Welcome, I'm Rachel. 

FAM is an abbreviation for Fertility Awareness Methods. Fertility Awareness Methods are means of using identifiable biomarkers in our bodies to help determine our fertility.

FEMM is a sympto-hormonal method of fertility awareness that monitors both cervical mucus as well as your LH hormone via urine testing. You can learn more about FEMM here.

Absolutely! FEMM's learning is easily applied to every woman. That being said, if you have a diagnosis such as endometriosis, PCOS, LUFS, or other reproductive diagnoses, it can be challenging to navigate without an instructor to guide you. That's where I come in! We work together to evaluate your cycles and help you toward your goals - either monitoring your heath, achieving or avoiding a pregnancy. On a more personal note, I do have endometriosis, so I have been navigating those funky cycles since I started charting when I was back in college.

Learning a fertility awareness method is encouraged for all women regardless of their age. Fertility awareness methods allow women to monitor their hormones and health in real time. Then take that information to their healthcare providers to enable better healthcare outcomes.

Yes and no. Abstinence is the only 100% guarantee of preventing pregnancy. Every true FAM method relies on abstinence during the fertile times to avoid pregnancy. When a couple choses to use another form of birth control when they are knowingly fertile (which they learn using fertility awareness and not a predictor app), then they are no longer relying on fertility awareness to prevent a pregnancy. They are then relying on their chosen birth control's efficacy. The FEMM protocol teaches women how to identify their fertile window and the official position of FEMM is abstinence during that time. It is up to the couple to decide whether or not to follow that recommendation. As a practicing Catholic, it is my personal belief to use abstinence during the fertile window. My position is that of educator. I teach the FEMM Protocols, and it is up to you to decide how you will implement it.

1. Women who want to learn how their body works. 2. Women who want to understand if their cycles are normal and heathy. 3. Women who want to use a natural family planning method to achieve or avoid pregnancies. 4. Teens who are in the midst of puberty and want to know what is happening from a scientific perspective.

1. Women who are uncomfortable with discussions about cervical mucus, sex, arousal fluids and reproduction.

2. Women who are not able to commit to daily charting (either on paper or in an app).

3. Women who intend to stay on hormonal forms of birth control or other birth controls that alter the cycle. (This is not meant to be discriminatory, but purely from a logical point- hormonal forms of birth control alter your natural biomarkers upon which we rely. If you are coming off birth control, this is a good time to start charting!)

Absolutely not! In fact, I recommend that all men who's partners plan to use FEMM or FAM attend all the class sessions with her. It is truly eye opening to learn how male and female fertility work together.

Your cycle data is used to monitor your health. It is a great tool to bring to your primary care provider and it can help them to treat you more thoroughly since you have this detailed health record.

Knowing yourself is super helpful here. There are certain parts of FEMM that are specific to FEMM, and other parts that are shared across all methods. I find this quiz from Natural Womanhood to be very helpful.

There are three one-hour initial instruction sessions as they are taught, and we typically like to have one full cycle in between each one. It usually takes around three cycles to become fully proficient.

That's easy! Book a call with me and I can answer any further questions you have before diving in!

Absolutely. FEMM has a free app that anyone can use. If you prefer something a bit more robust with more data points and a bit more privacy, my students also get 3 months free of charting with the Read Your Body app.