How Charting Can Help You Know You're Pregnant

I absolutely love that FAM can be used for a number of things including natural birth control, learning more about your body, and to get pregnant. Today, I thought it would be interesting for me to share a few of the ways in someone who charts may know they’re pregnant sooner than someone who doesn’t. 

The first obvious one for me is that if you chart then you know the average length of your cycle and you know the different lengths it’s fluctuated between.

Now, there are plenty of women who don’t chart that probably know around when to expect their next period, but there are also a countless number who couldn’t answer the questions of how long an average cycle was or when their last period was (that was 100%  me before I started charting). 

And knowing when you should be starting a new cycle can let you know when to test for a possible pregnancy. And since you’re charting waking temperatures you can see the drop in temperature at the start of a new cycle. 

Moving on, you know when you ovulate, and whether you ovulated that cycle. Because obviously if you’re not ovulating you’re not going to get pregnant. You also know if you ovulated earlier or later than normal. 

Going along with that you know how long your luteal phase is (average is 14 days, but anywhere between 10 and 16 days is normal). Once you get past, or even close to that 16 day of your LP you know you can test. The luteal phase is rarely longer than 16 days unless the woman is pregnant. 

Because you’re charting your cervical fluid you know if you had sex on a fertile day that could result in a possible pregnancy. 

And finally, you know what’s normal for you, symptom wise leading up to your menstrual phase. And while a lot of pre-menstrual symptoms are quite similar to pregnancy symptoms, women who chart can have a better knowledge of what is normal because they can chart data beyond temperature and fluid. 

Now, I’ve never been pregnant so I can’t say any of this with experience, but these are the ways in which I could see charting coming in handy when it comes to knowing what’s normal for you and when to test. And it makes me curious for when the time does come for me (hopefully) how soon will I be able to tell?

And this doesn't even include all of the amazing ways charting can help you conceive a baby (or avoid it). 

If you’ve been pregnant, at what point did you know? Did you chart/practice FAM and did that play a role in you finding out sooner? 

My Daysy + Its Role in My Birth Control

A quick little post today because I just wanted to come on here and talk about the Daysy fertility computer and how I've incorporated it into my birth control method.

I use the sympto-thermal method, which means I take my temperature and track my cervical fluid daily, and use those two fertility signs combined along with a particular set of rules and guidelines to know whether I am fertile or not. 

Before getting the Daysy I just used a simple basal body thermometer, which I recommend for anyone wanting to try out FAM to see if it’s right for you. 

There are so many different methods and tools to apply those methods that it’s really quite amazing how customizable FAM is to the individual lady. 

The Daysy alone is 99.3% effective just by taking your temperature. I like to combine it with also charting my cervical fluid. 

It takes a lot of that anxiety away that comes along with trusting your ability to know you fertility. 

FAM has legit changed my life and I really enjoy sharing my knowledge of the sympto-thermal method with other gals like myself. 

If you want to learn more about FAM and whether it’s a good fit for you (it is) you can take my Chart Your Cycle course which is now available as a PDF download. 

And if you want to snag a Daysy for yourself you can save some of your moolah (money) thanks to me. Just use the code FEMME at checkout.