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Fertility Awareness MethodFertility Awareness Method (FAM) is a method of natural family planning where a woman or couple keeps track of all of her fertility signs. Women are only fertile for a few days out of each cycle. FAM may be used for birth control or to assist pregnancy. FAM is not the calendar method, which assumes that all women have a 28 day cycle and ovulate on the 14th day. Women have a lot of variation in the menstrual cycle; the calendar method is not fully effective without also investigating one's own fertility signals. Note that a woman who is on an oral contraceptive or any other hormone-based birth control method will not notice any fertility signals. Temperature charting, basal body temperature A fertile woman will have a rise in temperature after she ovulates due to the release of hormones when the female egg cell is disintegrating. The basal body temperature must be taken first thing in the morning. This rise in temperature occurs if the egg cell is fertilized or not. If the egg is fertilized, the fertile egg will eventually send the signal for the body to keep the temperature high which is necessary to stay pregnant. Therefore, a rise in temperature when you first wake up means you are past your fertile stage. Fertility counselors suggest waiting for three days of consistent temperature rising before using this as a form of birth control. If you maintain high temperatures without starting menstruation, it is likely that you are pregnant. The disadvantage of temperature charting is that some women have sporadic temperatures, women who work the night shift are disadvantaged, and the temperature method does not help for the time between menstruation and ovulation. Benefits include being able to indicate thyroid problems from consistently lower temperatures, being able to tell the difference between menstruation and ovulation bleeding which happens for some women (women who may claim that they got pregnant during menstruation), and being able to find out if the time between ovulation and menstruation is too short for a woman to become pregnant without outside medical help. Cervical fluid charting This method is to keep track of cervical fluid every day. When ovulation starts, the cervical fluid will go from dry or sticky to creamy like a lotion, and finally become like egg white. Note that the egg white mucus is much thicker than a woman's normal lubricating fluid. A woman is most fertile during the egg white phase. Sperm can survive in the vagina for more than a few hours only if the egg white mucus is available for the sperm to survive in. However, if wishing to avoid pregnancy, one should use other methods of birth control when one notices the lotion like fluid. Cervical position With a clean finger, a woman can tell how fertile she is by feeling her cervix. When she is not fertile, the cervix feels like a hard little knob (like the tip of your nose) with a very small opening on it. The cervix will be low during unfertile times. As the woman's body prepares for ovulation, the cervix rises, becomes softer, and the hole opens. Sometimes it rises so high it is difficult to find. After ovulation passes, the cervix lowers and closes up again. It is best to feel your cervix when you are not sexually stimulated. The cervix tends to change shape during sexual stimulation. Applying FAM By using these methods, a woman can tell which days she is most fertile. If not wishing to become pregnant, she will need to use additional protection, such as a barrier method, or may choose to abstain from intercourse entirely and possibly use other methods of sexual stimulation that avoid male and female genital contact. References - Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control and Pregnancy Achievement by Toni Weschler.
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