I'll take a stab at these....
1) The accuracy of disturbed temps seems to vary a lot from woman to
woman...some women I know can get a good temp if they've slept an hour
undisturbed, some women need a lot more than that. Still, 5 hours seems
like a lot...3 or 4 hours would make more sense (being approx 1 sleep
cycle). The reason having some undisturbed time is important is because
you want a temperature that reflects your cycle, not your activity level
;-). My advice? try taking temps, marking whether/when there was a
disturbance, and after a couple cycles look at your charts and see if
your temps gave you clear, readable patterns in keeping with your other
signs.. If so, you can use the temp data to help determine the end of
Phase II.

2) It might help to look at an anatomical diagram when you try to
identify whats what in there...that's what did it for me (I am not
spatially aware at all!).

Your vaginal canal is a curved finite passage that points a bit towards
your back. Your cervix descends into the canal near the ending of that
passage, lower or higher and softer or firmer depending on where you are
in your cycle. Try looking for it during Phase III, near the end of your
cycle - it should be easier to find then, lower and firmer, like the tip
of a nose with a dimple in it. It may be easier to find if you are
sitting on the toilet or have one leg up on something, and if you are
relaxed.

3) There is a great discussion of this question in "The Good News about
Sex and Marriage" by Christopher West, also in "Holy Sex" by Gregory
Popcek (which also has some advice regarding painful intercourse and
sexual attitudes, I highly recommend it!). Basically it boils down to
preserving the dual purposes of sex, the unitive and procreative. And
I'd write more but my 8mos old is protesting my inattentiveness!!

Kate

Andrea wrote:
>
> 1. Our daughter is 5 months old and still up at least once a night to
> eat. (Unfortunately we are no longer breastfeeding.) How does being up
> and about feeding affect my temperature? Our midwife (who had
> practiced NFP for many years) told us not having been still for 5
> hours would create invalid temps so we haven't been taking them. But
> it would obviously be nice to cross reference the mucus signs with
> temps to be more certain of the phase changes.
>
> 2. How exactly do I know what my cervix feels like? I've stuck my
> fingers in there and have no idea what's what.
>
> 3. I am curious how/why it is wrong, in the Catholic opinion, to bring
> each other to climax with manual stimulation without him climaxing
> inside of me every time. (Particularly because we are still dealing
> with intense pain for me upon penetration that will take lots of time,
> patience and manual stretching of my vaginal opening to work past. It
> seems that our ability to love each other with no pain is such a
> blessing and something we can look forward to as we take the steps to
> make coitus itself something we look forward to instead.)
>
> Thanks!
> ~Andrea
>
>