3 Fertility Signs

3 Fertility Signs
All Women of reproductive age can easily learn how to observe and chart three primary fertility signs that their bodies produce. This information can then be used to tell them numerous things about their cycle, the most obvious being whether they can or can't get pregnant on any given day.

The three fertility signs that almost every women produces are:
1. Basal Body Temperature (BBT), or, Waking temperature
2. Cervical fluid
3. Cervical position

The following is a brief summary of each.

Basal Body Temperature (BBT)

Taking Your Temperature
1. Take your daily temperature first thing upon awakening, before any other activity and record throughout the cycle.
2. If using a digital thermometer, wait until it beeps, usually about 30 seconds. If using a glass thermometer, leave it in 5 minutes.
3. Take your temperature orally or vaginally, but always from the same place.
4. Try to take it at the very same time each day.
5. Before taking your temperature, a minimum of 3 hours consecutive sleep must have been had.
6. If you use a glass thermometer, shake it down the day before.

Charting Your Temperature
1. Try to get in the habit of recording you temperature soon after it is taken.
2. If the temperature falls between two numbers on a glass thermometer, always take the lowest.
3. Make dots on the appropriate temperature and connect the dots with straight lines.
4. Note events such as stress, or illness in the miscellaneous row. Temperatures taken late should be noted in the time taken row.
5. In the above cases your temperature may be quite high. For these days, draw a dotted line between the day before and the next days temperature.

Cervical Fluid

Observing Your Cervical Fluid
1. Start checking the day bleeding stops.
2. Pay attention to vaginal sensations.
3. Try to check fluid everytime you go to the bathroom.
4. Check every morning and night.
5. Checking fluid while sexually aroused may not give accurate information.
6. To check your cervical fluid, separate your vaginal lips and swipe with fingers.
7. Be sure to have clean hands.
8. Does it feel dry, sticky, creamy, slippery like egg white?
9. Put finger with fluid on it together with your thumb, then slowly pull apart to see if it is stretchy, holds together, or immediately breaks apart.
10. After urinating, pay attention to how easily the tissue slides across your vaginal lips.
11. Take note of the secretions on your underwear.
12. Around fertile times, check in the toilet water to see if you can see cervical fluid.
13. Note the colour, consistency, and amount of fluid.
14. Using your finger to insert into the vagina to feel the cervix may be necessary for some.

Charting Your Cervical Fluid
1. Day one of your cycle is the first day of true menstrual bleeding.
2. Distinguish between sticky, creamy, and slippery egg white.
3. Sticky breaks when you pull your fingers apart. Slippery egg white is quite wet and stretchy between fingers.
4. Slippery egg white indicates fertile days.
5. Note any vaginal sensations.
Identifying Your Peak Day

1. Your peak day is the last day of slippery egg white fluid. This is your wettest-quality day.
2. Record your peak day. This tells you that ovulation has occurred.

Cervix Position

Observing Your Cervix
1. Start observing cervix once bleeding has stopped.
2. Wash your hands thoroughly.
3. Try to check at the same time each day (+/-).
4. The best position is squatting.
5. Use your middle finger to check softness, height, opening, and wetness of the cervix.
6. Women who have had children vaginally will note a slightly open oval cervix.
7. In your fertile period before ovulation is the best time to start checking because of the wet slippery conditions.
8. You may feel small nabothian cysts on the cervix.

Charting Cervix Position
1. Use a dot to indicate a closed, low, and firm cervix (before and after menses).
2. Use a small circle to indicate a partly open cervix (approaching fertile period).
3. Use a large circle to indicate a high, open, soft cervix (fertile period before ovulation).

Study shows acupuncture facilitates IVF conception

Study shows acupuncture facilitates IVF conception

A controversial new study measuring the degree to which getting acupuncture during IVF treatment increases a woman's chance of a successful pregnancy, has found this to be the case to a significant degree.

Acupuncture administered for 25 minutes both before and after an embryo is transferred to the uterus improves the likelihood of a live birth, a review presented at a medical conference in Brisbane has shown.

"On the basis of the current level of evidence we have, if nine women have acupuncture around the time of embryo transfer with IVF there will be one extra live born baby," said Professor Neil Johnson, lead researcher of the New Zealand study, and medical director of Fertility Plus in Auckland.

"That figure looks pretty good, especially to women wanting to do all they can to have a baby."

But Johnson's Australian counterparts have applied caution and skepicism to the findings, labelling the statistic as stretching "the current scientific data too far".

However, Professor Johnson has reviewed the latest major studies on the benefits of this ancient Chinese therapy regarding reproductive technology, and fertility in general, to a definitive degree.

"In a nutshell there is evidence that acupuncture administered around the time of embryo transfer really does help," he said.

"But doing acupuncture at other times in IVF treatment doesn't appear to be helpful, and there's no really robust evidence about the effectiveness of acupuncture for couples trying to get pregnant naturally."

Johnson explained that acupuncture has traditionally been believed to be effective because it improves energy flow through pathways in the body. However the conventional medicine take is that it inhibits the nervous system, which improves pelvic blood flow or makes the uterus "quieter".

"It might just be that relaxing and having some TLC at this stressful time is where the benefit comes in, but it would seem there's something more at work," Professor Johnson said.

Whatever the reason, the therapy has been widely embraced by IVF patients in Auckland, often those with the poorest pregnancy outlook deriving the most benefit.

It still may be a while however, before doctors and medical professionals embrace the method.

IVF Australia's Professor Michael Chapman said acupuncture had the strongest evidence of any alternative therapy for use in fertility, but the studies were small and "relatively inconclusive".

"The evidence to date would suggest it's not harmful but I certainly wouldn't recommend every IVF patient rush out and get it," Prof Chapman said.