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.

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.

I’m not currently trying to get pregnant, so why do I care when I’m ovulating?

Why would I bother charting and tracking my fertile signs when I have no intention of conceiving?

Your fertility is so much more than making babies. It’s about eliminating the need for artificial hormones that have their own set of side effects, and relying on your own body to tell you everything you need to know to avoid pregnancy with a natural method of birth control that’s equally as effective as the pill!

You can use your observations and your symptoms to address underlying health issues before they show up as other more serious symptoms in your body. You can take your chart to a healthcare professional and figure out what your body needs to rebalance your hormones and regulate your periods.

And finally, you can use this knowledge at every stage of life – birth control, pregnancy, post-partum and while breastfeeding all the way through until menopause.

The best part? You only have to learn it once!

Here’s a secret – there is one single thing that I miss about being on the pill, and it’s how damn clear my skin was!

Like our teenage years aren’t angsty enough without having to experience the highs and lows of breakouts too. But once we make it to the other side of puberty, not all of us emerge with clear skin. Our hormones like to remind us who’s boss and often around ovulation or our periods, a few fresh spots will emerge.

In this episode, I’m breaking down how to manage your skin as you transition off hormonal birth control. We’ll cover how to identify the underlying cause of your acne and what to do about it.

Acne is a sign that your hormones happy, and there’s only so much that topical creams and lotions can do to help!

Truthbomb: Your phone doesn’t know when you’re fertile.

I seem to have developed quite the reputation for being anti-app. I’m not necessarily anti-app, but I am anti-crappy apps and it seems that there are a lot of them out there.

The internet is completely flooded with period and ovulation tracking apps that claim to help you to monitor your menstrual cycle and your fertile window. Here’s the bad news – most of them are nothing more than a high-tech version of the rhythm method.

I get it, you’re already trying to remember to drink enough water, exercise every day, text everyone back, be a good friend, partner, mother, sister, employee…phew, it’s a lot. The last thing you could possibly add to your plate is complicated tracking and charting system. Every. Single. Day.

Fertility awareness and charting has a reputation for being time-consuming, overwhelming and just another thing on our never-ending to-do lists, and so many women are missing out on this incredible knowledge as a result!

In this episode, I’m going to walk you through exactly how I track my menstrual cycle and my body’s natural fertile signs every day. I’m doing it as I go about my day and I don’t have to add in a single thing to my day to get all the information I need.

And I do it in under 5 minutes.