Submitted by Teresa Belinski as part of the summer educational article series*

You know how some people just know certain things?  For example, they just know that they will marry that certain somebody, or they just know that they’ll get that certain job or, mine and every other infertile woman’s favorite, they just know that they are pregnant.  Puh-lease.  I wouldn’t know if I was pregnant if the stork itself landed on my head and pooped out a positive home pregnancy test.  I feel like I should know though, I mean I’ve been at this since 2001.  I’m basically an expert when it comes to knowing why my boobs hurt or why I feel nauseous at that moment and I’ve peed on about 5 million sticks since I first started trying to get knocked up.  Oh how I wish I could just know that I was pregnant and call it good for the following 9 months. 

I, on the other hand, just knew that I would have a hard time conceiving and keeping a baby.  My friends all knew they’d be fertile myrtles and I knew I’d be a barren Bessie.  They were right, but heck so was I.  I tried for almost 2 years without any luck at all.  We are all told to wait at least a year before going into the doctor and throwing an “I’m not pregnant YET” fit.  What a waste of a year.  You could’ve been pregnant 11 months ago!  How is it that everyone else around you gets pregnant the second they start to “try,” yet it’s taken you some actual time?  It’s because 9 times out of 10, there is something wrong.  So fudge the truth a little and tell your doctor that heck, yes, you’ve been trying for a year.  The reason I say this is because I went in, got an endometrial biopsy, and was immediately diagnosed with a luteal phase defect.  I was put on 50mg of Clomid and BAM! conceived my now 5 year old twins the very next month. I now know that if I would’ve have been more aware of my body and had learned more about how things worked (or didn’t work in my case) I could have diagnosed myself without going through the pain of a biopsy.  Hindsight is always 20/20.

My doctor told me that the chances of me ever conceiving on my own were slim to none and if I ever did I would definitely miscarry.  Wow, thanks ovaries and uterus.  I thought nothing more of it because I had my little perfect boy and little perfect girl. I didn’t need any more.

I didn’t count on getting a divorce and then remarrying somebody that didn’t have kids of their own and wanted one or two. I was pretty nonchalant about the whole thing, foolishly thinking that another round of Clomid would do the trick as soon as I was ready. The thing is I got pregnant on my very own and almost keeled over from complete shock.  Before you begin hating me though for not truly being infertile, please remember what my doctor had said.  I miscarried at 6 weeks and 2 days.  It was the most devastating time of my life and still affects me greatly.  Apparently we all need a little hormone called progesterone to make a pregnancy work.  I lack that hormone greatly and my doctor got me all jumbled up in “the system” because of my name change.  Long story there, but the quick moral is making your doctor do their job or you could regret it literally for the rest of your life.

Here I sit, almost a year since my miscarriage, wondering what it’s gonna take this time to get pregnant.  I rock a huge sailor heart tattoo on my left arm with all 3 of my kid’s names and I’ve been on 3 rounds of Clomid since miscarrying.  My husband has been diagnosed with only 8% morphology.  Not good.  Out of all the people in the entire world, these two infertiles were drawn to each other.  I visited a reproductive endocrinologist and got the whole spiel of doing 3 IUI’s and 3 more rounds of Clomid and if those didn’t work we’d move onto IVF.  Nothing I didn’t already know.  Maybe you can relate when I say, we definitely don’t roll around in money and laugh because our bank account is blowin up.  

So I opted for a more natural method.  Everybody is going more natural these days; it’s the cool thing to do right?  I just recently started Creighton charting. It’s a fairly unknown system that definitely should be well known.  They combine detailed fertility charting with Natural Procreative Technology to diagnose and actually treat infertility.  Yes I said treat.  It’s their belief and now mine that most doctors are just trained to mask our infertility with things like in vitro fertilization and that infertility is a disease as real as any other disease out there.  The use of Creighton and NaPro technology in infertile couples has shown up to an 80% success rate.  The use of IVF in infertile couples has only shown a 21-27% success rate.  Did your jaw just drop wide open?  Creighton teaches you how to recognize your fertility or lack there of.   I literally never, ever thought I got any kind of cervical mucus before I started this.  I thought I was a mutant of some sorts because my friends were boasting about their 6 inch strings of boogers they’d get once a month.  I now know what they are talking about and have made up a cool little “I have cervical mucus” dance.  It’s thrilling to know that my body is working in at least one area.  My Creighton doctor will do a complete hormone workup after I get a good solid 2 months of charting done and will also give me the magical progesterone that my body oh so desires and hopefully soon I will get to pee on another stick.  This time though I hope to frame that stick rather than stomp on it in another insane infertile rage. 

