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.

In this episode of the podcast I’m joined by Chinese Medicine doctor and acupuncturist Joanna Macmeikan for a chat about all things women’s health, hormones and fertility with a twist of yin and yang!⁠⁠

Think back to high school for a moment…

If you were going to ask someone else to do your homework for you, or take an important exam for you, you’re going to ask someone smarter than you right?

Someone who could guarantee they would get a better result than you could.

Would you consider asking someone if they weren’t as smart as you, if there was no guarantee?

No, you wouldn’t.

So why are you asking an inanimate object to tell you when you’re fertile?

Getting pregnant is not a one step process, and implantation is the final step where the fertilised egg (now called an embryo) settles itself into the lining of the uterus for a 9 month stay-cation.

When you’re trying to get pregnant, it’s normal to be very aware of your body and notice every tiny change that happens, wondering if it’s a sign of pregnancy.

The frustrating part is that so many of the early signs of pregnancy and implantation are very similar to PMS, so in this episode I’m breaking down some of the most common signs of implantation that women experience.

But just because you don’t notice any of them, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening for 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!

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.

As soon as we ovulate, the body starts to prepare for a potential pregnancy. Month after month, our menstrual cycle creates the perfect conditions for an egg to be fertilised so that when a long-awaited pregnancy finally occurs, you can get to work straight away growing your baby – long before you even know you’re pregnant.

In this episode, you’ll learn when the best possible time is to take a pregnancy test in order to get an accurate result. I’ll share the earliest signs of pregnancy to look out for as well as how to survive the two-week wait between ovulation and your next expected period.