vaginapagina | excitement rant + questions

Just recently, I realized what that smooth little sphere-ish thing in my cunny is.. My cervix! I've been so excited about this realization, that I've become obsessed with checking it, feeling the differences from day to day in my cycle. It's just so NEAT!

I've got some questions though:

My research of FAM has lead me to believe that while ovulating your cervix is more 'open' and squishy, and that it returns to being firm and 'closed' once you're no longer fertile. How reliable is this?

Another question/comment. I still have yet to feel mine in it's 'hard' phase, as everytime I have checked it it has been squishy, even right before my period, when I most definitely shouldn't be ovulating. In fact, it has seemed to open up even more over the past few days (I'd check now, but the bleeding girly bits are protesting shoving anything up there). Does the cervix open up/get squishy again before the period? It makes sense for it to during, as the blood needs to pass.. but, can anyone give me some more information other then, "Gets squishy, high, and open when ovulating, and not squishy and firm when not"?

I've tried googling this, but I'm a terrible googler so all attempts have been in vain.

Thankies :)

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I'm not so sure about your questions, but I just wanted to agree with you about how cool it is to discover your cervix for the first time. I love that I know mine, and like you, check it regularly (am also monitoring fertility).

Hehe, I knew I couldn't be the only one to find this to be *so cool* :D

Oh it is, absolutely. ;)

It gets squishy and open around ovulation.. to let the spermies in.. and squishy and open around your period.. yeah, because there's stuff coming out. My cervix sometimes feels a little more.. raw and rough .. I guess on my period.

YaY! for cervixes! For a long time I didn't know what mine was (Mom wasn't big on educating me about my "naughty bits"), and I actually thought something was wrong with me. I think I expected my vagina to just go on into my uterus, but there was this little dead-end thing. I was so glad that I was normal. *blushes*

Yes! I worried about that for the longest time too. I was sad when I was younger because I thought my vagina was abnormally short, heee.

I have been doing FAM on and off for 5 years..
my cervix is usually on the firm side. It doesn't often get squishy (or open for that matter), even if I AM ovulating. I think the main thing is that everyone is different and while cervical position etc. is an indicator of what is going on in there, the only way to know is to do ALL the signs. The cervix behaves as it wants to a lot of the time.

During the five on and off years of FAM, was that your only means of birth control? I don't plan on depending on it soley in the near future, but I am still curious about it's effectiveness.

yes it is our only means.
I'm kindof a unique case, because I have PCOS. On medication (Metformin) I do ovulate, but it is inconsistent....40 to 70 day cycles.
I have been charting because birth control pills are not for me...I get migraines for days. Also charting helps me know when I'm going to ovulate, both for conception purposes and birth control purposes. I do believe I had a chemical pregnancy about a year ago, though.

I dont think it ever feels *hard* per se, as much as "harder vs squishier". The description I usually hear is "like the end of your nose". I notice sort of a softer layer on top when I'm ovulating, like I'm feeling the end of my nose through a layer of batting, as well as being quite low and very open (but I've had 2 vaginal births, so its open slightly all the time now). I notice opening and lowering but not that same softness before my period.

I wouldn't rely on FAM as birth control unless you are charting and checking your temps & fluid as well as CP.

Worry not, I've been checking my mucus for an even longer time, and FAM is just to cure my curiousity :)

Mine feels like the cartilage part of my ear during non-ovulating/bleeding times and a bit like the bubbles in bubble tea when I am ovulating/bleeding. I spend a lot of time poking around in there, since I just got an IUD.

My research of FAM has lead me to believe that while ovulating your cervix is more 'open' and squishy, and that it returns to being firm and 'closed' once you're no longer fertile. How reliable is this?

From all the FAM research I've done (relied on it as contraception for 4 years), cervical position can be used as a secondary indicator of fertility, meaning it can be used to confirm cervical mucus and/or BBT, but it's not truly reliable on its own.

I know that my cervix generally gets higher in my vagina near ovulation, but this doesn't always happen. And it often closes tightly after my fertile time has passed, but again, it doesn't always. Whether I really feel it become more open during menstruation depends on whether it closed up tightly before.

If you're curious about this, try tracking your cervical position every day for a few cycles to see what's normal for you. (Though I wouldn't depend on cervical position alone as a contraceptive technique.)

Oh, okay. Thanks!

Also, I didn't mean to imply that I was going to only use that as my contraception. I've also been tracking my mucus for an even longer period, and condoms are used as well :)

The FAM is more to cure my curiousity, really..

I'm not even sure you did imply that cervical position was going to be your only contraception. But people worry, and it's better to be safe than sorry.

But if you're tracking your mucus, that's probably going to give you a more accurate indication of where you are in your cycle than will cervical position. Though both together can be more accurate than either alone.

excitement rant + questions

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