As we continue our our series– “After Baby Comes: Postpartum Recovery Tips & Blessings for New Moms”–today we’re talking about the benefits of charting your menstrual cycle, no matter your current life season! Want to start charting yourself? I recommend Fertility Flower, a FREE online service that can help you understand your cycle better than you ever imagined!
We’ve been talking about pregnancy and postpartum healing a lot here lately. It’s the season I’m currently living–and I know many of you are right there with me.
But maybe you’re not. Or maybe your best friend or sister isn’t. But maybe you–or they–want to be.
Dear readers, I realize there may be some of you who desperately want a baby and you’re struggling. You and your husband are trying to get pregnant…and it’s just not happening.
Or maybe God has blessed you with a pregnancy…and you’ve experienced a loss.
Dear readers, I want to be sensitive to you. I don’t understand this trial you are going through, but I want you to know you are not alone. The Lord hears your prayers and knows your pain.
Image by jimw
I recently discovered an online community that I believe every woman–regardless of your life season–can benefit from: Fertility Flower. The owner of this FREE online charting service started it after she experienced two pregnancy losses. She has since had a baby girl this side of heaven and has made it her mission to help other ladies desiring the same:
“Since growing a family can be hard, Fertility Flower helps you by educating you about your female body and how timing is everything. You will never ever read ‘Just relax and it’ll happen‘ anywhere on this website because that’s ridiculous and insulting. We give you information, we provide you with a robust fertiity charting platform that is intuitive and easy to understand and we support the whole you because you are more than your plumbing.” ~Fertility Flower
I’ll be honest: Charting my menstrual cycle is something I’d never considered until recently. Before my first was born, I did track my cycle using an online service. But all that service did was serve as a place for me to record the date when my period started. It would estimate my ovulation date and give me the days I’d supposedly be the most fertile.
Did it work? Well, I did get pregnant. But I’ve now learned that I could know so much more about my cycle, my body, my fertility and my overall health and wellness using the sympto-thermo method. This method combines charting both your temperature and cervical fluid. This method identifies when a fertile period begins and ends – a range of days when fertility is highest. And it does something the period tracker service I previously used did not: it takes into consideration you and your spouse’s combined fertility.
Image by PinkMoose
But what if you don’t want to get pregnant?
Charting your cycle can also serve as a natural birth control. Now, I know my readers encompass a variety of beliefs on the topic of “birth control,” and that’s a different post entirely. Suffice it to say that I did use hormonal birth control before my first child was born–and it is something I deeply regret for a variety of reasons. I believe charting your cycle is a much safer way to prevent pregnancy (and there are a variety of reasons people may want to prevent–such as a mother who is on medication that could harm a baby/cause miscarriage, etc.). You will definitely not find any other more natural means of birth control!
Are there other benefits of charting your cycle?
Besides increasing the odds of getting pregnant and functioning as an all-natural birth control, charting your cycle can help you:
- keep in touch with your overall health and wellness: If you chart consistently, you will begin to know your body better and therefore notice when something is “off.”
- know when to expect your period: Have you ever been unprepared when your period hit? Maybe you were out of the necessary sanitary products–or you may have even been out in public or on an overnight stay? I cannot TELL you the number of times I’ve found myself in this situation! Charting your cycle will help you be prepared for Aunt Flo’s monthly visit. 😉
- pinpoint early detection of some health problems: If your cycle is off, it could indicate other underlying hormonal issues, such as thyroid disease and other hormonal imbalances (source)
- detect early signs of infertility: Catching infertility issues early on (even while single!) can lead you to get the help you need before trying to conceive.
- know that something isn’t wrong: If your chart looks “perfect,” and you are still not conceiving, it may signal that your husband is having infertility issues that need to be addressed.
There are many other free online “fertility predictor” services, but Fertility Flower comes with a lot of bonuses. Not only can the owner personally identify with pregnancy loss, but she’s set up an entire community of women who are in your very same shoes–trying to conceive or chart their cycles for one of the above reasons. The site provides an online forum as well as an excellent blog that provides all kinds of tips for women who are trying to conceive, pregnant or postpartum.
The free basic membership includes:
- Temperature and Symptom Charting
- Secondary Fertility Signs Tracking
- Automatic Ovulation Detection
- Customizable Symptom Checklist
If you are wanting to do more in-depth charting (excellent for those trying to conceive!), the premium membership is only $5/month or $40/year. This membership includes:
- Basic + Chart Overlay Capability to Allow for Comparisons
- Cycle Statistics and Averages
- Symptom Volume Charting
- Symptom Volume Word Cloud
- Bleeding/Spotting Chart
- Fully Featured Calendar
Have you ever charted your cycle? What are some of the benefits you see in charting your menstrual cycle?
Top image by vetilden
*This post was sponsored by Fertility Flower.*
Are you hoping to become pregnant? For help with preparing for a natural childbirth, check out the #1 bestselling online childbirth course, Mama Natural Birth Course. It will empower you to have the natural birth you want…and you can watch the course in the comfort of your own home! You may also like these FREE week-by-week pregnancy updates!
Come check out our other “After Baby Comes: Postpartum Recovery Tips & Blessings for New Moms” posts all month long!
