FAM
Before you actually use this as a birth control method buy a good book on the subject, and use a backup method for the first couple of months. Also, because I don't want to get sued in case someone didn't listen to what I just said: I am not a doctor, this is only how the method is used, and I put it here for your information. I learned from a book written by a doctor you should do the same.
reasons to use this method:
If used correctly it is as effective as being on the pill. It is pleasurable and spontanious for both partners. It uses no barriers or spermicides. You'll know when your period will start. You can tell if you are pregnant or had a miscarriage. You will know more about your body. You'll be able to tell if you have an infection or if discharge is normal. If you are trying to get pregnant you will know when you should have sex to do so.
The Fertility Awareness Method includes several other natrual methods that are combined to make a very effective method of birth control IF USED CORRECTLY. If you decide to use this method you should use a back up method such as condoms, spermicdes etc. for two-four months while you are learning it. You should also buy a book on the subject, I recommnd Taking Charge of Your Fertility
The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control
and Pregnancy Achievement
by Toni Weschler, MPH
This method works because you use the signs that your body gives you to determine if you are ovulating (releasing an egg that can be impregnated). Women are only fertile for around 12-48 hours in a cycle (time from one period to the next). The reason the risk for pregnancy is so high is because your body prepares for the potential impregnation by producing something called "fertile fluid" or "eggwhite" it looks like the white part of an egg. In this fluid sperm can live for up to five days. If you have sex during the time that you have eggwhite cervical fluid you could get pregnant from having had sex four days before! FAM uses several methods combined to make sure that you know when you can get pregnant and when you cannot.
Observing Cervical Fluid
The first sign that FAM uses is your cervical fluid. Using cervical fluid alone to tell if you are fertile or not is called the "Billings Method". It is just one step in FAM. Cervical fluid is the stuff that shows up on your underware. Women are not told that their bodies naturually secrete this stuff and that it is normal. Many women think that they have infections because of the fluid on their underware. These secretions are normal and they tell you alot about your body. During your cycle you may have many types of cervical fluid.
You should check your underware three times a day ( not hard to do--just check it when you go to the bathroom). Start right after the last day of your period. Most of the month you probably won't notice anything on your underware. These are called "dry days". If you were to insert a finger into your vagina it would feel much like the inside of your mouth and after a bit the moisture would evaporate off your figer. After dry days and before ovulation you will start noticing fluid. Usually it starts out as "sticky". After you pull up your pants this wet and sticky stuff will probably feel cold up against you. It may feel like rubber cement if you rub it between two fingers. Once you start notcing any fluid your body is building up to ovulation. The sticky fluid may disappear followed by many dry days and then start up again, or it may be immediately followed by a creamier type. Some people experience a type of fluid called "lotiony" (it looks and feels like hand lotion)after the sticky fluid appears This is usually followed by "eggwhite". When your body is ready to ovulate the eggwhite cervical fluid will start to appear on your pants. You'll feel very wet and may have heightened senses of smell, sound, taste and sight. You'll also probably have a heightened sex drive. Eggwhite quality cervical fluid looks like eggwhite, although sometimes it may be a bit milky. It will stretch between your fingers an inch or more. When you wipe with toilet paper the paper will slide over your vagina, causing you to wipe a couple more times to feel clean. There are some women who do not produce eggwhite, in their case, they should watch for the wettest type of fluid they do have. FAM uses the most concervative methods and that means no sex when there is any fluid whatsoever (there is a small chance that sperm could survive until eggwhite was produced if there was any fluid, still resulting in pregnancy).
When a woman isn't producing fluid sperm can only live a few hours in the acidic vagina. However, if she is producing fertile cervical fluid they can live for up to five days. This means that if you haven't produced an egg already, when you do, the sperm can be living inside your vagina and will make the mad dash to impregnate the egg. Never have unprotected sex if you have fluid and certainly not if you have eggwhite cervical fluid. It is advisable to abstain from sex even with a barrier method at this time (during eggwhite). If a condom breaks or a cervical cap slips it would be an act of the Goddess if you didn't get pregnant.
Temperature
The second most important thing for FAM is taking your temperature each morning. For this you need a basal body thermometer not the normal kind you use to see if you have a fever. A basal body thermometer takes a more accurate reading of your temp. you need this because a tenth of a degrees difference could tell you whether or not it's safe to have sex. The thermometer costs about $5 (pretty cheap compared to condoms, birth control pills etc!) and it's really the only thing you'll ever have to buy to do this.
Each morning before you get up even to pee you need to take your temp. and record it. Pre-ovulatory temps. can be as low as 96 degrees but mine are usually around 97.4. After you have ovulated the egg dies (and eggwhite has dried up) and the outer layer comes off and releases the hormone progesterone into your body, progesterone makes your temp. rise. To be certain the egg has died you need three consecutive days of temperatures that are at least a tenth of a degree higher than any temp. recorded during or prior to ovulation.
