Charting my cycle helped me eat more, exercise less and gain weight.
You read that right. All the doctor’s orders, too.
I had been charting my menstrual cycles for about eight months. My new husband and I were in the ambiguous phase of “not not trying” to achieve a pregnancy. We were going with the flow. Dancing somewhere between TTA and TTC. (That’s “trying to avoid [conception]” and “trying to conceive“)
So when our Creighton practitioner observed that my post-peak phase (right after the most fertile time) was shifting in length outside of what was considered “normal” bounds, and said it might indicate problems with my progesterone levels, at first I wasn’t too concerned.
But when several months’ worth of pregnancy tests came out negative even though our chart indicated they had a good chance of being positive, I began to take notice. What if there really was a problem?
Finally, we scheduled an appointment with a family practitioner who was trained to read Creighton charts. After looking at my charts and completing a comprehensive physical exam, he gave us the diagnosis: I needed to gain weight.
I admit, I was a little surprised. Here I was expecting I would have to have blood drawn, maybe take supplements, maybe have to endure other tests. But nope. First things first: Eat more avocados, olive oil and ice cream, and cut back on exercise.
It made total sense — I knew from previous experience that low weight could mess with my cycle (see a physician’s take here). I also knew that right about the time of ovulation, I had scads more energy and motivation than at any other time during my cycle, so it was then that I typically ran further and more frequently (chalk it up to feeling like Wonder Woman during that fertile time). In those newlywed days, I was teetering right on the edge of a healthy amount of adipose tissue.
So fattening myself up was clearly the logical thing to do. I said a temporary farewell to my goal of running 5 miles and brought on the guac and ice cream.
Sure enough, the next pregnancy test was positive!
But what about the possible progesterone deficiency? Well, because we knew that was a potential problem, we were able to mention it to our ob-gyn when we called to schedule our first appointment. They not only scheduled us to come in earlier than the typical 8 weeks, but the doctor also immediately requested blood work, which confirmed the progesterone deficiency.
I still remember the doctor’s staff calling me with the results and her urgent tone as she told me, “It’s really critical that you pick up this prescription as soon as it is ready and start taking the progesterone supplements right away. Take the first dose as soon as you get it. Don’t wait. It’s really important: You could miscarry if you don’t take these.”
Thanks to charting and already understanding the role of progesterone in maintaining a pregnancy, I was already well aware of the urgency.
Thirty pounds and nine months later, all of that “hard work” paid off when we welcomed our firstborn daughter into the world. And you can bet she was worth every extra pound and every disgusting sublingual dose of progesterone.
How has charting transformed your life in unexpected ways?