- Bless a Friend with Freezer Meals
- 5 Ways to Beat Postpartum Depression, Naturally
- Top 10 Reasons to Use Your Crock Pot
- Exiting the Darkness of Postpartum Depression
- Making a New Mama Basket
- Using Red Raspberry Leaf Tea for Pregnancy & Postpartum {Red Raspberry Leaf Tea Recipe}
- Ways to Help a New Mama Once Her Baby Arrives
- Herbs All Moms Should Know About
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Rebecca
I started charting my cycle when we had a little “trouble” getting pregnant with #1. I learned so much on my own about my body and cycle, cervical fluid, moods, temperatures and so on! My cycles are a bit irregular so it really helps to chart so I know what to expect. We were also able to use charting alone, no other method of birth control, to prevent pregnancy for a year until we were ready to try for #2. I will never stop charting now!
Kimberly @ Fertility Flower
You really DO learn so much about your body through charting – it’s actually amazing what you can ‘see’. It all shows up there. Being worn out. Undernourishment. Not to mention charting’s utility as a diagnostic tool. PCOS, hypothyroid, adrenal fatigue, etc can all be identified via charting.
Sarah Bailey
My youngest is now 6 so while I have three wonderful children, I still have that empty arm feeling but the Lord keeps saying no. Anyway I use a wonderful app that can be put on most devices like my iTouch, Kindle Fire as well as on the PC called Period Tracker, it’s $1.99 for all the bells and whistle or free for the basic. It gives me charts, symptoms, etc and it’s discrete.
Misty
I read the Taking Charge of your fertility book. You can easily check it out from your library. While it focuses on fertility it is a wonderful resource just for learning about our bodies. It also gives you charts and shows how to use them. www.tcoyf.com I used it when trying to conceive both of my boys.
AineMistig
I also read the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility. I bought the software that the book gives you a free trial of. Although I haven’t charted in months (because I’m expecting!), learning to chart my cycle was one of THE BEST things I ever did for my health and sanity. I was actually really, really angry that the knowledge in the book (which I’m sure is also on the Fertility Flower site) is not commonly known or taught in public schools. It would be SO EASY to teach girls this stuff the same time they have the “our changing bodies” seminar in middle school. Charting my cycle helped my OBGYN realize that I had more symptoms of sub-clinical hypothyroidism, because of my low waking body temperature. It also has been a blessing in this way: according to the software, I was not ovulating because I did not experience a body temperature shift throughout the month for several months. I hadn’t had a period for half a year, and then when it came my period was lasting 10-14 days at a time. After my period came back is when I started charting, and my OBGYN realized that I wasn’t ovulating properly. Meaning that I should have been infertile….but I am currently 8 months pregnant! It’s possible that I just can’t use body temperature as a means for charting my cycle, and that I was fertile all along, but based on my charts and what the doctor read from them, I wasn’t ovulating and shouldn’t have been able to get pregnant — including the month my son was conceived. There wasn’t a thermal shift after his conception to indicate a pregnancy had started. I took a fertility test when my period was 5 days late, just in case, even though I thought that perhaps I was starting another round of no periods, and it turned out positive! For me, charting made me that much more thankful for my baby, for the MIRACLE of his very existence!
Jennifer
I used an online charting service before I got pg with our first baby, when I stopped taking the pill so I could see when my cycle got backto normal. I stopped charting a couple of motnns before getting pg woth her. I started charting again once my period returned after having my first baby as a means of birth control. I finally stopped because for me, I got tired of my fertility being literally the first thought of the morning, as I reached over to get my thermometer to take my temp. Having said that, I LOVED the insights I got into my body using this method. And have actually thought about returning to charting, as my doc believes I may have developed endometriosis in my c-section scar, and my cycles have gotten weird. Thanks for letting me know about this free service!
Bonnie Way
I’ve charted my cycle since shortly before I got married five years ago. My husband and I are both Catholic and the Church encourages natural methods of family planning, rather than hormonal methods, so it was easy for us to find an instructor in menstrual charting. I actually don’t chart much, as I’ve spent most of our marriage pregnant or breastfeeding (my cycle doesn’t return until I wean my babies) but I highly recommend it. I’ve also bookmarked this site for when my cycle returns (in a couple years!!) as it sounds soooo easy to use (much easier than my paper method of charting).
Kimberly @ Fertility Flower
Thanks, Erin, for the nice write up on charting and the importance of it. I think it’s one of the best things that we, as women, can do for our health. Charting reveals so much – not just about our gynecological health – as many of the women here mentioned. It’s a minor investment and gives you a wealth of information.
As a post-script: I built this website because I couldn’t find one that really reflected my values, experience, etc. We’re all human beings and this is an incredibly personal topic. I’ve gone through 3 miscarriages and 2 live births and so my experiences informed a lot of the development of this website. For example, there is a lot of support and resources for women who experience pregnancy loss while charting with us.
Thanks again for such a thoughtful post on the topic!
Amy
I started charting about a year ago, though because I’m single right now I don’t chart my temps – just symptoms and cycle dates. I would like to get in the habit of charting my temps as well, for when I do get married, however when I’ve tried this in the past I’ve been stymied by the snooze-button and brain fog in the mornings. Any tips for getting in the habit of taking your basal temp first thing in the am?
(I tried putting the thermometer on top of the snooze button, but ended up knocking it off in my brain fog and having to get out of bed to retrieve it, thus defeating the purpose . . . )
Menstrual Cramps
Great tips!
Charting your cycle can be very beneficial — you can know how to take care more of yourselves if your menstrual period is coming. Knowing ones body will make you knowledgeable on how to take good care of it.