When I married, I took birth control pills. I was naive. I didn’t realize how they altered the natural processes of my body and also produced undesirable side effects.

I stopped taking the pill after a couple years when I wanted to start having children. There were 3 years between our 2nd & 3rd children when I couldn’t get pregnant, though we were trying. So I haven’t need much for prevention until this year.

My last baby, Joel, was born in May of 2008. It was a difficult delivery. He was my heaviest baby, weighing over 8 pounds (big for me).  I knew I either needed to call it quits after this one, or at least take a break for a while.

I started investigating my options.

I had already gained a significant amount of enlightenment from a book called Taking Charge of Your Fertility. This book taught me exactly how my cycles worked and how to chart them.

I used this method very effectively to get pregnant a few times. I also used it to hold off pregnancy until I was ready again.

At times I was unsure about how fertile I was on certain days, mainly because I wasn’t always faithful with the charting. It was difficult for me to record everything 100%.

Charting involved taking my temperature every morning, first thing, recording it, noticing other things about my body and cycle, and recording them. Then I calculated which days I was fertile, which days I wasn’t, and how many days were in between.

I didn’t mind taking my own measures for prevention, as long as I knew exactly which days it was necessary.

Earlier this year, I came to the point where I knew I couldn’t handle another bundled blessing to the family yet. So I wanted something more reliable and less mentally demanding. I didn’t want to trick my body with chemicals. I didn’t want anything foreign put in my body (some women I know have gotten pregnant with an IUD).

I just wanted to have an easier way to go natural.

I found it. It’s called Lady-Comp Fertility Monitor. It’s definitely more expensive than some methods ($500), but not as much as an IUD.

It’s a small gadget the size of a flat hamburger. I keep it on my nightstand. It’s got a thermometer attached by a cord. Every morning, before I roll out of bed, I take my temperature. If I’m having my period, I push one more button.

It gives me a red light when I’m fertile, a green light when I’m not, and a yellow light for “maybe fertile” days. Even though I forget some days, the longer I use it, the less yellow days I get. I’ve been using it since February of ’09.

It’s great! I love it! I don’t have to worry, sweat or strain my brain about keeping track. It’s been used extensively by women in Europe and Canada. It’s been tested on 20,000 women and been clinically shown to be 99.3% effective. That’s as high or higher than other methods.

Should I decide to get pregnant again, I’ll know exactly when to try. The upgraded version ($200 more), Baby Comp, even helps you pick the sex of your baby. It tells you which days are more likely for boy or for a girl (just investigate sellers).

Technology continues to amaze me. This style of birth control is much easier on the body than unnatural chemicals and hormones.

Why don’t more women know about this? You’ve got me, but now you know.

The more educated we are as women, the less the pharmaceutical industry controls our bodies and purses, and the more freedom and control we enjoy.

Feel the power. Take control of you, or tell someone else about it.