writing a lot lately about natural family planning. It started off as a mere curiosity about something I thought was neat. But I have become increasingly serious about it. As you also know, I am currently trying to get pregnant, so at first I didnât think NFP was entirely relevant to me. At the same time, though, I have been rethinking the whole issue of birth control since I just recently came off it. And Iâm starting to have serious doubts about the necessity, validity and safety of contraceptives in general, and I am starting to seriously consider the value of natural family planning â alternatively (and more appealingly) known as fertility awareness.
Well, to start off my more serious studies into the subject, I took some of my readersâ advice yesterday and took out the book Taking Charge Of Your Fertility* (by Toni Weschler) out of the local library. I flew through the first quarter in the first night. I was just floored by all the information I gleaned from it. Iâm not done yet, but I plan to be soon, and then I hope to share with you some of the stuff I have learned. But one thing I have already concluded is this:
All women deserve to know this stuff about their bodies, and it is a shame that most of us live our entire lives in relative ignorance about it.
More than anything else, knowledge is power. And I believe women deserve to have power over their own fertility. As it stands, with most of us knowing nothing about our fertility, we have to be at the mercy of our doctors and gynecologists to tell us where we stand. We have to rely on invasive, expensive, uncomfortable and often painful medical procedures to give us answers about our fertility, when most of the information we will ever need is in plain sight at all times. I am learning that even the dullest of women (i.e. women like me) can learn to recognize the signs of their fertility with relative ease. It just takes some time and attention. And a chart and a thermometer.
If you learn about your menstrual cycle, and learn to detect the various changes in your fertility, I am now absolutely certain you will gain confidence and power.
Did you know that you can easily tell for yourself whether or not you are pregnant without taking a test? With time, you can also tell for yourself whether or not you have a fertility problem, and you can help your doctors immensely in diagnosing the problem.
I had no idea about any of this stuff until now. And I feel totally ripped off that I have never been properly educated about something as fundamental, basic, and important as my fertility.
I now believe that every sexually active woman, whether she is trying to avoid or achieve pregnancy, ought to be tracking her fertility. Just think: no more worrying about whether or not youâre pregnant! No more frantic trips to the drug store during your lunch break to buy a $15 test, just to get a negative result! No more worrying that your bodily fluids are freaky and diseased! By practicing fertility awareness you can know the answer to these questions for yourselves.
Of course, fertility awareness doesnât work if youâre on the Pill, because if youâre on it youâre not fertile (or at least you shouldnât be). So Iâm starting to think no woman should be on the Pill, either – for their own good. But now Iâm venturing into âYouâre insane, Kathyâ territory again, so I will leave it at that.
I do plan to write an article soon about how the Pill, which was meant to liberate women, may have actually unnecessarily burdened us all. But for now, Iâm leaving off with, âLadies, I think you would do yourselves a huge favour by becoming educated about your own fertility.â I know I am so happy and relieved to have come across this information, and I think you would be, too.
I welcome your thoughts and reactions!
* Note: this is an affiliate link from amazon.ca. If you click on it and buy the book from Amazon, I get a teensy little commission. If you’re from the U.S., click here for amazon.com: Taking Charge of Your Fertility, 10th Anniversary Edition: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health
