Ok! I am calling it. It is time we all stop using the word infertility to describe fertility struggles.
I work with and speak with so many women who have been trying to conceive with zero success. But these women are not necessarily “infertile”.
While 1 in 6 couples may struggle to conceive, 1 in 6 couples are NOT infertile.

Have you ever found yourself saying these things?

I can’t see egg-white mucus.

I can’t see any mucus.

I just don’t have enough mucus to actually track my cycle this way.

I get it. I promise. So many women (myself included when I was getting started) just can’t get their head around the fact that a tiny sensation is enough to tell them when they’re fertile!

More often than not when we think about fertility, we immediately start thinking about women. Yes, we are the ones who have menstrual cycles and get pregnant and grow babies, but if it wasn’t for male sperm pregnancy would never be possible. And if a couple is struggling to conceive, it’s about an even 50-50 split about whether it is a male or female cause.

In this episode, we’re talking about what makes up an individual sperm cell; how the male reproductive system works to maximise chances of fertilising a female egg and we’re also talking about sperm count – how this is actually measured, how it’s changed over the past 100 years and some advice for couples who are trying to conceive with potentially low sperm counts.

We all know that ovulation occurs about halfway through your menstrual cycle. Definitely not always on day 14 as we have been led to believe, but somewhere around the middle. Right?

But what if your cycle is 40 days long? Or 50 or 60?

Well, if your cycle is irregular or on the longer side, there’s a good chance your body has attempted to ovulate once or twice before it actually released an egg. And sometimes, it’s just all too hard and it gives up and decides to try again next month.

This is called anovulation, and it happens more commonly than you might think.

If you’ve been listening to me rabbit on about mucus for any length of time now, then you would know that I see it as the number one indicator of your fertility.

The key to understanding when you are fertile or not fertile relies on you being able to track the changes in your cervical mucus throughout your menstrual cycle. So what you see and feel is everything when it comes to identifying your fertile window.

In this episode, we’re talking about your mucus plug. What the hell is it and why is it so important in determining whether or not you are fertile?

If you know me at all by now (hey, hi, I’m Rachel), you’ll know that I will forever be at the front of the pack waving my pom-poms for using fertility awareness and charting as an effective and natural method of birth control.

While I absolutely believe that you don’t need artificial hormones to prevent pregnancy, I also believe that every woman is entitled to know *all* of her options so that she can make an informed decision about what’s best for her birth control needs in her current season of life.

So, we’re mixing it up in this episode and I’m talking you through the most common hormonal birth control options (that aren’t the Pill).

Want to know what matters more than size?

Length. (Of your luteal phase, that is)

Those couple of weeks in the lead-up to your next period are too often given a bad rap. This is when a lot of women experience those fun PMS symptoms, and if you’re trying to conceive, it’s the two week wait from hell.

But did you know that it’s the luteal phase that gives you the most valuable information about your fertility, your cycle, your overall health annnnnd (if you know what you’re looking for) it will help you to predict your period down to the day and will likely be your first sneaky-peek into pregnancy.

Sound familiar?

You’re slowly building your confidence with tracking your cycle every day. You feel like you’ve finally made sense of your cervical mucus patterns every month and it’s time to start tracking your daily body temperature too.

But your daily temperatures make absolutely no sense!

High one day, low the next. Completely all over the place and not even close to matching up with your mucus patterns.

You’re more confused than ever and wondering if maybe you’ve had it wrong all along.

It has been a hot minute since I disappeared off the face of the earth. Morning sickness hit me hard but I’m back and it only seemed fitting to kick off the podcast with the lessons I’ve learnt during my first trimester of pregnancy. These are the things I wish someone had told me before and during my pregnancy and I hope you find that reassurance useful. Think of it as non-traditional pre-conception preparation!

Are you trying to get pregnant but it’s just not happening? Sick of sleepless nights down the Google rabbit-hole and counting down the days until you can pee on the damn stick again, only to be disappointed month after month?

Desperate to ditch the Pill forever but the fear of getting pregnant leaves you in a cold sweat? Maybe you’ve already tried to quit a few times, but the panic has kept you filling your prescription for way longer than it should.

I see you.