Great "how to chart" video!

Putting it all together

In earlier posts I described three of the main signs of fertility

• temperature
• cervical fluid
• cervix changes

Today I want to talk a little bit about putting these together. The general rule if you want to avoid getting pregnant is to avoid intercourse unless all three signs indicate that you are not fertile.

Interpreting cervix changes

Cervix changes are a valuable source of information about fertility. Many women, however, feel uncomfortable checking the cervix.  The good news is that it's an optional sign. Even if it's a sign you want to track, you don't need to track it the entire month. You can use it to cross-check the other signs around ovulation.

The cervix sits several inches inside the vagina and separates the vagina from the uterus. 

From WebMD

Interpreting temperature

Of the three fertility signs - cervical fluid, cervix changes, and basal temperature - temperature is the most objective and easily observed. Most couples who use NFP prefer to use a basal thermometer, which is designed to be give more accurate readings. Typically household thermometers are designed for detecting fevers, but if you do not want to purchase a basal thermometer, a decent digital thermometer will work fine. If you are interested in purchasing a basal thermometer, there are very affordable options online. This is the thermometer I use. I haven't had any luck finding basal thermometers in local drug stores, so if you know of a store that regularly carries them, let me know in the comments!

There are many things that will effect your temperature - exercise, time of day, the temperature of the surroundings, alcohol, illness, etc. We want to control for as many of these factors as possible, so the temperature differences we observe are caused by changes in the concentration of the hormone progesterone. The easiest way to control for these factors is to record your temperature at the same time each morning, before you get out of bed. I am not a morning person (understatement!) so I set the alarm on my phone for 7:00 am every morning, the earliest time I get up during the week. I keep the thermometer and a pad of paper on the nightstand and, on mornings that I can sleep in, I wake up just enough to roll over and take my temperature.

5 things we are and 5 things we are not

I'm starting this blog because when my fiance and I, NaturalGuy and NaturalGirl, started looking into Natural Family Planning (NFP) we didn't find many resources for young couples like ourselves. We would love to have more company!

We are

1. Engaged - We have been together for 4 years and engaged for 6 months. Our wedding is in another 5 months.
2. Young - We're both 22.
3. Catholic - Though we're not lockstep with all Church teachings.
4. Scientifically minded - We come from computer science and mathematics educational backgrounds. We like numbers and statistics.
5. Learning NFP - We're learning NFP now and will be using it to delay pregnancy in our marriage (we're waiting until then to have sex).

We are not

1. Very interested in religious arguments for or against NFP.
2. Morally opposed to "unnatural" family planning (ie. contraception).
3. 100% sure we'll love using NFP.
4. Very worried about pregnancy. We don't want 10 kids and would like to wait a few years to have children, but if we got pregnant on the honeymoon, we'd be thrilled to have a child!
5. Very serious - in fact, we are quite silly :)

When considering family planning, we immediately removed methods that worked by preventing implantation of a fertilized egg, due to religious beliefs. This left us with a couple of hormonal methods and barrier methods. The hormonal methods didn't agree with my system, and we weren't looking forward to using barrier methods in marriage. Family friends had great things to say about NFP and after doing a bit of research, it seemed like a good fit.

In future posts, I'll be writing about how we started charting, and what we're finding easiest and most difficult about NFP.