Fertility Basics

To understand natural family planning, it's important to understand your fertility. When we talk about fertility - we're talking about the possibility of getting pregnant.

Pregnancy needs two things: an egg and a sperm. You can have one without the other - but if they never meet, there's no pregnancy.

When does the egg appear? Ovulation...

Ovulation - The Main Event

Women ovulate once during their cycles. And the egg is only available for about one day. One day!

Everything in your cycle is leading up to ovulation, and then preparing for the next ovulation.

Think of the egg as a little superstar/diva. :) The egg is the main event in your cycle. Your body makes lots of preparations for her arrival - then she makes her appearance.

If there were no sperm around to join with the egg - the egg disappears and your body begins making preparations for the next ovulation. If the egg is fertilized - 9 months later, you'll be welcoming a new star into your life.

If you can only get pregnant around ovulation - you can't get pregnant during the rest of the cycle. Since pregnancy needs and egg and a sperm, you can't get pregnant if the egg is not around.

But can you really predict ovulation? Yes! Your body changes in very predictable ways as you get closer to ovulation. If you know what to look for - you can predict ovulation.

And if you're using NFP as natural birth control - as you see the signs of ovulation, you would abstain on those days, until you are sure that ovulation has passed.

While you can't pinpoint the exact moment of ovulation - you can watch your body's changes and predict ovulation within a day or two.

Your Fertility Cycle

We'll be talking a lot about your cycle as we discuss natural family planning. Some people use the term menstrual cycle - but we'll stick to fertility cycle or just 'your cycle'.

Your cycle begins on the first day of your period. It ends on the last day before your next period. Ovulation usually happens towards the middle of the cycle.

Since pregnancy takes an egg and a sperm - you can only get pregnant around the time of ovulation.

That means that before you ovulate, and after you ovulate, you are infertile. You can't get pregnant when the egg is not there.

So, you are infertile at the beginning of your cycle. You become fertile as ovulation approaches. After ovulation - you are infertile again. These three times are called your phases of your cycle.

That's the basic jist of it, but let's talk more about the phases of your cycle. Click on the link below...