This Post Is Not for Men

Early in our marriage, due to learning about the risks of losing a fertilized egg each month on the pill, we decided to get off birth control. I know this is a controversial issue, which I don't plan on delving in here, but what did it for us was learning that an obstetrician in Austin was refusing to prescribe birth control for any sexually active patient in his office due to the abortifacet properties. We did the research, and found that we couldn't deny that there was that risk.

But then we wondered "Where do we go from here?" I was more than a little scared about getting pregnant. That's when I read this book:

Your Fertility Signals

It was so easy to read, I wondered if it could really work. Wasn't health stuff supposed to be more complicated? But I knew of a few women who said it worked for them, so I gave it a shot. It enabled us to not get pregnant for over 2 years, then to be able to conceive fairly quickly when we wanted to. Even with our "surprise" pregnancy, I knew ahead of time that my body was fertile, I just didn't heed the signs.

But the reason I'm blogging about such a personal matter: this book has helped me with more than just birth control. It's taught me so much about how my body works.

For instance, yesterday I went to the OB and told her I suspected a cyst just because of a few signs like mood swings. I had a feeling the OB would say "You're crazy if you think mood swings are because of a cyst. You just had a baby! So of course your hormones are going to be imbalanced." But thankfully she didn't say that, she just checked and what do you know? A cyst! I knew with each cyst that something was going on (this is my third in the last 2 years). It's nothing worrisome, but it's nice to know why things are happening, and enables me to deal with it.

My OB has said to me before, "You are very in tune with your body." But this knowledge shouldn't be a secret. It's quite simple, yet it has a big effect on my expectations of myself.

So, if you read it let me know. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.