Ep. 30: Fertility Myths 001

Welcome to the woven well podcast. I'm your host, Caitlin Estes. I'm a certified fertility care practitioner with a master divinity degree. Each episode will cover a topic that helps educate and empower you in your fertility while honoring the deep connection your fertility has with your faith. Let's get started.

Welcome back to the woven well podcast. Today, we're going to have a little bit of fun. We're going to have a conversation about things you may have heard your whole life, that aren't necessarily true - specifically about fertility. And you may be thinking, I don't think I'm going to fall for any of those. I have a pretty good idea of what's true and false when it comes to fertility. And that may be true. I hope that it is. But I realized recently how easy it is to take something you've casually heard your whole life and have it feel true. So, for instance, did you know that camels do not hold water in their humps? That's right. I recently discovered this while chatting with one of my nieces. I had heard it my whole life and I asked the other adults who were there with us and they had all also heard it their whole life.

But was it true? We honestly couldn't say! We felt like it was, but maybe it wasn't. Some of us couldn't imagine that it could be true, but they had also heard their whole lives. So there was just a lot of uncertainty and that's what happens a lot. When you've heard the wrong thing often enough, it's really hard to know if it's true or not. And we don't want that to be said of our woven well listeners. So we're going to start with five myths today, but I would love for you to email or message me with other things you've heard that you wonder, 'are they true or not as it relates to fertility?' So if you have any thoughts, you can either email them to me directly. You can email Caitlin@wovenfertility.com or you can message us on Instagram @wovenwellpodcast.

Okay. Let's get to it. Number one, fertility myth (And let me say these aren't in any particular order, these are just five that I'm choosing today). But the first one we're going to talk about today is that women ovulate on day 14. So we're starting here because it's also one of the most difficult ones to get past. You hear it constantly, probably when you were in fifth grade and you first started learning about fertility or 10th grade, and you were in reproductive health. Somewhere along the way, you heard that women ovulate around day 14 and they have 28 day cycles. In fact, you may have even heard a medical professional mention this. Yes, even medical professionals are guilty of thinking this. For instance, when a woman goes in to have a pregnancy dated, one of the first things they do is ask when her last menstrual period was. And the reason they're doing that is because they are using the assumption that you ovulated on cycle day 14 of that last known period. And you know, I get it. I can't blame them when a lot of women have no idea when they ovulated. Then doing two weeks after the last known period is at least a place to start. So I really can't blame them. But of course, if you're working with a Napro professional and if you're charting, then that's never going to be an issue because you're going to know exactly when you ovulate. And the thing is you may ovulate on day 14. It's not that it doesn't happen. It's just that there's also a lot of variation. So even if you do it sometimes, it's unlikely to happen all the time. And so it can be a little bit dangerous, I guess I'm going to use that word... It can be a little bit dangerous to assume that you are ovulating every single cycle on day 14. A lot of women will ovulate much, much later in their cycles. Maybe even day 21 day 30, even day 40, or they could ovulate much earlier. So the only way to actually know when that window of fertility is, and when you are ovulating is, to chart your cycles. Of course, we at woven well, highly recommend using the Creighton system. And that is the system that woven fertility instructs. We chose it because it only tracks one biomarker, which is cervical mucus. And that biomarker is not influenced by anything else, not by illness or sleep patterns. And it gives you a wealth of information beyond simply when you're fertile or not. So there are health benefits in addition to fertility benefits.

All right, the second fertility myth that we're going to talk about today is a monthly bleed means all is well. So I don't want to overlook the fact that if you are naturally having a period each month, then that is a great sign. That's a really good sign of health. And I'm very glad to hear that you have that. But not all bleeds are the same. For instance, if you only have spotting or light bleeding, then that doesn't necessarily constitute a period. So it's really important to understand the difference between a period, which has at least a few days of heavy or moderate bleeding and has several days of bleeding overall to make it a period. You usually see it get a little bit heavier, then a little bit lighter, or it starts out heavy and then gets lighter and lighter. If you're not seeing these signs of a period, then it may be unusual bleeding and there can be a cause for that unusual bleeding that's actually not a sign of health. Also, if your bleed is from the placebo pills in your birth control pack, then that's not actually a period. It's more of a withdrawal bleed. And so while it is good that your body is getting rid of that blood, it's not the same thing as an actual period. So it doesn't give you the information that a monthly period would be giving you. Again, not a bad thing, just not super helpful when it comes to interpreting the health of what's going on reproductively, because periods are important and they give us a lot of information. There is a reason that your body wants to remove the lining each cycle. Of course it's best for the next chance at pregnancy. Your body wants to have a new lining and a new, fresh egg, every single cycle for the best possibility at pregnancy.

