AboutBrigid Kowalczyk Expertise Natural Family Planning is a risk-free, safe, and economical alternative to chemical and barrier contraceptives. NFP is easy to understand, aids in fertility awareness for spacing children as well as increasing communication and assisting couples to conceive. I do not answer questions about other forms of birth control.
Experience I like being able to help people find alternatives to artificial birth control. I am not a doctor or a medical person. I cannot answer medical questions.
Organizations National Association of Legal Professionals, (NALS). Couple to Couple League (www.ccli.org - national organization for NFP)
Education/Credentials Medical Assisting diploma, Bachelor of Arts, Associate of Applied Science in Legal Studies.
Awards and Honors College graduate with high honors; high school graduate with highest honors;
Question My husband and I would like to start having kids. I started plotting my cycle out on calendars to see how long my cycle tends to be, but totally unawares to me my cycle is kind of all over the place. It seems to be somewhere close to a 30 day cycle and then sometimes I have like a 40 day cycle or even miss it for a month. I'm not sure what's happening or what that means. I didn't really notice this abnormality until I stopped taking birth control which I took for a year 3 years ago. At this point I have no idea how to start planning for a pregnancy.
Also, I was reading something about not ovulating or having a non-ovulating period. Is that possible and what does that mean or how do you know if that's happening to you?
Answer If you are not having periods, you are not ovulating. That's one fact.
If you are having an non-ovulating cyle, you don't know that unless you are charting (your temperature won't rise and stay up until your period starts) or you get some kind of medical work-up from a doctor.
Unfortunately, the pill can mess up your cycles and they may correct themselves or they may not. It could also be that you are older now and that factors into your more erratic cycles as well.
NFP gives you the tools to evaluate your fertility. You have to do more than plot your period on a calendar, though. It's called "charting" in NFP circles. You have to note several symptoms of fertility and put them in a special graph to see the pattern. There are some electronic graphs/charts on line or you can print one off and mark the information down each day.
You are going to have to take your temperature every morning as close to the same time every day. Before you get out of bed! Write the number down on the graph by day and date. This information will help you determine if you are ovulating because that will occur around the middle of the month.
Ovulation is occurring when your temperature goes up at least .4 degrees and stays up until your period starts. If the rise isn't .4 degrees or if it doesn't stay up for a minimum of 11-14 days, you either aren't ovulating or your post-leutal phase (post ovulation) isn't long enough to sustain a pregnancy and your period starts too early and no pregnancy is going to occur.
Pregnancy can occur any time between the end of your period (bleeding) and right after ovulation, about 2 weeks. The closer to ovulation you have intercourse the more likely pregnancy will occur if it is going to. But since the sperm can live up to a week and the egg can live about 24 hours, there is some uncertainty about exactly when you get pregnant. If you are charting everything, including sexual activity, you will have a very good idea.
There are books and this website [www.ccli.or] has some resources, too. I know this is a lot of information to absorb but it will make more sense as you keep researching it.
If your fertility is impaired because of age or the hormones in the Pill, you may have to do some nutritional therapies or light therapy or other things to get things working better again. I wish you the best. Write back if I need to clarify anything for you.
