Fertility awareness or Natural Family Planning is a method of birth control that does not use any hormone drugs or devices. It combines the calendar/rhythm method, the basal body temperature method, and the cervical mucus method.
These natural methods of contraception are mostly encouraged by Christians/Churches e.g the Catholic church which considers other methods of birth control as unchristian. Certain groups also tend to assume that sexual activity is restricted to married couples only and that the sole purpose of sex is for procreation. This of course is not the case in reality.
The fertility awareness methods (FAMs) are based upon knowing when a woman ovulates each month. These methods are used both as a means of preventing pregnancy as well as targeting the most fertile time for getting pregnant.
This post is only meant as an overview, It is important that you are taught natural family planning by a suitably qualified teacher.
Calendar Rhythm Method
The calendar rhythm method to avoid pregnancy relies upon calculating a woman’s fertile period on the calendar. This is usually based on her 12 previous menstrual cycles. The first day of your fertility period is determined by subtracting 18 days from the length of your shortest cycle. If 26 days was your shortest menstrual cycle, take 26 and subtract 18 to come up with the number 8. This means that the first day of your fertility window starts on the 8th day of your cycle.
The last fertile day is determined by subtracting 11 from the length of your longest cycle. If 32 days was your longest menstrual cycle, take 32 and subtract 11 to reach the number 21. This means that the last day of your fertility period ends on the 21st day of your cycle. You cannot get pregnant everyday during this time, but it is sometime during this time frame that pregnancy can occur.
To avoid getting pregnant, you need to abstain from sexual intercourse or use a barrier form of birth control during your fertility window. On the other hand, for women trying to get pregnant, this fertility period would be the targeted time for sexual intercourse.
Basal body temperature method
The basal body temperature (BBT) method is based upon the fact that a woman’s temperature drops 12 to 24 hours before an egg is released from her ovary and then increases again once the egg has been released. Unfortunately, this temperature difference is not very large. It is less than 1 degree F (about a half degree C) when the body is at rest. To use this method effectively the woman must take her (oral) temperature every morning before she gets out of bed. A special thermometer that is more accurate and sensitive than a typical oral thermometer must be used, and the daily temperature variations carefully noted.
If you record it every day, you will see that prior to ovulation your temperature is rather consistent. As you get closer to ovulation, you may have a slight decline, but it will be followed by a sharp increase after ovulation. The increase in temperature is the sign that ovulation has just occurred. A woman should refrain from having sexual intercourse from the time her temperature drops until at least 48 to 72 hours after her temperature increases again.
One major drawback of this method is that several factors such as Illness, lack of sleep, and alcohol or drug use can affect your temperature and make it difficult to establish an accurate reading.
Cervical mucus method
This method is also known as the ovulation method or the Billings method.
A woman will generate larger amounts of more watery mucous than usual (like raw egg white) just before release of an egg from her ovary. A woman can learn to recognize differences in the quantity and quality of her cervical mucous by examining and Collecting the mucus from the vaginal opening with her fingers by wiping them from front to back, making note of the color (yellow, white, clear or cloudy), the consistency (thick, sticky, or stretchy) and the feel (dry, wet, sticky, slippery, stretchy). Ovulation is recorded on the day that your mucus is clearest, slippery and most stretchy. women who do not wish to become pregnant, should not have sexual intercourse at all for 3 to 4 days after noticing the change in cervical mucous.