And it also is good for your overall lining health. So any blood and tissue and endometrial fluid and all the things that are in that lining any of that, that stays too long in the uterus can start to deteriorate or even cause health issues. So there is a really important reason we want to let all of that leave the body cyclically. Okay. Fertility myth number three, one day of heavy cramps are a normal part of having a period. This is a big one. I cannot tell you how many times I have been in the first follow up with brand new clients and I've been talking to her about what her periods are like, and I ask, do you have severe or moderate or mild cramps with your period? And so many women will either say mild, or they will say severe or moderate and when I follow up to any of those, they say, well, it is really, really bad for the first day, but after that first day, it's great. So I'll ask, tell me a little bit more about that. And they'll say something like, oh, I have to take as much Advil as I could possibly take. I have to take Advil leading up to my period to help make it not so bad. I'm curled up in the fetal position on my bed. I don't want to go out. I don't want to go to work. I can't get to class, but it's only one day. So I want you to know that one day matters. Okay? And if you are having that type of pain, even just for one day, that is enough to say that you are having severe cramps because actually most women don't have any sort of cramping beyond that first day.

If they do it is very, very, very mild. But what we want is for you to have mild cramping, even on that first day. We don't want you to have to suffer through those severe or moderate cramps, even if it only is for one day. I really think that women think that if they can just get through it, then that means it's not that bad. But just because you are a rock star and you are able to be in excruciating pain and live life normally and get things done, it doesn't mean it's okay, or that you should have to do that. Even if it's only one day. So painful periods can actually be a sign of other conditions. The most frequently discussed is of course, endometriosis. And we have an entire podcast episode on that. I believe it is episode 10, endometriosis 1 0 1. And I highly recommend you going to listen to that if you're curious to learn more. But there are also other things that it could be.

So our opinion is it's much better to treat these underlying conditions than to deal with this pain cycle after cycle after cycle, or stopping the body's natural process to temporarily mask the pain. Let's take care of it at its source so that you don't have to worry about it for the next 10 years. I mean, imagine what life would be like without one day of extreme pain, every single cycle, right? Fertility myth number four, you can't get pregnant during your period. And this one gets around, let me say that. I feel pretty sure I first heard this one whispered back in high school, but it is absolutely not true. While the period is your body shedding its lining from the last cycle, and so you'd think, oh, everything's leaving the body. How could something new, meaning an embryo, be created during that time? It is still possible for the development of an egg to begin just a few days after your period starts.

So normally your body would show you signs of this window of fertility. And if you know how to look for them, you'd be able to tell that you're in your window of your fertility. But during your period, they can be difficult to identify if you don't know what you're looking for. So if you have intercourse during this time that your estrogen is rising and you're beginning to create all that cervical mucus, then it could result in a pregnancy. Now there are ways to know if you're fertile at certain points in your period, which is why it's one of the things that we always teach as a part of the Creighton system. But unless you know that information, it's more of a shot in the dark and it can definitely happen. Now, does that mean that you ovulate every single cycle during your period, or you could conceive a pregnancy during your period every cycle? No. As always, it depends on when your window of fertility is each and every month. But because that changes from cycle to cycle in even a woman who has regular cycles, then the best way to identify that is to learn the signs of your fertility so that you know exactly when that window of fertility begins and ends. And finally, fertility myth number five, there is a magic day to get pregnant. And this is a great myth to end on because this applies both to couples trying to avoid pregnancy and couples trying to conceive pregnancy. So let's start with those who want to avoid. I see this most often in couples who don't really think that the days leading up to ovation are quite as fertile. They're not worried about those days as much when they think about avoiding pregnancy. And sometimes they think that the few days right after they've identified their peak are probably too late to conceive a pregnancy.

Whereas I'm constantly reminding that these are absolutely days of fertility and you could achieve a pregnancy if you use these days of fertility. And this also applies to couples who want to achieve a pregnancy. They put enormous pressure on themselves to have intercourse on whatever they determine is their magic day. For some it's the day of ovulation; for others, it's the day before ovulation. But man, they really think that this day holds the key to conception. And I really hate to hear couples give themselves such a hard time over this, or to count themselves out for a cycle when they don't feel they've hit their magic day, because thankfully it is not about magic and it doesn't take one specific day every cycle. Instead, there is an entire window of fertility that is different for each couple, but includes multiple days of fertility leading up to ovulation and includes reminders that an egg can be fertilized for up to 24 hours after ovulation.

So I have definitely seen couples achieve a pregnancy by being together five to six days before their peak day. And I've seen couples conceive in the three days after their identified peak. And when you learn a system like Creighton, you know with certainty when those windows are, when the day begins, when it ends, and when you are fertile, so that you can make those decisions really comfortably, and you never feel like you're taking chances, whether you're avoiding pregnancy or you desire to conceive a pregnancy. So don't put that unnecessary pressure on yourselves and also don't discount those days in the entire fertile window. So thanks for being part of our first fertility myth episode! Like I said, I would love to do more of these. So if you have a myth that you'd like to be answered or addressed, please send, send them onto us again. You can email me personally at Caitlin@wovenfertility.com or send us a message on Instagram woven well podcast as always. Thank you so much for listening as we continue to explore together what it means to be woven well.