Hello there! Hope you had a good day? My day was okay.😊

I once saw a post by a FB friend saying how she has tried unsuccesfully to know her menstrual cycle and also calculate her ovulation days. I read a lot of the comments on that post,they were hilarious and I had a good laugh.

The summary of it all is that,quite a number of women and men said they could not get the hang of knowing safe days,fertile period and menstrual days 😊.

It is actually quite easy. Let me try to break it down in the simplest way I know. The menstrual cycle for most women is between 21 to 35 days with the average being 28 days.

The cycle begins from the first day of one period to the first day of the next period ,usually,one would need to keep records of the dates of their periods for 3 to 6 consecutive months to get an average for the menstrual cycle.

I will write from my experience of having to rely on my knowledge of this over a period of time and reading copiously over the years. I will be using my own cycle to try to explain.

I have a 32 day cycle .In February, my period came on the 8th,so 8th Feb would be the 1st day of my cycle,I will be counting from that day till the first day of my period in March to get my cycle. (Period came on the 9th of March) This gives 30days.

Now,recall that February was 29 days,if it was a 31 day month,the cycle would have been 32 days,so my cycle will vary from 30 to 32 and even 33 days some months depending on the day of the month.

Ovulation would usually take place mid cycle,in my case about the 15th to 16th day. So based on the Feb and March calculation,my ovulation should be around the 23rd and 24th of March,I would typically avoid unprotected sex between the 20th/21st March till about 28th/29th March.

If you have a 28day cycle,ovulation would be anywhere from the 13th ,14th to 15th day of the cycle.

The most fertile days in each month would usually be 3 to about 7 days,2 to 3 days before and after ovulation. This is so because sperm can last for an average of 3 to 5days within a woman’s body.

Our menstrual cycles are usually influenced by hormones and processes that happen in our bodies every month and can be subject to change from factors like stress, illness and so on

 After I had Nicole,I did not use any specific family planning method,so I had to read everything I could and try to understand how to avoid unplanned pregnancy by knowing the days to and not to have unprotected sex. I am back to temporarily counting days😃

This is me trying to refresh my mind and ensure that I am not running around for antenatal anytime soon😀

Disclaimer
A woman’s body is a beautiful work of art. It is also sometimes complicated;egungun should be careful to not jam pregnancy on the ‘ gbensing’ express. 😄

This is me saying to you,know your body and take every precaution against unplanned pregnancy .😉

Also,talk to your healthcare provider or visit the nearest family clinic for more detailed explanation as well as comprehensive family planning methods.🙂

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