Charting is also a good form of BC
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Charting is also a good form of BC
| Fri, 04-28-2006 - 10:35pm |
I'm just lurking through some of the boards here in ivillage and thought I'd add that I avoided pregnancy easily from charting my fertility signs. I read a book on it and it was very easy. There are lots of books on it, but the one I read was "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" by Toni Weschler. The best part about it was no side effects. :o)
Kim


Hi Kim, welcome!
Jill
Hi :o) The only rule to follow really is to take note of CM. I didn't find it difficult at all, after getting a few cycles under my belt. Taking the temp is usually what makes people think its very cumbersome (not sure I spelled that right, lol!!) but the temp is just for "confirmation" of ovulation (and can be confirmation for pregnancy). I had crazy irregular cycles back then and it worked very well for me.
>>The only rule to follow really is to take note of CM. I didn't find it difficult at all, after getting a few cycles under my belt. Taking the temp is usually what makes people think its very cumbersome…
Jill
Yes its true that FCM can start and stop. And I actually charted my temps along with CM. *But* what I was trying to say was that most women I know won't even consider charting because they think its all about taking your temp at the same time *every* morning...and that's not actually as big a deal as many think. :o) For example... you can *just* chart CM and then when it gets to FCM you can take your temp a few days to see if a spike in temp occurs...then you can know that you ovulated. So its really an easy method that doesn't take *daily* temping.
>>About "Unprotected Intercourse" that is more a term used for trying to stay away from VD isn't it? Certainly it is not a good tool for that sort of situation.<<
Jill
NFP/FAM/charting
I used fertility awareness methods for a while (but not as my only method) and also didn't find it very difficult. It was very helpful to more fully understand how my cycles worked. Since my cycles tended to vary in length, that also allowed me to not have to worry about when I'd get my period since I knew it should take around two weeks after ovulation to show up. I've had cycles go anywhere from right around the average of 28 days to 35-40 days in between.
There were times even after I'd done charting for a while that I wasn't quite certain of exactly when I ovulated because I'd have what seemed like fertile mucus and what should have been the peak day, followed by several dry days, followed by more fertile mucus. If that had been my only method I'd been using, then I'd have been in a blind panic when things like that happened.
For extremely disciplined couples where the woman has very regular cycles, the failure rate can be extremely low, whereas the typical failure rate for the first year of usage for the average couple can be as high as 25%. For that reason, I'd think that most average people should be cautious about using that as their only method unless getting pregnant wouldn't be too much of a big deal.
I'm using FAM right now, though we're using condoms each and every time because I've only been off of hormonal birth control for 2 cycles.