You may not think something as simple as charting your menstrual cycle could have such a significant impact on someone’s life, but it truly does.
Charting your cycle is different than using a period tracking app. You chart your fertility biomarkers (cervical mucus, basal body temperature, bleeding, hormone tests) and you interpret that data.
I’ve been charting my cycle using the FEMM method of fertility awareness for almost a year and a half. I love this method so much!
Here’s why:
1. It’s a body literacy program first and foremost
FEMM teaches you how your reproductive hormones work and how those hormones influence your reproductive biomarkers.
FEMM teaches you what a healthy cycle looks like— how long & heavy your period should be, how much cervical mucus you should have and how long your luteal phase should be.
You’ll learn how to identify the different phases of your cycle and what’s healthy and normal for each phase.
THEN you’ll learn how to use your cycle charts for family planning.
FEMM starts with health and ends with family planning… not the other way around.
Because of that, FEMM is great to learn before you get married!
2. No temperature checks!
When I used a symptothermal method in the past which required me to take my temperature at the same time each morning, I was terrible at it!
I constantly forgot to take my temp before I got out of bed and I would go days without checking it.
Thankfully, I was using this method before Caleb and I got married so those missing temperatures weren’t a huge deal.
I love that FEMM doesn’t require temperature checks at all! FEMM uses cervical mucus and LH testing! That’s it!
(Some people choose to still take their temp and that’s fine! It’s not required though.)
3. It’s simple
Wipe. What do you feel? What do you see?
Record the cervical mucus characteristics according to the FEMM descriptors. Decide if it’s G, EL, or ES mucus based on the descriptions FEMM gives you for each mucus type.
Take an LH Test from your “point of change” until you reach a positive.
You can chart with FEMM quickly throughout your day.
Don’t dismiss the BIG impact little things can make in your life.
Ready to learn more about FEMM? Check out this free intro to FEMM webinar.
