A few days ago in Babies and More we shared ten tips that you should know if you want to get pregnant, because they banish some misconceptions for a long time and that do not help you in the search for a pregnancy.
If your purpose for 2014 is to conceive a baby, The syothermal method can help you achieve a pregnancy, so we explain what it is exactly.
If you are looking for a pregnancy, determining what your fertile days are will be vital to be able to focus all your efforts on the days when the possibilities are higher.
The syothermal method is a method that serves precisely for that, to know in detail how your menstrual cycle works and, by extension, your whole body. By observing the signals and manifestations that your body is giving, analyzing all the symptoms that cycle after cycle are repeated, you can know when you enter your fertile days, when you have ovulated, when your menstruation will appear or, if you have had Luckily, you will know that you are pregnant without having to take a pregnancy test.
Certainly, the synthetic method is little known in Spain and among those who know it many show great ignorance and prejudice. Sometimes it is confused with family planning methods with a reputation for being unreliable, when in reality the synergistic method is based on the observation and analysis of the variations that all women experience throughout their menstrual cycle, methodology of incontestable scientific rigor . On other occasions, being a family planning method sometimes associated with the Catholic Church also does not help its dissemination among an increasingly secular society. On the other hand, the interests that sometimes move around infertility, present more and more in the western world, also do not favor that from certain sectors this information is provided that is so useful to families who are experiencing difficulties in achieving pregnancy.
The syothermal method includes the observation of three variables: basal temperature, cervical mucus and opening and height of the cervix.
- Basal temperature
During the woman’s menstrual cycle, basal temperature (The one we have just wake up, without moving from bed) remains low until ovulation occurs. Once this has occurred, due to the effect of progesterone, the basal temperature rises between two and five tenths, remaining elevated until the time of menstruation. If the temperature remains high for more than 16 days, it is indicative of pregnancy. If the temperature drops, we can expect menstruation in an approximate period of about 24 hours.
To take the temperature correctly, we can help ourselves with a basal thermometer and we must follow some rules, such as taking it every day at the same time, without moving from the bed more than to lengthen the arm to take the thermometer and write down any event that could alter it, as the taking of some antitermic during the night or having spent the night.
It is important to be rigorous in making the temperature, because a small variation can spoil the graph we are preparing. If we write down our temperatures correctly, we will clearly observe a pre-ovulatory and a post-ovulatory phase. With the observation during several cycles we will be able to know how our body works, what days we ovulate and what symptoms precede this moment: for example, chest discomfort, sensation of ovarian gases, swelling in the gut or headache.
- Cervical mucus
Many women are aware that during their menstrual cycle they experience "dry days" and other "wet" days, but many are unaware that this observation they almost do without realizing it is interesting in order to know at what time of the cycle they are.
In a very simple way, simply taking a sample with our clean hands of the cervical mucus that is at the entrance of the vagina, we can see what it looks and consistency and know at what time of the cycle we are:
- At the beginning of the cycle, after menstruation, we usually have a dry feeling.
- As the days go by, mucus appears, usually somewhat dense or viscous, perhaps sticky.
- As we approach ovulation, the cervical mucus becomes more fluid and abundant, until we see a mucus that looks like egg white, that is, a cervical mucus capable of forming threads between our fingers, an elastic and glassy-looking mode that indicates the best moment of fertility.
- The position and opening of the cervix
The third check of the syothermal method is to assess the cervix by palpation. To do this, we can slightly bend our knees and insert a finger into the vagina, until we notice a small wall, which sometimes will be lower and we will reach easily and on other occasions we can barely touch. If we repeat this analysis daily we will observe that certainly the position of the cervix experiences variations during the cycle, which coincide with the other signs we are observing (basal temperature and cervical mucus).
- At the beginning of the cycle, the cervix is in a fairly low position, and is hard and closed.
- At the time of ovulation, the cervix rises inside the vagina, it will cost us to reach it, but if we get it we will see that it is much softer and we can even appreciate it somewhat open.
- After ovulation, the cervix closes again, to protect the uterus from possible infections, especially if we have achieved a pregnancy.
The most comfortable and visual way to organize the information that is going to be provided by the synthetic method is to organize all the data in a table, for example in a table that we can print, although there are currently online resources to do so without the need for have to use paper.
In this table, to which we will assign one column per day, we will write down the basal temperature upon waking, our sensation in relation to the cervical mucus and the position and opening of the cervix. Since it is about knowing our menstrual cycle thoroughly, it is highly recommended that we also write down any other symptoms that we think may be related, such as nipple tenderness, ovarian pain, swelling of the abdomen, headache, acne, gas, feeling dizzy, etc., as well as whether or not we have had sexual intercourse and if there has been an event that could alter these observations, for example if we are sick.
