Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health – A Women's Health Reference

Fantastic book and cannot recommend it enough. Informative and covers things that weren’t covered anywhere previously in my education or adult life.

This is a fantastic book. It is so detailed and gives such clear advice and answers for practically everything I can think of! (I found this because Dr. Brighten recommended it. If you want more transparent info like this, definitely check out her website and articles!!!) I have PCOS and decided to try this method as soon as I get off the pill. I’m confident it’ll work and have already started using the charts in the book to practice. I’ll update this review after I’ve gotten off the pill and tried it for a few months. I bought this because I wanted education on myself (which is SO hard to find!) and because I wanted to do everything as naturally as possible. I don’t have any bad side effects since I’ve been on the pill (abt a year) but I want to go all-natural for my health. This book is perfect for that. And it is by far the best (and prob cheapest!!!) way to just get educated on the female anatomy and we work in general! ***Even if you don’t want to do the Fertility Awareness Method, this is a fantastic book for just education on yourself. So much in here a doctor will never have time to tell u in person - even if they do know this much!

This book is huge but filled with some of the best knowledge I have ever received. I am sad that not everyone has read this. This is genuinely the only book I would recommend to everybody. It's so intentional with the way it teaches things to you but it's also just a fun read. I really enjoy my time already in this book. I have come to understand my female body so much more through this.

No matter what stage of life you are in, this book is an invaluable resource for female health. I had tried talking to my ob/gyn about natural family planning after suffering through debilitating side effects of multiple types of birth control, and she basically told me "You just need to be on the pill, there is no way you can prevent pregnancy without it-and if you try nfp, you need to use a spermicide to be sure, and even then you're not guaranteed." So I researched on my own, and made it 6 months until I ended up pregnant...twice...and miscarried both times. I was frustrated and my hormones were all over the place, and then my friend recommended this book to me. I now understand that relying on an app was misguided, and the role that cervical fluid plays in fertility is crucial! Toni is a life saver! I learned more about my body from the first chapter of her book than I ever had from my ob/gyn! I'm sure others have had better experiences with their doctor (and I have since found an amazing one for myself!), but for me this book has empowered me to take control of my health and not have to muddle through the experiments my previous dr was putting me through to find the right answer for me. Toni goes into great detail, including helpful pictures and diagrams that give you the confidence to understand the information and feel capable of putting her methods into practice. I read through most of the book (skipped the parts regarding menopause since thats a long way off, just focused on the rest for now), and I really appreciated her no-nonsense, factual approach. She gives plenty of information not only about how our cycles work (and signs that they aren't), but also important nutrients and medical processes that are necessary in some circumstances. She gives a truly open-minded approach to understanding fertility, and it has helped me stay pregnancy-free for 10 months now while I work with my dr and Toni's methods to get my hormones on track. I am so grateful for her work, getting this knowledge in the hands of women! I appreciate the fact that I can use the information now while avoiding pregnancy, but also later in my life when my husband and I choose to attempt it again, and beyond! I bought a copy for my sister, my friend, and plan to buy more to share with others, and keep my own copy on hand for reference as needed.

Amazing book! I wish all women were able to read this book in their teenage and college years, it would save so much anxiety and stress for everyone involved. Importantly, if you want to track your cycles on an app and practice the fertility awareness method, Toni the author has come out with an app called Cyclisity to go along with the book, and it's working great for me! Thank you Toni for everything you've done for women's health!

I would say this book was very thorough and easy to read. I read it in a short amount of time and learned so much from it! The only thing is it may be a little outdated as it states that your Peak Day (most fertile day) is on the last day you have any eggwhite/fertile cervical mucus aka ovulation day, but most recent studies actually show your Peak day being 1 day before ovulation, followed by 2 days before ovulation. The day of ovulation is actually lowest of all 3. Also the author seemed against the use of OPKs and kind of glossed over that topic stating that tracking other signs (cervical mucus and BBT) to be enough, but to me, more data is better and tracking with the OPK really helped create a clear picture. Not everyone has a BBT that rises immediately after ovulation (some can be 1-2 days later) so if you're trying to pinpoint to conceive and want to be really accurate (ie artificial insemination), the OPK really helps, ESPECIALLY since the LH surge happens BEFORE ovulation. More information and focus on OPKs, what it's measuring, and about what time after ovulation happens after you measure peak (which is actually after your blood serum peak since it takes time for your kidneys to filter out the LH) would be great. I suspect perhaps this book was written when OPKs were less available and more expensive but nowadays you can get 50 for $16 online (Pregmate from Target is great).

