Fertility Awareness: An Education

In today’s world, a woman’s fertility is a mystery that is mostly only fully understood by OB/GYNs or women who are trying to get pregnant. I am here to let the proverbial cat out of the bag, and to shout from the rooftops how fertility works.

Whether you are a woman trying to conceive, a woman trying to find alternate natural methods of contraception, or a man wanting to take an educated and responsible approach to sexual activity, this guide will give the reader a good understanding for fertility.

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional, and I do not dispense medical advice. This is an experience-based post with some information extracted from different websites and from my own experience with the topic. Experiences vary from woman to woman and from month to month. For more detailed information, please research on expert sites or consult your physician.

Let’s get started!

The Basics

Let’s start with a brief and colloquial glossary:

• Uterus: Women have a uterus, men don’t. It is a hollow organ where a baby would grow.
• Eggs: Like all our fellow mammals, we females have eggs whose whole purpose is to become fertilized and make a baby. Eggs are fragile things: after they have reached maturity, they only live from 12 to 24 to 48 hours (at the most) before disintegrating into nothingness.
• Ovaries: ovaries are the egg factories. A woman has 2 ovaries which have millions of eggs in storage. The ovaries are located on either side of the uterus, connected to the uterus by tubes called the “Fallopian tubes.”
• Ovulation: Every month, a single egg reaches maturity and begins its descent from the ovary to the uterus through the Fallopian tube. The process of traveling down to the uterus is called “Ovulation” and it only happens once a month around day 14 (ballpark — the exact day varies from woman to woman and from month to month) of the menstrual cycle.
• Fallopian Tubes: the tube that the egg travels through to go from the ovary to the uterus. It connects the ovaries to the uterus.
• Period or Menstruation: Approximately 12-16 days after ovulation, the lining of the uterus, together with some blood, gets shed out of the uterus to the outside of the body via the vagina, which is directly connected to the uterus.
• Vagina: it’s the tract that connects the uterus to the outside world. Normally penetrated during intercourse, and through which a baby would travel to be born. I know most people think they know what the vagina is, but I have heard of some confusion between the vulva, vagina and urinary tract. As a side note: women do not pee through their vaginas! They have a separate urinary tract that is connected to the bladder.
• Cervix: this is a “valve” of sorts that exists right in the intersection between the vagina and the uterus.
• Menstrual Cycle: the entire fertility process, starting on Day 1: first day of menstruation (or period), and ending approximately a month later on the day before the next period begins. Length of a cycle is said to be 28 days on average, however this length changes from woman to woman and may vary from month to month.
• Phase I of the Cycle: This is the timeframe starting on Day 1 of the cycle, and ending on the day of ovulation.
• Phase II of the Cycle: This is the timeframe starting on the day of ovulation, and ending the day before the next period begins.
• Basal Temperature: a woman’s body temperature changes depending on which phase of the cycle she is in. Phase I is characterized by a “low” temperature, while Phase II a “high” temperature. The exact temperature varies from woman to woman, but the high and low temperatures differ by half of a degree to a full degree (Farenheit). This temperature is recommended to be taken at the same time every day, and when a woman has not gotten out of bed yet to minimize variation from measurement to measurement. Basal temperature may be taken orally.
• Sperm: Sperm is packed with tons of spermatozoids, which race to meet the mature egg for fertilization (that’s their calling in life). Sperm may live anywhere from 3 to 5 to 7 days (at the very most) inside a woman’s body.

The Process

Now that we know the terminology, let’s do a brief recount of the order in which events happen during a menstrual cycle:

• Day 1: The period comes! Yeah yeah, yuck yuck, get over it. This is when the uterus sheds its lining and some blood. The length of the period varies from woman to woman, but it can last anywhere from a couple of days (lucky girls) to a week. On this day, a woman’s basal temperature is “low” (baseline varies from woman to woman).
• Day 14: Again, this is not an exact day for every woman or for every month, it varies, but at around this day ovulation will occur. Right after ovulation happens, a woman’s temperature rises to the “high” temperature. Super regular women may find this day to be the same every month, while irregular women may find this day to range anywhere from day 10 of the cycle to day 26, or they may observe even wider ranges in some cases!
• Day 15/16 (or 12 to 48 hours after ovulation has occurred): The mature egg that was released to the uterus disintegrates into the lining. A mature egg lives anywhere from 12 to 24 to 48 hours (at the very most). After 72 hours from ovulation have passed, the chances of being fertilized drop to nearly zilch.
• Day 28: This is the last day of the cycle. The exact day varies from woman to woman and may vary from month to month. However, it is usually pretty standard for it to be 12-16 days after ovulation regardless of when ovulation actually occurred.

