Karma

New month, one month from last post.

Okay, this one is a little bit more about my sexuality and level of sexual activity. General disclaimer.

So I got back from Taiwan, it was great, solid week of hedonism. Like, at least once every day for seven days. At the end, Plan B. First time I've ever taken synthetic hormones intentionally, and definitely something I didn't dread or feel weird about like I thought I might about a year ago. Maybe it was the person, or the fact that it might have been I was really fertile this time. Definitely learned some lessons, and when the progesterone wears off, I'm for sure going onto watch.

I guess this sounds a tad vague...

Okay. Run down of the reproductive stuff I was talking about:

Firstly, every girl has cycles. It's like a rollercoaster that hardly changes. Sometimes, there are unexpected failures and riders are stuck in the middle for like an hour, but it hardly happens. Typically, the first day of the cycle is counted as the first day of a girl's period. The published average is 28 days per cycle, but that's totally off for most people. About half-way into the cycle, the girl is the most fertile during that cycle. This is a five day window and unprotected sex is going to lead to pregnancy in most cases. It depends on the girl, and there are many ways to tell without having to buy fertility tests. The period before that window, and after the window are safe days for unprotected without any reproduction. (As a side note, sperm can probably last about 3 days if conditions are slightly fertile. 5 is the safe number to work for, but it's sacrificing two days of clumsy teenage trying. The fertile egg window is about a day, so the window is three or four days before ovulation and the day after. For getting pregnant, if the couple is willing, sex all five days will definitely increase those chances.)

Some ways to tell about fertility are the Basal Body Temperature method where waking body temperatures are charted each morning and compared to show when ovulation has occured. The highest temperature recorded in a cycle is when the female is most fertile. This method only works to identify fertility after it has past, so it is often used to prevent pregnancy. Another method would be to observe cervical fluid. This fluid is different from arousal fluid in many ways. It is produced from the cervix and often is the main liquid transport system for sperm in the vagina. The fluid will vary in consistancy, color, and taste and by identifying the fluid, it can help in monitoring fertility. At a woman's most fertile time, the fluid is clear, almost tasteless, and as the consistancy of egg whites. It is really thick, stretchy. In a woman's most unfertile times, she will be dry, or have a crumbly, yellow or milky fluid that usually tastes sour. The last common way to monitor fertility is by the positioning of the cervix.

Birth control and hormones are ways to regulate the reproductive system artificially. By using birth control that contains hormones, the body's natural hormones are overridden and the synthetic hormones regulate the body's cycle. Commercial birth control usually use a 28 day cycle and give the girl a week of placebos that allow the uterine lining to shed and she will experience a "period" without shedding a fertilized egg. Most commercial birth control pills, if not all, are doses of progesterone, estrogen, or both and prevent the body from fertilizing eggs and releasing them. Emergency contraceptives are larger doses of birth control pills and often cause some or all of the following: it stops the body from fertilizing an egg, or thins the uterine lining and prevents the fertilized embryo from attaching to the uterus wall.

Back to story:

So that was pretty much it. We've been using barrier contraceptives more and more often (read every time now) (and by barrier contraceptives, I mean male condoms). It's a lot cleaner (no run-off down my leg), and a lot easier to pack up. Ooh! So the other day, I had my first bout of sex while under the influence. It was interesting: we were both super difficult. It took ME forever to get to any semblance of release myself. Yeah, that's pretty much the run-down of my sex life...Just this is it times maybe 5 on my side of the computer screen.

-Breathless
Scarlet Bloodmoon