Taking Charge of Your Fertility... Naturally

I'm going to get a little personal in this post because it touches on a subject that too many women have little knowledge about... their fertility.

I happen to be one of those people who remained a virgin till marriage.  When I was a couple of months away from my wedding, my fiance and I discussed the subject of when we might have children.  Both of us felt that we wanted to wait a year or two before becoming parents.  The big question in my mind was how to avoid pregnancy until then.

This was a subject that no one ever discussed, so I was thoroughly ignorant.  The only thing I knew to do was use birth control pills.  I talked to my mom and she didn't have much in the way of advice, so I went to a gynecologist and asked numerous questions.  Everyone seemed to think that using "the pill" was a simple and logical solution to avoiding pregnancy.  So that's the route I chose.

In those days, I knew very little about pharmaceuticals and so little about REAL nutrition and health.  When I first got married, I realized that there was quite a lot I didn't know.  I lived near a small library and started bringing loads of books home to learn about everything a good wife/homemaker should know.  As I began to learn more, I started coming across things that talked about the dangers of birth control pills.  It had never occurred to me that their could be any health risk in swallowing those tiny pills everyday.

I grew more and more uneasy about taking the pill.  I finally sat down with the pamphlet that came in every prescription of pills (which I'd never bothered to read before).  Twenty minutes later, after reading every word of that tiny print, I was convinced that I could not put another one of those things in my mouth for the rest of my life!  When my husband came home, I made my grand announcement: I was going off the pill.

At this point, we'd been married only six months, and neither of us wanted to have children yet.  The next day I went to the library, not really sure what to look for.  I found the appropriate section and found one book that might give me the answer I was looking for: "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" by Toni Weschler.

There is no doubt in my mind that God led me to exactly what I needed.  As I read this book, I learned things about my body that I never knew before.  For the first time I understood how my monthly cycle worked and what was happening at each phase of the cycle.  This book taught me how to control my fertility naturally!  I felt set free!  I learned how to determine when I was about to ovulate so I could avoid sexual activity and therefore avoid pregnancy.  And when I WAS ready to have children, I used the same method to determine when I would be fertile.

I have successfully used this method exclusively for fifteen years.  I used the chart given in the book for about two years until I knew my body and my cycle so well that I didn't need to use it anymore.

In hindsight, I would have to say that this book was the very first step in my knowledge base of living a natural lifestyle, free from prescription drugs, processed foods, and manufactured garbage.  Little did I know that I'd be where I am today simply because I got freaked out about taking a tiny pill.  But I'm so grateful.  And I have two beautiful children!

It is my opinion that every girl ought to be taught about these things before graduating from high school. It is important for women to understand their bodies!  This book is a jewel of a find for those who want to avoid the toxic options of fertility.