Author: Teresa Belinski is a mother of 5 year old boy/girl twins and loves to talk about anything and everything.  If you ever run into her be prepared to talk about your whole life story and also learn about hers.  Nothing is sacred.  Visit her at www.teresabelinski.blogspot.com aka Keepin’ a Close Watch on This Heart of Mine.

*This post was submitted by a third party as part of a summer educational article series. The comments expressed here in this post are the personal opinions of the original author, and do not necessarily state the views or opinions of Clear Passage Therapies, Inc. 

Information contained on this blog is provided for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. You should not use the information on this blog for diagnosing or treating a medical or health condition. You should consult a physician in all matters regarding your health, and particularly with respect to any symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical attention.

Submitted by O’Nell Starkey as part of the summer educational article series*

When I was 19, at my annual gynecological exam, the midwife asked me if I wanted to see my cervix and, smiling, whipped out a mirror.  What a fascinating experience – to see the little, moist, pink entity that is the opening to my womb, that regularly releases my blood, that will one day stretch to 10 cm to birth a baby.  It felt like a homecoming!

I was in awe of my body in a more visceral way. I now encourage all my friends to ask to view their cervices at exams; after all, why should a practitioner see more of you than you have seen?

Six years after that empowering exam, I read the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler from cover to cover. Though I had understood the basic hormonal and physical cycle of menstruation, I had never before studied it in such depth. Weschler teaches the Fertility Awareness Method – a practical method of accurately tracking menstrual cycles and fertility by keeping daily records of basal body temperature, cervical mucous, and cervical position.

I began taking my basal body temperature (oral temperature taken every morning upon waking) and graphing these subtle shifts in my body’s temperature over each cycle.   I had a 33 day cycle.  My temperature was consistently between 97F and 97.5F until ovulation had occurred and then it rose about 1F for the duration of my cycle.  After the egg (oocyte) is released into the fallopian tubes at ovulation, the corpus luteum remains in the ovary and produces the heat-inducing hormone progesterone that helps build and maintain the endometrium (lining of the uterus, eventually the blood shed at menstruation) and causes this shift in basal body temperature.

I charted corresponding changes in the texture, color, and amount of my cervical mucous.  After menstruating, my cervical mucous was sticky or creamy.  It became more of an eggwhite stringy texture at ovulation, then drier until menstruation.

I also checked the position and firmness of my cervix with my finger. I noticed slight, but distinguishable, movement of the cervix’s position over time; it moved farther away from my vaginal opening near ovulation and lower approaching menstruation.  I observed that it was softest around ovulation (due to increased estrogen) and otherwise felt about as hard as the tip of my nose.   I charted my cycles for a few months and became fascinated by my increasing awareness of how my hormones affect my body, mind, and spirit – and vice versa.

While tracking one’s cycle certainly is not a unique idea, there didn’t seem to be many resources on the Internet that visually showed the changes over time in a woman’s cycle. In the tradition of the

feminist movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s that heralded the home speculum self-exam, I decided to help bring this empowering method into the 21st century. So, equipped with a speculum, a flashlight, a digital camera, a willing partner, and minimal blogging skills, I began the Beautiful Cervix Project.

My partner took a photo of my cervix daily and I posted these photos along with descriptions of changes in my emotional (i.e. tenderness, energy, libido) and physical states (i.e. cramps, breast tenderness, position of cervix).  I initially thought the site would only be useful to a few of my midwife friends who teach their clients about fertility cycles, but word of the Beautiful Cervix Project spread in the blogger community and beyond.  So far, in a few months, the site has trafficked almost a million visitors from countries all over the world.

