Taking Charge of Your Fertility

, Dr. Smith. Yes, I am basically fine, thank you. But I do have a couple of concerns I wanted to discuss with you. I practice Fertility Awareness and have noticed that my luteal phase is a little short. We plan to get pregnant this spring and would like to try to lengthen it to avoid risking a miscarriage. What would you suggest?

Sperm die within a few hours of intercourse when a woman is not in her fertile phase, and that phase is only the few days surrounding ovulation. If performed at any other time, the test is useless.

by the time the temperatures shift up, the egg is typically already dead and gone.

was making the correct point that basal body temps only indicate fertility after it’s too late, after ovulation has already occurred.

To protect themselves from a man, who produces millions of sperm per hour!

The only practical, noninvasive way to reliably identify that fertile time is through observing the woman’s waking temperature and cervical fluid, as well as the optional sign of cervical position.

It’s amazing to think that women who practice the Fertility Awareness Method are often more knowledgeable about their own fertility than gynecologists who are trained to be experts in female physiology!*

When women learn that all this is happening inside their bodies on a regular basis, they are often amazed. And to think that all they were taught about their menstrual cycles in the fifth grade was whether to opt for tampons or sanitary napkins during their periods!

We want far better reasons for having children than not knowing how to prevent them.

—DORA RUSSELL

Some say that women can’t be bothered to learn it because it’s complicated and difficult to use, requires high intelligence in order to apply it, and takes too much time to learn and practice.