This is my current read:

I am always looking to upgrade myself, and this time I have taken an interest to learn more about fertility awareness. Just halfway through reading this (very) thick book, I have learnt that:

1) Cervical fluid (keputihan) is not always a bad thing. It can indicate fertile/non fertile periods.

2) Luteal phase (the period between post-ovulation and menstruation) is not affected by stress and largely remains an average 10-16 days in most women. If you have an average cycle that is long (longer than 28-30 days), it means you ovulate later than the textbook 14th day. 

3) What point no.2 means is that if your normal cycle is longer than 30 days, and if you are pregnant, your estimated due date based on the obgyn pregnancy wheel should be moved later and adjusted accordingly. 

4) While I have had difficulty conceiving my first two children, I have now learnt that I may not have ‘true/clinical’ infertility, but in fact I have had very little pockets of ‘fertile windows’ that I have failed to observe and make use of because of my irregular periods. The best way to understand your body and your cycle is to start charting your waking temperature and observing cervical fluid. 

5) I have to chart my own cycles for at least 6 months before I can start teaching others about fertility awareness. I have since started, but will need at least a couple of months to be able to see a pattern. 

6) Fertility awareness method (FAM), if understood correctly, can also be used as a pregnancy prevention tool.

7) FAM is not the same as the rhythm method.

8) How can charting help? It can help identify if one is ovulating or not, and if so, when.

9) For those trying to conceive (TTC), charting helps to eliminate a part of the invasive medical tests you have to do to check if you are truly infertile or simply missing your precious fertile windows.

MashaAllah, I have learnt so many new things I thought I already knew before this. And this is just half of the book. Chat me up if you’d like to find out more about FAM.

Meanwhile, back to the book! 📖

– Hanani