There is no external genitalia visible in the photos, but there certainly has been some confusion about the intention of my site. Some photos have been removed due to ‘inappropriate content’ and I’ve had to change web hosts for similar reasons.  I’ve confronted sexism and body-phobia and unfortunately, the site has been linked to from pornographic websites.  People send me comments about how revolted they are, how perverted I must be, or how they have used my site for their own masturbatory purposes.  My reactions have ranged from feeling vulnerable to angry to disappointed in the ignorance and hate in the world.  Luckily, I choose what comments are publicly posted and I do not approve offensive comments because they are degrading and do not further my mission to empower women and normalize the reality of women’s bodies.

Fortunately, this criticism is countered with an overwhelming support from fans who appreciate my site.  I regularly hear from women who learned that the discharge they experience around ovulation is ‘normal’ (and not an infection), from medical students who have never seen a picture of a non-diseased cervix, or from women who have had hysterectomies and become nostalgic for their cervix after viewing the site.  Personal reproductive stories and questions (both hopeful and upsetting) have flooded my inbox.

The Beautiful Cervix Project appeals to a variety of people: healthcare professionals and students, families trying to conceive, women trying to avoid pregnancy, men curious about their partner’s shifts in libido, young women searching for information about their bodies, etc.

I hope The Beautiful Cervix Project inspires curiosity to observe and appreciate what is normal for each one of us.  I envision translating the site into other languages and posting photos of other women who have replicated the process, so a wide variation of normal can be represented (i.e. pregnant women, women with short or long cycles, women of different ages, women with cervical scarring, cysts, or polyps, etc)

Whose job is it to educate women (and for that matter everyone) about our own bodies, our cycles, and fertility? As a student homebirth midwife, I am fascinated by the way our educational and medical systems so often misinform or undereducate women about their bodies.

Sex education in many schools is dry, awkward, and minimal, if existent at all.  There is so much fear, shame, and confusion in the world about fertility.  The Beautiful Cervix Project is a grassroots movement of reclaiming our power and celebrating our womanhood!  The site is dedicated to the healing of our physical and emotional wounds through self-awareness.

Author: O’Nell Starkey is a student midwife, postpartum doula and artist. You can see the beautiful cervix project at www.beautifulcervix.com

*This post was submitted by a third party as part of a summer educational article series. The comments expressed here in this post are the personal opinions of the original author, and do not necessarily state the views or opinions of Clear Passage Therapies, Inc. 

Information contained on this blog is provided for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. You should not use the information on this blog for diagnosing or treating a medical or health condition. You should consult a physician in all matters regarding your health, and particularly with respect to any symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical attention.

With economic experts and the U.S. government warning that the economic recession will likely worsen, you may wonder if you can afford infertility treatments. But just because we, as Americans, are collectively rethinking the way we spend money and live our lives, does not mean we have to give-up on our dreams. The desire to have a child is unlike any other and many women dream of being pregnant, giving birth, and raising a biological child.

If infertility comes between you and that dream, you may wonder how much you are willing to do or spend to achieve your dream during this hard economic time. Instead of worrying about affording infertility treatments, you may benefit from a change in perspective. Due to pay cuts and decreased job benefits, many Americans are changing their perspective on how their lifestyle. Many have realized that a natural, holistic, and frugal perspective not only benefits their bank accounts, but leads to a better, healthier, and happier life. Some Americans have made shifts by riding their bikes to work, while others prepare meals at home with their families instead of eating-out.

This shift in perspective can also be applied to your fertility. Instead of thinking of female infertility as a “broken reproductive system,” think of your fertility in a holistic matter. The body is an incredible, inter-connected organism. Your daily lifestyle choices such as the food you eat, the amount of exercise you get, and your level of stress greatly impact your general health – and therefore your fertility.

When making decisions about infertility treatments, try to approach your options from a holistic viewpoint. When your decisions and treatment choices are based on your overall health and what is best for your body, every cent you spend will be worth it. You can also greatly improve your fertility without spending a dime. By simply going outside for a daily walk or cutting down on the amount of calories you eat, you increase your chances of conception.

Author Bio: Jackie Schuld is an educational editor and writer at Clear Passage Therapies.