So… when IS a woman fertile?

Now that we’ve gone through the biology of how a woman’s body works, let’s tie this to fertility.

If you know that sperm may live inside a woman’s body for 3 or 5 days, and you know that a woman’s egg can only live for 12-48 hours, that gives a woman about a week’s worth of fertile time in the month. See how that worked? A woman may be only fertile for up to 48 hours (time the egg is alive), but if there is sperm left over from sexual activity from 5 days prior to ovulation, then there is still a chance of conception (because there might be some live sperm left over inside the body by the time the egg comes along), even if the sexual activity did not occur during those 12-48 hours. That is why they say that if no contraception is used, there is a 25% chance of pregnancy in a given month (in a 4-week month, 1 week is 25% of the time).

So we got our window: a woman is fertile about 7 days in the month. Ballpark! Again, this may vary by woman.

Got it! But WHICH 7 days???

So how does a woman know when she ovulates? I’ll only cover the most practical and “mathematical” one: basal temperature. Others, which I won’t go into, are: observing the texture of the cervical mucus, using a fertility calculation device, or observation of the safety calendar.

To find out when a woman’s body normally ovulates, it’s important for her to track her basal temperature and become familiar with her own body’s ovulation routine. For instance, set an alarm at the same time each morning before she usually gets out of bed, take a temperature using a basal thermometer (a regular thermometer may work too — it depends on its sensitivity), and track it for several monthly cycles. Watch the temperature go up in the middle of the month, and go down on Day 1 of the cycle. Nifty tip: women who do this can actually predict the day they will get their period by noticing that the temperature was “low” that morning!

By doing this, a woman can get a sense for how regular her ovulation days are, what her standard “low” temperature is and what her “high” temperature is.

When the temperature is observed to be “high,” that means that ovulation has already occurred! So if the last time she took her temperature was the morning before, her egg may have been released anytime in the past 24 hours.

This is the reason why women who are trying to conceive are advised to have sexual activity the day prior to their average ovulation day. That way sperm will be alive and around by the time the egg comes down. If the woman waits until her temperature goes up to try to conceive, the mature egg may be up to 24 hours old, and it may have disintegrated by then.

So which 7 days?… it will depend on ovulation day! Won’t know that answer exactly until a woman becomes familiar with her own ovulation pattern.

How can this be used as contraception?

Here’s a step-by-step way to use this as contraception:

• Step 1: Track basal temperatures every day for at least 6 months (12 months is recommended). This should give a woman a good idea for how her body works. Beware: if she is on the pill or any other hormone-based contraceptive, these temperature patterns will be VERY different from what they would be if she wasn’t, since the pill tends to regulate the menstrual cycle.
• Step 2: Create a calendar system for sexual activity: if she is 5 days (or more, depending on how “safe” she wants to be) away from her regular ovulation day, stop sexual activity. If she is 3 days (or more) past ovulation, sexual activity may be resumed. This is also called the “calendar method” and there are many resources online to find out when a woman’s “safe” day is depending on the minimum and maximum length of her periods for the past 12 months. For maximum safety, it’s recommended to pad the calendar method’s suggestions by a day or two to account for any unusual irregularities in the cycle. I recommend googling “calendar method fertility awareness” for more information.
• Step 3: Our hypothetical woman now knows the day when she normally ovulates (from Step 1), which are her high temperature and low temperature (Step 1), when her period normally comes (Step 1), and which days are safe and which aren’t (Step 2). The last step is to keep an eye on the actual ovulation day every month so she remains informed every month of where in the cycle she is and avoid surprises. There’s no need to take the temperature every day at this point, she could just take her temperature around the usual ovulation day so that she knows every single month when ovulation occurred. This is the main safety net. Knowledge is power.

Is fertility awareness contraception for me?

Fertility awareness is a recognized and widely used method of contraception. It’s 100% natural and, when used properly, has the same success rate as the pill. However, it is not for everybody.

This method requires discipline and it’s not for the faint of heart. Misuse and misunderstanding of the method is common. Those who use this method correctly and strictly enjoy the benefits of a hormone-free and safe contraceptive. On the flip side, as there is a timeframe when sex is not safe, sexual spontaneity and frequency may be compromised.

So, maybe it isn’t for you, maybe it is. The most important point of this whole article is to educate, and to not let a convenient contraceptive method (like the pill) prevent you from knowing about human fertility and how your body (if you are a woman) works. It is actually very empowering to know exactly what is going on, when it’s happening and why.

I hope this guide helped at least one person out there learn at least one new thing! 🙂 My work here is done.
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