It amazes me when I talk to women, especially those trying to conceive, that so few know how to chart their cycles. The amount of information we can gain from charting our cycles is amazing! (watch for a follow up blog post on this) Charting your cycles can tell you when to have sex so as to get pregnant or avoid getting pregnant. It can alert you to when there may be fertility or even thyroid issues. Why are young women not being taught the beauty of their fertility and how to watch that fertility work cycle to cycle? This makes me rather upset. I certainly wish that I knew these things sooner, but now that I know what I do, I really hope I can help out other ladies as they learn about their bodies.
So what does it mean to chart your cycles? What does it look like? How much time does it take? Charting your cycles consists of watching for signs of ovulation throughout your cycle. You only ovulate once a cycle, so you can identify which day you ovulated to avoid or achieve pregnancy. The most important sign to watch in order to identify ovulation is cervical fluid. When I first started charting, this was the only sign I used. I later added temping (taking basal body temperature immediately after waking) and cervical position. Some women also choose to chart more subtle signs or use ovulation predictor kits in addition to their charts.
In the beginning charting can be confusing, but it is so worth it. Like I said, when I first started charting, I was only watching my cervical fluid. This is fairly simple, if you have a regular cycle. Throughout your cycle your body goes from having no vaginal discharge to maybe sticky or creamy to a very slippery almost egg-white like discharge. This egg-white discharge is fertile cervical fluid. This may happen for one to three days, then your body will return to having very little discharge until you reach your period and the cycle begins again. Now if you have PCOS you might experience patches of fluid. You may notice that you are slightly wet throughout your whole cycle. Every person is different and it's important to remember that your chart will likely look different from your neighbors.
Since I have PCOS my cervical fluid was very hard to understand. I was advised by my doctor to begin taking my temperature every morning as soon as I woke up. This is called basal body temperature. If you are ovulating, your temperature will generally begin low and stay low until ovulation. Once you ovulate (slippery egg-white cervical mucus time) your temperature will rise by about a degree. This indicates that you did ovulate and is caused by the increase in progesterone after ovulation. If you are not ovulating you will not see this increase.
You can also chart your cervical position. This is still a fertility sign that I struggle with observing. In order to observe this sign, you need to squat in a similar position at the same time everyday, then insert a finger into your vagina to feel for your cervix. Your cervix will be either high, low, or medium and firm, soft, or medium. You also observe how open it is. If you have had children, it may always feel slightly open. If you choose to chart this sign, you may want to check out the Beautiful Cervix Project at beautifulcervix.com
This is just the basics of charting your cycles. There are many other signs and signals that I will talk about in following blogs, but in the meantime if you want to learn more about charting your cycles I recommend you read the book Taking Charge of your Fertility by Toni Weschler. You can also look into taking NFP classes through your local Catholic diocese or checking out these websites: www.boma-usa.org or www.ccli.org
Know your body. Love your body. Serve your body.
Blessings!
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