Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control and Pregnancy Achievement [Paperback]

Toni Weschler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1995

An invaluable aid to couples facing infertility, this is the first book to fully detail the techniques of the groundbreaking Fertility Awareness Method--the exciting natural alternative to present methods of birth control.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This comprehensive book explains in lucid, assured terms how to practice the fertility awareness method (FAM), a natural, scientifically proven but little-known form of birth control (which is not to be confused with the woefully ineffective "rhythm" method). Author Toni Weschler has been teaching fertility awareness for almost 20 years, and it's only just now gaining in popularity. As the book explains, by using simple fertility signs including peaks in morning body temperature and changes in cervical position and cervical mucus, it's possible to determine when ovulation is taking place. Fertility awareness is therefore useful for not only couples who are trying to conceive, but for those who are aiming to avoid pregnancy without the use of chemical contraceptives. It will be of special interest to those women who have suffered from infertility; many FAM practitioners have told the author that by filling in the detailed charts in the book, they've realized that they were chronically miscarrying, even when their doctors told them they weren't conceiving at all. As the book explains, by charting body temperature, it's simple to tell when pregnancy has occurred--and when there's danger of miscarriage. Taking Charge of Your Fertility also explains how to choose the sex of your baby by timing intercourse according to certain fertility signs. It also features thorough, easy-to-understand explanations of hormones, the menstrual cycle, and menopause, along with fertility tests and treatments and their long- and short-term side effects, plus a topnotch resource section. Recommended for any woman who wants to better understand her body. --Erica Jorgensen

Review

This beautifully written guide to a woman's fertility signs....packed with knowledge, wisdom, humor –a must for the bookshelf. -- –Co-authors of The New Our Bodies, Ourselves

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Perennial; 1st edition (July 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060950536
• ISBN-13: 978-0060950538
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (463 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,768 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #11 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Disorders & Diseases > Infertility

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

255 of 261 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly enlightening!, August 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control and Pregnancy Achievement (Paperback)

I bought this book after 4 unsuccessful months of trying, which was after 3 months of waiting after having 2 miscarriages. Since I'd gotten pregnant right away with my first child, I figured there might be something I needed to learn and I couldn't have been more right. This book is an absolute must for anyone, whether you're trying to get pregnant or not. I learned more about my body in the day and a half it took me to read the book than I ever did in any of the sex ed classes in school. After 4 months of what we thought was perfect timing and no success, we thought there might be a problem. I bought the book to learn about detecting ovulation and potential fertility problems. I got pregnant the first cycle I charted because of the knowledge I gained about ovulation and its signals. I learned through charting that I ovulated on Day 21 rather than Day 14. I was also able to determine I was pregnant without even taking a test! I'm so thrilled about the knowledge I've gained by reading this book and I feel much more in tune with my body now that I am pregnant. I urge any woman to get this book if you are at all interested in your body, pregnancy achievement, or pregnancy avoidance. This book is very well written in plain English that is easy to understand. The illustrations, color photographs, and numerous charting patterns were especially helpful to me. I can't say enough about this book!

69 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You've got to have this book - and recommend it to friends!!, May 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control and Pregnancy Achievement (Paperback)

After over 4 months of trying to get pregnant, a good friend of mine recommended this book. She told me that if nothing else I would feel more knowledgeable about my body, its cycles, and what it was telling me when. So I ordered it. It is so well written that I found myself looking forward to reading it. It is incredibly informative and easy to understand. And I immediately knew from reading it what my husband and I were doing wrong (we were a little late in my cycle each month). Thanks to the charting I knew that having a mild flu with fever delayed my cycle's ovulation date *and* I knew when to keep going before ovulation. I'm happy to write that thanks to my first cycle of charting I'm now 3 weeks pregnant. I very very highly recommend this book. It helped me to relax and, literally, go with my body's flow. (I wish there were one this good for during pregnancy!!) THANKS TONI!!!!

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential for every woman, especially teens, June 19, 2000

By 

Shannon "jfaction" (Lafayette, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control and Pregnancy Achievement (Paperback)

This is not just a guide to getting pregnant. It is about knowing your body without being embarassed. It is quite liberating to read this book and then be able to recognize exactly where you are in your fertility cycle. Too often, women are made to feel guilty or shamed about even looking at our bodies. It's beyond imagination for some women to examine themselves or to ask questions about what exactly their bodies do. Weschler helps break this barrier and shows us why it's critical to overcome the societal embarassment or reluctance.

She makes a very good point: why is it that men are fertile all of the time, that women are fertile for just 5 days a month, yet the majority of birth control involves a woman taking a drug 30 days a month, or inserting a contraceptive device before every sexual encounter? Forget about the burden being placed on women (as long as we bear the children we will be ultimately responsible). Think about the ridiculousness of taking powerful hormonal drugs every day or having to use contraception when you're not even fertile! The drug and contraceptive industries are having a field day!

This book has three very distinct values:

1. An essential part of every adolescent girl's education about her changing body. This book will do more than almost anything else in preparing her for responsible sexual encounters, and will help her self esteem by getting rid of her trepidation about her body.

2. Tool for avoiding pregnancy.

3. Tool for achieving pregnancy.

It boils down to three basic fertility signs: basal temperature, cervical fluid, and height of cervix. Once you read the book and become accomplished at tracking each of the three signs, you can put away the thermometer. Weschler urges you to track the basal temperature faithfully for several months. But, especially if you're using the method as birth control, you can judge by the other two signs and safely avoid pregnancy. And it takes absolutely no extra effort or monitoring.

Most of us have heard the jokes about natural family planning. Weschler discusses those criticisms and shows why this book is different and reliable.

"Taking Charge of Your Fertility" will ease your mind and give you the confidence of being certain when you are fertile or not fertile.