The Garden of Fertility

Informationen zum Autor Katie Singer 's books include The Wholeness of a Broken Heart , Honoring Our Cycles , Honoring Our Cycles in Africa and An Electronic Silent Spring . Klappentext In The Garden of Fertility , certified fertility educator Katie Singer explains how easy it is to chart your fertility signals to determine when you are fertile and when you are not. Her Fertility Awareness method can be used to safely and effectively prevent or help achieve pregnancy, as well as monitor gynecological health. Singer offers practical information, illuminated with insightful personal stories, for every woman who wants to learn to live in concert with her body and to take care of her reproductive health naturally. The Garden of Fertility provides: Directions (and blank charts) for charting your fertility signalsInstructions for preventing pregnancy naturally - a method virtually as effective as the Pill, with none of its side effects.Guidelines for timing intercourse to enhance your chances of conceiving without drugs or hormonesInformation to help you use your charts to gauge your reproductive health - to determine whether you're ovulating; if you have a thyroid problem, low progesterone levels, or a propensity for PCOS or miscarriage; or if you're pregnantNutritional and nonmedical strategies for strengthening your gynecological healthClear descriptions of reproductive anatomy, hormonal changes throughout the menstrual cycle, and how conception occurs Introduction I N JUNIOR-HIGH BIOLOGY ABOUT THIRTY years ago, I looked under the microscope my teacher offered and struggled to figure out how the stuff on the slide was relevant to me. I'd just begun to menstruate, and I wanted to know how my body worked. I wondered if other girls had strong cramps and what they did to ease them. I wondered if menstruating meant that if I had sex, I could get pregnant any day. Or was it just a few days each month? If it was just a few days, which days were they? Once I became sexually active, I got a diaphragm and then a cervical cap. I asked a doctor and a midwife if they knew a way I could learn to tell when I was fertile. Each of them shook their heads. A Tangle Years later, my boyfriend and I drove toward a cabin out of town to celebrate my birthday. I've got another yeast infection, I said quietly. Well that's lousy, he said. The lousiness wasn't that I was sick, but that we wouldn't be able to make love. Already that year I'd had several yeast infections because of irritation from the spermicide I used with my cervical cap. How do I get out of here? I wondered. Out of feeling like my birthday celebration is only about sex, out of birth control that makes me sick? Sex, fertility, love. Like the burning in my groin, they made a tangle too hot to touch. Learning to Chart Once I heard about Fertility Awareness (FA), also called Natural Family Planning (NFP), I decided to learn it. FA is based on a woman's daily charting of her waking temperature and cervical fluid. With Fertility Awareness, a woman can tell when she's fertile and infertile. To avoid pregnancy, couples postpone intercourse or use a barrier method on fertile days. To conceive, they know the best time to try. Fertility Awareness is not the same as the (unreliable) Rhythm Method, which determines fertility by the patterns ofprevious cycles. FA gauges fertility as the woman's daily chart evolves. According to numerous studies, when its rules are followed, Fertility Awareness is virtually as effective as the Pill. Through books and classes about Fertility Awareness, I finally learned the vocabulary of my menstrual cycle, the functions of different hormones, and how to determine when I am fertile and infertile. As I started to observe and record my fertility signals, I began to experience explosions of awe: I ha...

Autorentext
Katie Singer’s books include The Wholeness of a Broken Heart, Honoring Our Cycles, Honoring Our Cycles in Africa*and *An Electronic Silent Spring.

Klappentext

In *The Garden of Fertility,* certified fertility educator Katie Singer explains how easy it is to chart your fertility signals to determine when you are fertile and when you are not. Her Fertility Awareness method can be used to safely and effectively prevent or help achieve pregnancy, as well as monitor gynecological health. Singer offers practical information, illuminated with insightful personal stories, for every woman who wants to learn to live in concert with her body and to take care of her reproductive health naturally.
The Garden of Fertility provides:

• Directions (and blank charts) for charting your fertility signals
• Instructions for preventing pregnancy naturally - a method virtually as effective as the Pill, with none of its side effects.
• Guidelines for timing intercourse to enhance your chances of conceiving without drugs or hormones
• Information to help you use your charts to gauge your reproductive health - to determine whether you're ovulating; if you have a thyroid problem, low progesterone levels, or a propensity for PCOS or miscarriage; or if you're pregnant
• Nutritional and nonmedical strategies for strengthening your gynecological health
• Clear descriptions of reproductive anatomy, hormonal changes throughout the menstrual cycle, and how conception occurs

Zusammenfassung
A resource for women explaines how to read one's fertility signals in order to prevent or achieve pregnancy, as well as how to observe and chart fertility cycles, strengthen reproductive wellness, and measure gynecological health.

Leseprobe
Introduction IN JUNIOR-HIGH BIOLOGY ABOUT THIRTY years ago, I looked under the microscope my teacher offered and struggled to figure out how the stuff on the slide was relevant to me. I’d just begun to menstruate, and I wanted to know how my body worked. I wondered if other girls had strong cramps and what they did to ease them. I wondered if menstruating meant that if I had sex, I could get pregnant any day. Or was it just a few days each month? If it was just a few days, which days were they?

Once I became sexually active, I got a diaphragm and then a cervical cap. I asked a doctor and a midwife if they knew a way I could learn to tell when I was fertile. Each of them shook their heads.

A Tangle

Years later, my boyfriend and I drove toward a cabin out of town to celebrate my birthday. “I’ve got another yeast infection,” I said quietly.

“Well that’s lousy,” he said.

The lousiness wasn’t that I was sick, but that we wouldn’t be able to make love. Already that year I’d had several yeast infections because of irritation from the spermicide I used with my cervical cap.

How do I get out of here? I wondered. Out of feeling like my birthday celebration is only about sex, out of birth control that makes me sick?

Sex, fertility, love. Like the burning in my groin, they made a tangle too hot to touch.

Learning to Chart

Once I heard about Fertility Awareness (FA), also called Natural Family Planning (NFP), I decided to learn it. FA is based on a woman’s daily charting of her waking temperature and cervical fluid. With Fertility Awareness, a woman can tell when she’s fertile and infertile. To avoid pregnancy, couples postpone intercourse or use a barrier method on fertile days. To conceive, they know the best time to try.

Fertility Awareness is not the same as the (unreliable) Rhythm Method, which determines fertility by the patterns ofprevious cycles. FA gauges fertility as the woman’s daily chart evolves. According to numerous studies, when its rules are followed, Fertility Awareness is virtually as effective as the Pill.

Through books and classes about Fertility Awareness, I finally learned the vocabulary of my menstrual cycle, the functions of different ho…