Reproductive Health Q&A at "Feel Good Fair!"

This Saturday, October 18, 2014... there's a lot going on! And it's all day... 9am-5pm!

RSVP here!

Wills & Wellness is hosting a "Feel Good Fair!" At 2pm-3pm I'll be offering a Reproductive Health Q&A and talking about fertility, sex, reproductive health and everything in between with natural and holistic ideas in mind. Topics during the 45 minute Q&A will vary and be based on what participants ask! Some discussions may include:

• environmentally-friendly menstrual products
• toxin-free lubes
• natural suggestions for managing PMS
• non-hormonal options for birth control
• talking to tweens and teens about their bodies
• ways to avoid EDCs (endocrine-disrupting chemicals like BPA)
• natural ways to increase fertility and overall reproductive health

The Q&A may also include the basics of cycle charting which can be used to naturally (and effectively!) avoid pregnancy, help you get pregnant, or give you more information about your body (like when to expect your period).

Other topics by various presenters throughout the day will include:

• River Walk/Run/Mini Workout
• Entrepreneurs Who Move : Yoga for Business Owners (Novel Web Design)
• Natural v. Wild : How to raise a healthy family naturally and live the 100 year lifestyle (Shift Chiropractic)
• Thai Yoga Massage Chest Openers and Self-Care Tips for the Neck and Face (Greensky Massage)
• Women and the Law – Legal Issues Women Face in the Workplace (Ramos Injury Firm)
• How Mindful and Soulful Eating Will Change Your Life ((W)holehearted)
• Career Transformation/Life Coaching (Women's Pioneer Networking)
• Energy Healing & Emotional IQ (Karyn & Katie)
• 10 Ways to Enhance Sexual Wellness in Relationships (Fitzpatrick Family Therapy)
• Thriving, Balanced Family Life with Feng Shui (Inspired Living Feng Shui)
• Self-Esteem for Girls & Vision Board Workshop (Guru Girls)
• Traditional Chinese Medicine and Children's Health (Healing Village Collective)
• Fertility Awareness & Education (Flowers Fertility)
• Introduction to Solids (The Family Room)
• Estate Planning for Growing Families (Wills & Wellness)
• Child Safety Seat Presentation (Right Start Cherry Creek)
• Financial Wellness (Ameriprise Financial)

Awesome, right? And it's all FREE!

Let me know if you're planning on coming to the Reproductive Health Q&A at 2pm. And remember to RSVP here... See you this Saturday!

Kindara introduces Wink!

If you're charting your cycle using the Fertility Awareness Method (or Natural Family Planning), then taking your morning temp just got a little easier!

Kindara is "a company devoted to giving women the tools, knowledge, and support to understand how their fertility works, take ownership of their reproductive health, and meet their fertility goals." They already have a clean-looking cycle charting app and now they've developed Wink - a really smart basal thermometer.

Wink measures your morning temp very quickly, vibrates when it's done instead of beeping, and has some other great features like sending your temp (and the time it was taken) automatically to the cycle charting app on your phone. There's more about Wink and ordering it here.

And finally, to support Kindara's launch of Wink, I appeared in their video. So fun!

FACTS - Fertility Appreciation Collaborative to Teach the Systems

For over a year, I have been involved with and supporting the work that FACTS is doing. It's great! And they give the scientific information about all of the many different Fertility Awareness Based Methods...

• Calendar (like Standard Days Method, CycleBeads, and the Rhythm Method)
• Statistical (like Lactational Amenorrhea Method)
• Mucus only (like Billings, Creighton, and the Two-Day Method)
• Temperature only
• Symto-hormonal (like Marquette)
• Sympto-thermal (like Natural Family Planning/Couple-to-Couple League, Taking Charge of Your Fertility/Garden of Fertility, and the Justisse Method)

Eventually there will be a review of the ba-zillion charting apps too!

FACTS' mission:

• To educate physicians and healthcare professionals using medical evidence so they may empower women and engage men to appreciate and care for their fertility.

FACTS' vision:

• To change the culture of medicine so fertility is recognized as normal and healthy.

FACTS' goals:

1. Educate physicians and health professionals in the basic principles of fertility awareness based methods (FABMs) and the supporting science behind their medical applications.

2. Promote FABMs and their use in effective, relationship-centered care for women and couples.

3. Provide a forum for clinicians, educators and researchers to share and expand the evolving body of evidence about FABMs.

4. Foster respect and support for clinicians and students as collaborators in patient-centered reproductive health care.

All of these statements feel so much like basic, common sense. But just this summer I was reminded how important this work is.

Here's the story...

I was with a large group of people mingling and doing the simple chit-chat one does as social functions. Then a guy around his mid-30's asked me what I do... "I teach women and couples about reproductive health from a holistic perspective." Most of the time the response I receive is something along the lines of... "Oh! That's so great! It's sooooooo important and really needed!" His response wasn't along those lines... kind of bored/raised eyebrows/"not another hippie" ...so I expounded... Fertility Awareness, charting fertility signs, scientific data supporting the effectiveness when used for birth control, etc. He said he was a doctor and joked in medical school with the other students that Natural Family Planning is for those women who want to have large families... hahaha... meaning it doesn't work.

Oh how I wish the continuing medical education (CME) presentation that FACTS has developed had been given at his school! Sometimes I believe we're making headway about disseminating accurate information about Fertility Awareness, and then I talk to another doctor who thinks it's a joke. Yes, not all doctors and health care practitioners perpetuate the stereotype of... "It's all the Rhythm Method and doesn't work" ...but sadly it seems that the majority still does. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say it's ignorance... they just don't know.

So... join FACTS! Support them! Follow them on social media! Get the word out that evidence-based studies show that Fertility Awareness Based Methods can be highly effective as birth control and be a useful tool to increase a woman's chance of conceiving. And a fabulous side-effect is that she'll feel more empowered and better-understand her body!

Do you have a story? Was there an amazing provider that blew your mind? Or a jaw-dropping moment when you were told something inaccurate about your reproductive health or fertility?