Added: 01/05/2007 |
How do I choose a natural family planning methods?Millions of children are born each year in the United States. Some pregnancies are wanted, and some are not. Most often, women who become pregnant are delighted and begin telling everyone they know, (as well as some they donэt!) and begin preparation for the little babyэs arrival! However, when this process doesn't come easy, there are some planning methods that are natural in their own right.
A prime basal temperature is 97.5. When a woman is menstruating, the basal temperature can vary by up to 1.5 degrees. The optimal time to accurately take your basal temperature is first thing in the morning before you get up. Before going to bed at night, take a mercury type thermometer (not a digital one, these are not as accurate) and place it next to your bed where you’ll be able to reach it without moving too much! Then in the morning, place the thermometer under your armpit for ten minutes. If your temperature is between 97.2 and 98.2, you are probably O.K. However, making sure that the basal temperature is taken at the same time of day each day and in the same manner is very important in trying to determine when you are ovulating. A woman who is ovulating will have a change in temperature of .4 degrees one way or the other over a 48- hour period. According to natural family planning methods, this is the optimum time to have sexual relations with your spouse in order to conceive.
According to some natural family planning methods, the position you and your spouse use during sexual intercourse is also a way to encourage conception. This involves considering which position would allow the force of gravity to send the husband’s semen as close to the cervix and uterus as possible, increasing the chances that “this one’s gonna take!” The traditional “missionary” position, where the husband is on top of the wife, uses gravity to force the semen into the right direction. The wife on her knees and the husband behind is another gravity-feed version of sexual intercourse that is said to increase the natural family planning effectiveness. Experimenting with different positions allows the husband’s semen to flow in all directions. Making sure that you direct the flow correctly is what is said to make this method a more effective way to conceive that some others.
Monitoring your cervical mucus is another one of the natural family planning methods that only requires that the woman pay attention to her body and its ebbs and flows. This is something that makes this natural family planning method an attractive one over the more invasive procedures now available. Most women pay attention to their bodies, but only to the extent that they are hungry, thirsty or tired. Applying this same activity to planning for a baby is a natural process that every woman would benefit from. The ovulation process produces a white “egg-like” substance to excrete from the vagina. Paying attention to when this happens and recording it will help you when it is time to conceive.
Whatever method you and your husband choose, the time and effort it takes to do these things is well spent in that you are both getting to know things about each other that you didn’t before, which is always a plus, baby or not. Good Luck!
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