Women: How To Succesfully Calculate Your free period

Menstrual cycle for most women

continues to be a nightmare. Why?

Understanding how it works continues

to be an impossibility for many

especially girls who have just hit the

threshold of puberty and additionally

since every woman has her own unique

cycle, it adds to the difficulty. One

statistic shows that only about 30% of

women worldwide can provide accurate

information on how their cycle works

while 70% still battles to learn how their

cycles runs. ln this article l will be

providing four general information in a

simple and clear manner on how every

lady can use three different methods to

determine the following: Menstrual cycle

length, ovulation period and ovulation

day, free or safe days, fertile or

dangerous days.

MENSTRUALCYCLE

Menstrual cycle is simply the length of

days or period of time it takes a woman

that has reached puberty to experience

her first menstruation to another day she

experience such. i.e it starts from the first

day of menstruation to another first day

of menstruation. Since there is normal

and abnormal menstrual cycle, a

woman therefore needs to find out on

which her cycle falls. Normal cycle

ranges from 22 days to 35 days, while

Abnormal cycle falls below 22 days ie

from 21 days downwards and days

exceeding 35 days ie from 36 days

upwards are considered abnormal.

OVULATION

This simply refers to the release of a

mature ripe egg or ovum from the ovary

of a woman down to the fallopian tube or

oviduct.

OVULATION PERIOD: This is the

period or length of days it takes a woman

that has experienced ovulation to

become pregnant or conceive.

Ovulation can take place in a day lasting

for some few hours while ovulation

period can last for up to 7-9 days.

FREE OR SAFE DAYS

This refers to the days in a menstrual

cycle that a woman cannot conceive

even if she engages in unprotected sex.

immediately after menstruation the next

day is a woman's peak of free days

which usually declines as the days

progresses. Also after her ovulation

period comes another set of free days.

FERTILE OR DANGEROUS DAYS

This refers to the days in a menstrual

cycle that a woman has the best

of conception or getting

pregnant if she engaged in coitus ie

sexual intercourse. Ovulation day is a

woman's peak of fertile days. So,

women trying to conceive can make use

of this information‘ to increase their

chances of achieving pregnancy.

For a woman to find out her cycle length,

ovulation period, free days & dangerous

days she must make use of the following

methods: Calender method, Basal body

temperature method, Cervical anatomy

method.

1 CALENDAR METHOD

The first step to knowing your cycle

length is having a calendar that is up-to-

date in your possession. Using this

method requires consistency. Mark the

1st day of your menstruation in your

calendar no matter the day in the week it

is, now mark the next day you

experience another menstruation. The

length of days there is your cycle. If it

falls within the range of 22-35days you

have normal cycles, but if it falls below

22days & above 35days it maybe

abnormal. Do this for 6-8 months.

Determine your longest menstrual cycle

and your shortest cycle. Find the mid of

your longest and shortest cycle and

divide it by 2. That's your likely ovulation

day each cycle. For example, if a woman

has a longest cycle »of 28days and

shortest of 26days, the midpoint is

27days. Dividing by 2 gives 13.5days.

So her ovulation will be between day 13

and 14 in her menstrual cycle. Now to

determine your fertile days from free

days, count 5 days front and back from

your ovulation day. You will have a total

of 11 days in all including your ovulation

day. Circle the 11 days, they are your

dangerous days or ovulation period

while any other day apart from those -11

days are the free days.  

2 BASAL BODY TEMPERATURES

A woman can also determine her

ovulation day and period by using this

method which involves the use of basal

thermometer to check an alternate

decrease & increase in temperature

respectively. First obtain a basal

thermometer from a pharmacy or clinic

then use it each morning you wake up to

take record of your body temperature. lt

must be the first thing you do in the

morning each day you wake up till you

complete a cycle. Put the thermometer in your mouth and wait for 3-5 minutes, bring it out and take record. This is based on the fact that during the release of a rip egg from the ovary (ovulation), there is a slight decrease in the body normal temperature and after a day or two, the temperature rises 1 degree above normal for some time then it drops to normal. It then remains at this level till the next period. It is presumed that 3 days after the rise of temperature is the start of safe period.

 

SCERVICAL ANATOMY METHOD

Here we will consider cervical position,

texture and mucus.

POSITION: When ovulation occurs, the

cervix moves forward and can be easily

reached with the fingers. Also the cervix

opens a bit to receive semen during ‘

ovulation period. 

TEXTURE: During ovulation period, the .

cervix feels soft like the end of the ear,

while it feels hard like the tip of the nose =

during the free days. '

MUCUS: There are two types of cervical ‘.

mucus: Early pap mucus and Egg white

mucus.

Early Pap Mucus: Wash your very well and insert it into your vagina

While taking your bath. Draw some of the

mucus and observe it. 2-4 days after the end of menstruation, the

resembles a -prepared pap. It may be

cloudy, milky or whitish in color. usually sticky and cannot between your two fingers.

Egg White Mucus: After few days of

experiencing this early pap mucus; an

observant lady will notice that this has

changed its texture and will become

more slippery and colourless just like the

white of a raw egg. It can stretch for up to

1 inch or 2.5 cm ‘between your thumb

and index finger before it breaks.

Appearance of the-egg white mucus

always informs a lady she is at her

ovulation peak where she has the

greatest chances of conception if coitus

occurs.

By practicing these three methods

properly a woman can achieve these

benefits:

1 Avoid pregnancy if she is not yet ready

to start a family.

2 Achieve pregnancy if conception has

been difficult previously due to wrong -

timing.

3 Select the gender of her baby.

This _methods presented requires

patience and consistency. But once you

master the skills it will benefit you for life.

Be confident and happy as you live a

fulfilled life.