Your Fertility Signals: Using Them to Achieve or Avoid Pregnancy Naturally [Paperback]

Merryl Winstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1999

Presented in question-and-answer format, one of the most straightforward self-help books on fertility aims to help couples achieve or prevent pregnancy without using contraceptives. It advocates not the outdated rhythm method, but quick, daily examinations of cervical mucus and body temperature to ascertain when the few days of fertility occur. Winstein also covers the practical aspects of sexual abstinence during the fertile period, breastfeeding's role in fertility, returning to normal cycles after using the pill, and how ovulation occurs. Assuming normal fertility, she yet includes an explanatory, alphabetical list of infertility problems. An accurate, lovingly illustrated handbook that does much to dispel the mystery and imagined difficulty centered around birth control. Further information, readings list, references, glossary, index.

Product Details

• Paperback: 159 pages
• Publisher: Smooth Stone Press; 1 edition (January 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0961940107
• ISBN-13: 978-0961940102
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #345,237 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #69 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Women's Studies > Abortion & Birth Control
  • #88 in Books > Parenting & Relationships > Family Relationships > Siblings

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent basic book, January 11, 2001

By 

Amy J - See all my reviews

This review is from: Your Fertility Signals: Using Them to Achieve or Avoid Pregnancy Naturally (Paperback)

This book is well written and easy to understand. There are helpful diagrams and charts that illustrate the points the author is making.

This book is for women who want to better understand their fertility, avoid or achieve conception, eliminate use of the pill or other chemical forms of birth control, and attempt to conceive a baby of one sex or the other. It explains how you can use your basal body temperature (taken before rising first thing in the morning) and your cervical mucous to tell whether you are fertile or not. This allows you to avoid intercourse if you are trying to avoid pregnancy, and to have intercourse at your most fertile times if you are trying to get pregnant.

I think that even women who want to remain on birth control should read this book - it is valuable to understand how your body works and why. For women who are breastfeeding, this book has a whole chapter on using your temp and mucous to ascertain whether your fertility has returned - an excellent tool since chemical birth control while breastfeeding is best avoided. For women who are experiencing infertility, charting your temps and mucous can help you discover why you aren't conceiving, and knowing this can make it easier to seek treatment.

There may be more thorough books on this topic out there, but I think this is one of the best basic ones. I recommend it highly.

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It Works!, January 10, 2005

By 

Gemma "bookworm" (Alberta, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Your Fertility Signals: Using Them to Achieve or Avoid Pregnancy Naturally (Paperback)

I can tell you that I am one of the success stories from using this book. As artificial birth control is against our religion, I needed to learn, so I checked this book out of the library. I learned the method entirely from this book (I never took a single class), and consequently never spent a day of my marriage using artificial birth control. We have spent THREE YEARS successfully avoiding pregnancy, and are now applying the concepts to become pregnant.

This book is written in basic language, not crammed full of medical jargon. You can pretty much read it in one sitting, and understand it. I bought this book as a reference, and still use it from time to time, if I need to check up on the guidelines.

And for those who say that natural family planning results in a huge restriction on intimacy, I will tell you that I am one of those women who has LONG fertile phases, and many annovulatory cycles. Calculating my charts over the last three years, my fertile vs non-fertile time is pretty much equal. This means a lot of abstinence, but it can be done! My husband and I both agree that it has enriched our marriage. It keeps those lines of communication open, and we know that we still love each other, even when abstaining during the fertile phase. Instead of birth control being only the woman's responsibility, it becomes the couple's. Yes, the onus is still on the woman to check her signals, but the man has to be cooperative for the method to work.

The abstinence can be difficult at times, but think of it this way: you get a honeymoon to look forward to every cycle! It keeps those fires burning. All the couples that we know who are on the Pill are down to maybe once or twice a month, and that's after less years together than our three. We are still just as active as when we were first married, because that mandatory abstinence period ensures that you can't take your partner for granted. Not only that, but many of these couples on the Pill have unplanned children, and we don't have any "accidents". Hmm . . . and yet they tell us that we don't know what we're doing, and that natural birth control doesn't work. (Please note: this is NOT the rhythm method! That method is only 75% effective - natural family planning, when used properly, is 99% effective.)

This is a wonderful book for setting people free from society's negativity towards fertility. We don't need harmful pills or intrusive devices to control what is a normal, healthy condition. Instead, we celebrate and respect fertility, and learn to control ourselves.

Only one caveat: As a Catholic, even "barrier methods" are forbidden. The author noted that one could use barrier methods if temporarily unsure about fertility, or if one didn't want to abstain, but did say that pregnancy can obviously still result. Other Catholics and possibly other religions would have to ignore that bit of advice from the book, but other than that, this is a great resource.

Update: I am now happily expecting our first child, who was conceived within seven cycles where my husband and I were applying the guidelines to become pregnant. That should satisfy any skeptics who might think that our three years without an accidental pregnancy was due to infertility! (And nobody who is fertile would be lucky enough to not get pregnant within three years using the outdated rhythm method.) Also, I knew almost from the first day that I was pregnant - because I knew exactly when my period was due. You don't need regular cycles to know this (I don't!), you only need to know which day you ovulated, which the symptoms will tell you. I was able to take my pregnancy test as soon as I was a day late. No wasted pregnancy tests, which is a good thing, as many of us "trying to conceive" women can attest to how expensive they are.

Update: Unfortunately, I lost the first pregnancy to miscarriage. I was too emotionally devastated to want to get pregnant again right away, so I once again used my fertility signals to avoid pregnancy until I wanted to try again. We then got pregnant again when we wanted to, because we knew when we were most fertile. (This baby was born healthy and is now a very happy 9 week old boy). That's the great thing about this method: it's totally reversible. If you take the pill or use depo, you usually have to wait for months to over a year before fertility returns. With this method, you can decide each month whether you want to keep avoiding, or whether you want to start trying. Also, you can avoid using the pill while breastfeeding to avoid passing potentially harmful hormones to your baby.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book for achieving conception, August 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Your Fertility Signals: Using Them to Achieve or Avoid Pregnancy Naturally (Paperback)

An excellent overview of human fertility cycles. Very concise and clear-cut, it can be read in one sitting. The charts provided in the back allow a woman to understand her own fertility. This was an invaluable tool for planning my own two pregnancies. I've also lent this book out to several friends who all conceived successfully after reading it. I recommend it highly to anyone trying to make a baby!