Get Educated on Your Reproductive Health

Book, Blog, and Podcast Suggestions 

 
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We’ve spent so much of our lives trying not to get pregnant (hello birth control, contraception, tracking cycles!). Looking back to our health classes growing up, we don’t remember our teachers (or anyone, for that matter) talking much about periods. Even now, most of us are pretty uneducated about what’s going on in our bodies every month.

What if we took a step back and got acquainted with our menstrual cycle, ovulation patterns, what’s going on with our hormones, and when we’re most fertile? This could help us prepare for if/when we do decide to start trying or are experiencing difficulties and need support.

Recently, women’s reproductive health has been gaining much more attention (hallelujah!), and there are really helpful resources out there for women who want to educate themselves. Today you can be more proactive rather than reactive when understanding your own fertility. 

Here are a few resources we trust to empower you on your journey.

 
 
Featured
NYT Parenting
NYT Parenting

NYT Parenting publishes fantastic evidence-based guides and developmental milestones — backed by the journalistic rigor of The New York Times.

Blood + Milk
Blood + Milk

As the editorial arm of Cora, Blood + Milk is a magazine-style website with the mission to consider and expose the physical, physiological, emotional, spiritual, psychological, social, political, cultural, and economic forces that influence the way women exist in their female bodies while striving for wellness.

Under the Hood
Under the Hood

Under the Hood is a podcast pulling back the curtain and unpacking the mystery around womanHOOD, sisterHOOD, motherHOOD. Join Patti Quintero and Aleks Evanguelidi as they take a deep dive into the topics you wish you knew more about, the topics you want to share with your daughters, and the things you want the men in your life to know.

Awakening Fertility: The Essential Art of Preparing for Pregnancy by Heng Ou
Awakening Fertility: The Essential Art of Preparing for Pregnancy by Heng Ou

Awakening Fertility is a loving companion to accompany you along the journey to motherhood—whether your desire to become a mother burns fiercely today or is a future calling just beginning to stir. From the author of the bestselling The First Forty Days, Heng shares her ancestral wisdom on optimizing your fertility through the power and medicinal qualities of the right foods. Intended for women at every stage of the preconception process, this book offers wisdom and guidance to support your body, mind, and spirit—including nearly 50 delicious recipes to nourish yourself deeply.

Period Repair Manual, Second Edition: Natural Treatment for Better Hormones and Better Periods by Lara Briden, RN
Period Repair Manual, Second Edition: Natural Treatment for Better Hormones and Better Periods by Lara Briden, RN

Period Repair Manual is your guide to better periods using natural treatments such as diet, nutritional supplements, herbal medicine, and natural hormones. It contains advice and tips for women of every age and situation (irregular period, endometriosis, PCOS, etc). If you have a period (or want a period), then this book is for you.

Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler, MPH
Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler, MPH

Tori Weschler walks you through exactly what is happening in your body throughout your cycle. She includes super tangible indicators that you can watch out for so you can know what phase you are in - like basal body temperature, cervical fluid and position, and breast tenderness.

It’s incredible how many signals you’ll find your body sends you every day - once you’re paying attention. She recommends a simple app for tracking these indicators so you can reach your goals, whether they be avoiding pregnancy naturally or trying to get pregnant.

Making Babies by Sami S. David, MD and Jill Blakeway, LAc, DACM
Making Babies by Sami S. David, MD and Jill Blakeway, LAc, DACM

This is a great resource that lends wisdom from both Western and Chinese medicine perspectives to help you discover your “fertility type.” We love the focus on the three month ‘pre-mester,’ during which patients can change lifestyle and nutrition to maximize their fertility (it works!). Today’s fertility medicine is all about surgical, chemical, and technological intervention, but Drs. David and Blakeway provide another way through supplements, herbs, dietary, and lifestyle changes.

The Fifth Vital Sign: Master Your Cycles & Optimize Your Fertility by Lisa Hendrickson-Jack
The Fifth Vital Sign: Master Your Cycles & Optimize Your Fertility by Lisa Hendrickson-Jack

The Fifth Vital Sign aims to better connect women with their menstrual cycles and to break the myth that ovulation is only important when you're ready to have a baby. Whether children are a part of your future plans or not, your reproductive health matters. This book also includes an incredibly comprehensive section on hormonal birth control.

Heavy Flow: Breaking the Curse of Menstruation by Amanda Laird
Heavy Flow: Breaking the Curse of Menstruation by Amanda Laird

Your menstrual cycle is your fifth vital sign — a barometer of health and wellness that is as telling as your pulse or blood pressure. Yet most of us see our periods as nothing more than a source of inconvenience, shame, and stigma.

The reasons for this are vast and complex and many are rooted in misogyny. The fact is, women around the world are taught the bare minimum about menstruation, and the messages they receive are often negative: that periods are painful and gross, turn us into hormonal messes, and shouldn’t be discussed.

By examining the history of period shame and stigma and its effects on women’s health and wellness today, and providing a crash course in menstrual self-care, Heavy Flow aims to lift the veil on menstruation, change the narrative, and break the “curse” once and for all.

Seeing Red by Kirsten Karchmer, LAc
Seeing Red by Kirsten Karchmer, LAc

During her more than twenty years of research and care for thousands of patients, Kirsten Karchmer found that most period problems women experience—even the most painful ones—are totally correctable and more surprisingly reflective of overall health and fertility. In this forthright, spirited, and all-encompassing guide, Karchmer draws on her decades’ worth of experience as a women’s health expert to break down the myths so many women have been led to believe about their periods.

 
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Tools to Get Pregnant — The Basal Body Temperature Method
Tools to Get Pregnant — The Basal Body Temperature Method

You might be surprised by what you can discover about your body by tuning in and putting in a little bit of effort. If done correctly, a few months of observing your basal body temperature (BBT) can give you a ton of answers.

Strength in Sharing
Strength in Sharing

The phrase “trying for a baby” always made me uncomfortable. I felt like the couple was welcoming everyone into their bedroom as well as their personal lives. I had no idea that perhaps it was their way of reaching out for emotional support during a time of excitement mixed with fear.

Preparing your Mind and Body For Pregnancy
Preparing your Mind and Body For Pregnancy

As you begin to think about getting pregnant, besides understanding your own biology, it can really help to get in tune with your body (even on the most basic level).

Nutrition
Nutrition

Nutrition while trying to conceive matters. Not only to ensure your nutrient stores are nice and robust for both pregnancy and postpartum, but also to help with conception.

Get Educated on Your Reproductive Health
Get Educated on Your Reproductive Health

What if we took a step back and got acquainted with our menstrual cycle, ovulation patterns, what’s going on with our hormones, and when we’re most fertile?

Acupuncture
Acupuncture

Whether you are undergoing conventional fertility treatments or trying to conceive naturally, acupuncture can increase your likelihood of success.

Resilience—My Struggle with PMDD on the Fertility Journey
Resilience—My Struggle with PMDD on the Fertility Journey

What stands out to us is her incredible resilience: teaching us that getting informed, advocating for ourselves and listening to our bodies makes all the difference.

 
PreconceptionCaroline BennettWellness, Products