Natural Family Planning -- a website to track

[jnezmama02]

Since we're not using any bc right now, we're pretty much following natural family planning.  I found this really cool site where you can track your cycles.  It allows you to track when you have your period...just when you start or more details on symptoms, flow level, etc if you're interested in that much detail. And, once you've put in two months worth, it will be able to predict when you should start again (based on your cycle length). It will help you determine when you ovulate (so  you can avoid sex or ttc...depending on where you're at in wanting more) and you can even set it up to send you email reminders for when your fertile, when you're expecting AF, and to notify you if you are late (if you don't put in that AF has started).

Anyway, I thought it was cool and thought some of you might as well. To use the tools, you'll have to register...but it's free.

http://www.mymonthlycycles.com/

[jnezmama02]

I forgot to add that there is also a place to track annual exams, your weight, and a general notes section (like if you wanted to mark when you had sex or something for ttc).

[moogie]

This is something I am concerned about.  How to prevent.  My 6 week check is over 3 weeks away and well, we're not waiting that long.  so is it pretty safe to have sex with no protection before then.  Breastfeeding is happening 2-4 hrly.  I also am wary about the mini pill.  I don't like the idea that you can conceive and then the mini pill aborts the baby.  Is this true, if so, it doesn't sit well with me.  Well, maybe that site will be helpful, I'll go check it out.

[jnezmama02]

Megs...you're probably safe w/ bfing if you haven't had AF yet, b/c you won't have ovulated yet (bfing in the first few months prevents ovulation)...however, you never know when you'll ovulate (could be before or after AF comes back).

As for the mini-pill (progesterone only), it does not cause "abortion" or "miscarriage" in the clinical definition (meaning causing an implanted embryo to detach and be expelled from the body). What it does is cause your body to produce less hormones that builds up the lining of the uterus. If an egg is fertilized, it is highly unlikely that it will be able to implant, b/c there's not enough lining for it to attach itself to, so it will be expelled from the body before implantation. In clinical terms, you're not pg until the fertilized egg implants.  Interestingly, b/c you are bfing, your body is already producing less of the hormone needed to build up the uterine lining. Therefore, if you are bfing but have already ovulated, it is also possible that a fertilized egg can't implant...just like the mini-pill. The mini-pill just increases the likelihood that your body isn't producing enough to build the lining.

It's important to realize that the regular pill (combo estrogen & progesterone) works in two ways: 1. by preventing the release of an egg (just like the early days of bfing) and 2. by causing you to produce less of the hormone that builds up the lining (just like bfing & the mini-pill).  All hormonal bc works this way. I think it's up to an individual person to determine if the less build-up of the lining, which leads to less chance of implantation, is somethinng they're ok w/ or not.

Here is a good resource about breastfeeding and fertility:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/normal/fertility.html

[ShannonandDel]

I will say that my period came back right away, and I am pretty certain I could have gotten pregnant. I have a sister who was concieved when I was two months old and my sister concieved the first they DTD time after her first dd was born. I also know more than one girl that I am not related to that has concieved right away while bf'ing. I do not think that bf'ing is not a very good birth control method
I also tried the mini pill and it made my supply drop drastically. The doctor told me that it does that to some women and that I could supplement until I build my supply back up, which I wasn't willing to do so I stopped taking it and we have mostly been using the old pull and pray, with complete avoidance during ovulation. There are plenty of ways to prevent that don't invlove hormones.
Good luck!

Shannon

[jnezmama02]

Obviously, the tracking didn't work too well for us given that I'm now pg when we weren't trying. On the other hand, it's probably b/c I didn't have a predictable ovulation pattern yet since I've only had a few periods since Emily was born. I think I conceived on day 23 of m cycle...so there's no way any tracking site would have expected that. Very strange that I'm pg, that's for sure.