Fertility and What You Don’t Know About Your Body
Posted by Laurie
The other day I was talking to my friend about trying to conceive (she’s two months pregnant and already has a 3-year old) and we talked about how “involved” each of us had gotten in the process.
There are those women who have sex as usual, but without the goalie, and they “see what happens.” I’d guess those ladies are laid-back with a Type B personality in all segments of their lives. While others of us, myself included, try to learn every detail about the process and still feel ignorant. Hello fellow Type A’ers!
My friend and I asked each other, did you check your basal body temperature every day? Your cervical mucus? Your cervix shape and feel? Did you read books about getting pregnant? Did you time sex to optimize a certain gender?
Although we were talking about this topic for the first time, it was no holds barred. In the TTC and new mother world, women will talk about anything!
The funny thing is, while I thought I had researched nearly everything before I became pregnant with my 
son (who is now 21 months), there was one book I overlooked. I’m probably one of the last women standing to have just discovered this book, but in case I’m not, it’s called Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler, MPH, and it’s a national bestseller in it’s 10th Anniversary Edition. A guide to women’s bodies and the natural fertility signs that indicate a woman’s most fertile and non-fertile days, the book empowers women to use natural birth control, which is called the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM), which is a more advanced and reliable version of the rhythm method, and it shares information women can use to increase their chances of getting pregnant.
My friend loaned me a copy of the book. I devoured it. There is a lot of information on-line about how to try to conceive, but this book goes further than the internet snippets and simplifies the complicated science behind fertility. It also shares needed information about natural birth control, which some women may prefer to other forms of birth control, especially during the time between pregnancies (here is a link to the American Pregnancy Association’s explanation of the method).
If you’re a Type A personality like me, then you’ll probably appreciate this book whether you’re trying (or not trying) for your first child or your fifth. This book is my recent discovery and I’m excited about it! But, I’m sure there are many other nuggets of wisdom out there about TTC and natural family planning. What are they? What resources did you find and use? Please share them with us! Do you use FAM? Why do you prefer that method?
This entry was posted on Monday, April 12th, 2010 at 5:28 am and is filed under TTC (Trying To Conceive). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.
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