Dear Fellow Billings Beauties!

I am 24 and have just gotten married! We are using the Billings as
well as condoms. I have the billings method book but I want to order
the chart that has the special stamps on it. Any suggestions? I saw
one for 20 bucks on the Family of the Americas site but I wanted to
make sure that this is the same method used in Billings. Thanks!

God bless,

Esther
--- In Billings@y..., "Mei Schulz" <meikku@c...> wrote:
>
> Hi!
>
> I am Mei, 26 year old, a mom of two kids (1, 3 in about 3 months).
We live
> in Oslo in Norway (I'm originally from Finland).
>
> I am still nursing and got my periods back after quitting to nurse
at
> nights. After the return of the periods I've got pretty normal
cycles, which
> have surprised me -cycles seemed to have got shorter too (I used to
have
> long ones 36-40 days, now the last ones have been 31 and 29 days),
anyone
> experienced shorter cycles after child births??
>
> Anyway, I've been interested in natural family planning already for
awhile.
> I started charting after starting to bleed after my first birth,
but the
> charting ended soon, because we got pregnant ;-) We took it quite
relaxed
> and were sort of prepared for a suprise. The fault wasn't in the
method but
> in our lack of knowledge. Now looking back to my charts I know that
we did
> the "mistake" by not waiting for three days after the "peak
symptoms".
>
> Now while breast feeding our second child I started seriously
reading about
> the method and wanted to know all about. The site of "Family of the
> Americas"
> http://www.familyplanning.net/ and the site of the Billings gave me
the
> information I needed and I ordered the book "Love and Fertility"
from the
> "Family of the Americas" and it's been helpful in learning about
the method.
> I recommend it, it has clear and simple language and very clear
pictures of
> the different types of mucus (method is based only on mucus) and
chart maps
> and neat stickers to it!
>
> Now I've had four normal cycles (and am fertile right now!) after I
started
> bleeding and I think I've got pretty good hang of my mucus
patterns. During
> the first cycles I was quite nervous and didn't feel confident at
all
> learning about this, but the carefulness and patience we practised
in the
> beginning has been worth it, as we feel much more confident in
recognizing
> and using the "free" days now -each mentrsuation feels like an
> accomplishment! ;-)
>
> Since the cycles got shorter I've been a bit extra careful in
interpeting
> the BIP (basic infertile pattern) before the ovulation, because
after
> periods there hasn't been many (if at all!) dry days and the peak
day seems
> to be coming closer towards the periods. In general I seem to have
quite
> continues discharge (due to the nursing probably), but the mucus
comes
> clearly more clearer and stretchy closer to ovulation and then
turns bak to
> sticky and cloudy.
>
> Anyone else who's been struggling with continuous discharge and
recognizing
> repeated strechiness? I notice there is that highly stretchy and
clearer
> mucus closer to the peak, and then later in the cycle there appears
this
> thick, cloudy but also quite stretchy mucus. This mucus however
seem to
> brake easily after stretching it a couple of times whereas the
fertile mucus
> doesn't brake after repeated stretching . I think I read about this
in the
> Billings site, and this has been the way to distinguish the fertile
stretchy
> mucus.
>
> Ok, maybe this will do for the introduction :-)
>
> I am also with Fertility Awareness (quite active list, but not
perhaps so
> much discussion on the mucus?) and NFPMoms lists (very quiet).
After reading
> the archives of this list I was happy to realise that this seems to
be a
> place to discuss mucus widely and openly! ;-)
>
> Looking forward to fruitfull mucus discussions! ;-)
>
> Cheers,
> Mei, one of the "mucus" friends
>
> --
> meikku@c...
> http://home.chello.no/~meikku