Fertility In A Nutshell
Sympto-thermal natural fertility awareness
I have trained in the symtothermal method of natural family planning. This is a method which enables you to detect both the start of the time in your cycle that you may be fertile as well as the end of it.
When learnt properly and couples follow the rules strictly, it provides a very reliable method of both avoiding and achieving a pregnancy. It is not at all the game of chance many people think of when they think of natural family planning. It is based on sound science and thorough research. The best bit is, it is completely natural! No pills, injections or other unsexy, unhealthy stuff like IUD’s, condoms, diaphragms and spermicide. It is based entirely on the knowledge and awareness of your own body.
How does it work?
The sympto-thermal method is a natural method of fertility management based on observation of the signs and symptoms of the fertile and infertile phases of the menstrual cycle. Awareness of the fertile phase allows a couple to time intercourse either to avoid or achieve a pregnancy.
The method uses self observation of cervical mucous and the basal body temperature (BBT) and the cyclic changes of the cervix to determine the fertile phase of the cycle.
Mucous observation is used at the beginning of the cycle to determine that ovulation is likely to take place soon and the BBT is used to show that ovulation has taken place.
Who can use it?
Simple. Anyone. Regardless of length or regularity of your cycles, whether you are breastfeeding, coming off the pill or even going through menopause, you can use this method to predict when you’re fertile with a great degree of accuracy.
A fabulous tool for those who wish to use this method whether to achieve or avoid pregnancy is the Hormonal forecaster program. You can try this out for free for a two month trial and pay a minimal amount to continue to use it. I highly recommend it for anyone that is good at keeping records on their computer.
Click here to find out more
For those of you who are better with pen and paper and a real person to help with interpretation you could consider site membership. This will enable you to email me your charts for supports while you are learning. You can use me for support during the learning phase and ask questions regarding interpretation of your fertility signs, charting and chart interpretation and I will respond within 24 hours. I highly recommend this if you are coming off the pill, are breastfeeding or have irregular cycles. If you feel more comfortable having the face to face instruction, you can find a sympto-thermal method teacher here . This will cost $150 for an initial instruction plus three follow up visits as well as a kit containing a thermometer, charts and information booklet.
It takes two baby.
Female fertility depends on ovulation, which is the release of the egg from the ovary. The egg can only survive for 12-24 hours.
Male fertility is pretty much constant. Men always produce sperm. Given the right conditions sperm can hang around and wait for ovulation to take place for up to 5 days and still be able to fertilise an egg.
Your fertility as a couple
Conception is only possible when intercourse takes place around ovulation, when both a sperm and an egg can meet up.
The wet, clear, slippery, stretchy mucus that is usually produced close to ovulation helps the sperm to survive and to transport it through the cervix. This type of mucus allows sperm to survive for up to 5 days, which means that you could get pregnant if you have intercourse up to 5 days before you ovulate!
Non fertile mucus tends to be a bit gluggy and acts as a barrier to stop the sperm from getting through the cervix. It is also more acidic, limiting the amount of time they can survive to around 12-24 hours. This type of mucus occurs after the egg has been released so you are far less likely to get pregnant having intercourse while you notice this type of mucus.
Questions? Do you need clarification?
Become a Natural Transition member and you can ask questions and email me your charts for clarification while you learn about your unique fertility signs.
Download the Natural Transition fertility chart in MS Excel format or view as a web page.
Or would you prefer a face to face instruction with a natural fertility teacher?