So far after your period, you've been checking your cervical fluid, checked your temp each morning had sex when you were dry, stopped having sex when fluid appeared. Noticed the consistancy change into eggwhite and found that your temp. shot up higher than it ever had before. (NOTE: drinking the night before will probably raise your temp. if you did that, just omitt that days high temp. Too little sleep can also result in a high temp and can be omitted as well.) Before you ovulated you recorded temps ranging from 97 degrees to 97.6--no higher, now, after the eggwhite is gone your temp. is 98 degrees--the egg is probably dead, to make sure you need two more temps. that are above 97.6 in the next two days. If you temp. drops below 97.6 (or whatever the highest pre-ovulatory temp was) and/or you get eggwhite again in this time you have to keep taking your temp. and not have sex until you get three consecutive high temps. The reason for this three consec. temp thing, is that occasionally, the body will realease two eggs or prepare to ovulate and then wait a day (pretty sneaky huh?). By using this rule you can be sure there aren't any more sneaky eggs hiding around.
Checking your Cervix
Checking your cervix is just another way of verifying when your about to ovulate and when you've finished. To do this squat and insert your index finger into your vagina and feel for a little nob with a hole in the middle. Some say it feels like the end of your nose. This moves slightly through your cycle. Before ovulation it will be low, closed and firm and as you get closer to ovulating it will become high, soft and open. After your done ovulating it will drop again and stay closed until you're ready to have your period; then the Os (cervical opening) will open slightly for blood to come out. This needs to be checked every day or so.
Charting and signs
All this stuff needs to be recorded in a chart so that you can easily look at it and determine if you've had a high temp. or not. You should record your temp. each morning, cervical fluid, cervical height and any headaches, cramping, tenderness you've had through the day. Some women can use other signs in their body to further verfiy that they are going to or already have ovulated. For instance, two nights before I produce eggwhite I have cramps, backaches and headaches just like I do before my period. After ovulation my nipples become extremely tender. Because of this, I know that I'm done ovulating before I get three consec. high temps. (however, I still wait to have sex, otherwise I could be taking a risk).
After ovulation
After you have verified that you've ovulated and the egg is dead you can have all the sex you want. When you start your period it is considered day 1 of your next cycle. It is safe to have sex for the first five days of your cycle (five day rule. after day five you should wait until five p.m. to have sex to give a chance for any cervical fluid to work its way down to your pants where you can see it. If after five you still have no fluid sex it up! When fluid starts coming, any fluid (even if it's sticky and doesn't look very sperm-friendly) you can't have sex that day.
Luetal Phase and Pregnancy
The time from the end of ovulation till your period is called your "luetal phase" this can last anywhere from 12-18 days. By keeping a chart over the months you'll see that your luetal phase rarely deviates by more than a day or two if at all. By knowing exactly how long your luetal phase is you will know exactly when you're pregnant (if you've screwed up, or if you were trying). My luetal phase is around 12-13 days long. And my entire cycle around 35 days. If by day 15 I still have no period and still have high temps. I know that i am pregnant (pregnancy results in high temps. throughout the entire pregnancy). By charting we can figure out quicker than a pregnancy test whether we're with child or not.
Stress and it's effects on your body
If you are under considerable stress your body may have what is called a "delayed ovulation" or an "annovulatory cycle". During finals week at school I stressed out so much that I did not ovulate at all. Cramping and Eggwhite occurred three different times and my cycle was over forty days long. Because I released no egg I also had no period that month! I knew I wasn't pregnant, however, because I had been taking my temp and recording fluid etc. my temps were extrememly low that month, 96.6 throughout most of the month and they never really rose much above 97 degrees. If I were pregnant my temps. would have risen.
Ever heard someone say "I stressed out so much this month that my period came late?" What is actually happening is that they stressed out so much they they ovulated later, resulting in the luetal phase coming later and then at the end of the race, the late period.
I have been using this method for a year. I'm still not pregnant and not planning on it either!
The only problem with this method is you need an understanding partner and you both need control while you ovulate. During ovulation many women will have a huge sex drive, it is exactly when you'll want to have sex the most and when you absolutely must not have sex the most too! Also, because most women of child-bearing age have several days of eggwhite, you sometimes have to go for two weeks without unprotected sex (you could, of course, have sex with a condom). If you'd like to look at the layout for a chart go to the link below (or see another website on natural birth control), and, of course, the book you pick up should have one in the back for you. Happy sexing!
this web page has tons of neat stuff on the subject
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