With It Starts With the Egg by Rebeca Fett. It is the PERFECT combination. I have wanted to get this book by Toni Weschler since I first heard of NFP in 2017. I'm so happy to finally have it! She totally sheds to like why OPK tests can be helpful in getting to know your body but not at all dependable for tracking ovulation days (whether you're preventing or trying). I was using the strips and just getting frustrated. Now have a thermometer just for me (the Premom one) and app to plug in that number in addition to LH strip. On top of that I have my own charts in the bathroom and BOY it's honestly fascinating! I'm not tracking to either prevent or try. We are tracking to see that my cycles are normal and to get to know my body better (I have inflammation issues and back stuff and the list goes on). The first couple chapters of the book were honestly very basic, but it's extremely helpful once you get into it. For both women (born with a uterus) and man (born without a uterus and other external parts). My husband has learned a lot and finds the writing captivating and its been a great conversation between us two for a few days now. I'm almost half way through! If fertility (your own health at all) health is important to you check out Rebecca Fetts book too. She delves into why certain vitamins, minerals and dietary changes impact your cycle the wa they do.)

WOW! This book so extremely informative while being comedic and relatable. Its THICK but easy to read and not overwhelming. Highly recommend reading this. It completely changed my life!

This is a great book which describes in detail how the fertility of the woman works! If you have been using hormonal contraception methods and are looking for an alternative or trying to become pregnant this book is amazing and helping you to get to know and learn to understand how your fertility functions and pretty much also how your body functions. Since stopping hormonal birth control and reading this book I am so much happier with my body and with being a woman that I have ever been before!

El libro está Perfecto, las pastas se pueden romper fácilmente pero por agradezco que no sea pasta dura ya que pesaría bastante que no haría muy incómodo para leer por primera vez y para consultar en el futuro. Por otro lado el contenido es invaluable!!! Ayuda a comprender mejor tu propio cuerpo y sentirte empoderada al entenderte y hasta predecir lo que pasarás, te ayuda a comunicarte mejor con tu médico y evitarte exámenes clínicos innecesarios y llegar al grano más rápido. Me encanta y lo recomiendo muchísimo a todas las mujeres, saludables y con enfermedades como síndrome de ovario poliquistico, TODAS debemos aprender a reconocer los ciclos en nuestros propios cuerpos

After trying to get pregnant for 7 months and getting very frustrated i seen this book recommended in the comments section of two blogs within one week, having never heard of it before seemed a very good sign. My husband and I had already been to the Doctors to have blood tests for any hormone deficiencies and a sperm test and both came back clear, so knew we had no obvious reasons as to why we weren't conceiving and would have to wait another 5 months to be referred to a specialist for any further tests. I read many of the comments of reviewers and decided it couldn't hurt ( i also bought a BabyMad thermometer that i think cost £5 and came with a temperature chart). The book is very informative and written in a very easy to read format. The first month things seemed to be all over the place (it didn't help that we went on holiday and a very different time zone which as the book says plays havoc with your cycle), It originally looked like my cervical mucus and ovulation were completely out of sinc but once i got to the end of the month i could identify roughly when i had ovulated, but as i say everything was all over the place because of traveling. Unsurprisingly this month ended with a period- no change there!!! But next month i was vigilant about making sure i got up and took my temperature at the same time ever morning and wrote done all changes in mucus type, had sex about 5 times over about 10 days (too much info sorry) and waited. I plotted this months temperatures on a Excel graph once i was about 3 weeks in and this showed more clearly that i had ovulated and had sex on at least three occasions during the 'right' times (this matched with the changes in mucus as well). I wasn't hoping for much this month, just thought i would be in a good position to know exactly when to have sex next month, but once i got to 16 high temperatures i got a little excited and then on 19 days of highs i done a test and it was POSITIVE!!!!! It's very very early days but 7 months of nothing and then on second month of tracking temperature and mucus and a positive test i am very happy. I think if i hadn't read this book we would still be waiting and getting even more frustrated. For what it costs it is definitely worth trying, if nothing else you learn an awful lot about your body that nobody else ever tells you. Good luck to anyone struggling, it is very frustrating, especially when as soon as you are everyone around you seems to already be pregnant.

This is a great book, I read it in 2 sittings because I was so absorbed. I have been tracking my cycles for years, but it was always a mystery to me when I was actually ovulating. I was just basing it on the temperature, but with doing that you can only see when you have already ovulated after the temp rise. This book was so imformative in teaching me what signs to look for in my body, I instantly began noticing the ovulation and just confirming with checking the temperature to see if it actually happened. It was spot on. Before it was always a mystery if we were timing intercourse properly, and this month it actually happened at the right time when my cervical fluid was correct. Also so helpful if you are trying to avoid pregnancy and not having intercourse when you see the fertile fluid. I would highly recommend this book, it is really in depth with examples and great information.

The Bible of fertility. Every woman should have the right to know about her fertility. It's a great, useful book.