The
most female Watch in the world
specific scientific information
Dr. Otfried Hatzold, Munich, Germany
How
is natural family planning possible?
Various
laws of nature relating to the male and female body mean that an unplanned
pregnancy can be avoided or the actual sex of a planned child can be
decided by restricting sexual intercourse to certain days in the menstrual
cycle.
An egg
becomes available for fertilization only once in each menstrual cycle
and with great regularity: 15 days before the start
of the next period menstrual bleeding.
- An egg can only be fertilized within a few hours of ovulation, which
is when it leaves the ovary.
- The man's semen remains capable of fertilization in the woman's body
for about two days, or three days in exceptional cases.
The sex of the child depends on the father's semen. The woman's egg
has no gender but there are two types of sperm:
Those which contain an X-chromosome and those with a Y-chromosome.
The female sperm (with the X-chromosome) moves more slowly but remains
capable of fertilization for longer, whereas the male sperm with a Y-chromosome
is more active and moves more quickly, but does not live as long.
Natural family and gender planning can be based on these scientific
facts. If a couple makes sure that no semen enters the woman's body
three days before ovulation at the latest and not until two days after
ovulation at the earliest, this means there are no sperm cells present
during the fertile phase of the egg which could bring about conception.
This is how an unwanted pregnancy can be avoided. If, however, sexual
intercourse takes place exactly two days before ovulation, only the
long-lived female-type sperms are able to wait long enough for the egg
and produce a baby girl. By contrast, intercourse on the actual day
of ovulation will produce a boy because the faster male-type sperm cells
reach the egg before the slower female cells. This means that for a
girl, no unprotected intercourse should take place after the ideal conception
day and for a boy before the ideal conception day.
Method
In order to devise a practical family planning method with this information,
it is necessary to find out when ovulation takes place. Unfortunately
there is still no method available for doing this. There are various
pointers to ovulation, such as morning temperature measurements, inspection
of the cervical mucus and mittelschmerz (inter menstrual pain), but,
together with the modern ultrasound technique, these merely provide
reliable evidence that ovulation has just taken place or is taking place.
With a bit of luck it is still possible to conceive a son, but to plan
a daughter or to prevent pregnancy a woman needs to know a few days
beforehand when ovulation will take place.
The gynecologists Knaus and Ogino devised the following solution: The
only reliable information we can ever have about ovulation is retrospective,
i.e. the 15th day before the first day of the next period. If a note
is kept of the first day of each period for a year, it is possible to
work out the earliest and latest days on which ovulation takes place
after the start of a period. If the difference between the earliest
possible and latest possible ovulation does not exceed a 10 days and
if there are no unusual circumstances affecting the woman's wellbeing,
ovulation in the future may reliably be expected to take place within
those limits.
Contraception
For natural contraception, intercourse should not take place from 3
days before the earliest possible ovulation time to 1 day after the
latest possible ovulation time. This method is as safe as any other
if the days are worked out correctly and an extra day is added on to
the fertile time as a safety margin.
This "safety day" is incorporated into the SWISS LADY WATCH.
If the timing method is combined with another preventive method to safeguard
against any exceptional circumstances, the same degree of safety as
with the pill can be achieved.
Gender
planning
In order to produce a daughter, intercourse must take place two days
before the earliest possible ovulation time. This becomes the specific
conception day for a girl or. If the cycle is longer than the shortest
one measured, there will be no pregnancy during that cycle.
- In order to produce a son, intercourse must take place on the exact
day of the latest possible ovulation time. This is the specific conception
day for a boy or, if the cycle is shorter than the longest one recorded,
there will be no pregnancy in that cycle.
makes
use of these facts.
A research project by the German
Research Association, under my supervision and concerning the opportunities
and effects of natural gender planning, revealed that success rates
of over 90% could be achieved by correct use of the method described.
It was found, however, that the calculations previously required to
work out the crucial days in the cycle were extremely difficult and
the users of the method frequently made mistakes. This is why a fairly
high failure rate has been attributed to the timing method of contraception,
known as the Knaus-Ogino method. This is hardly surprising, given that
Professor Knaus himself published calculation errors in his guide to
the method, which went unnoticed by the scientific world for 30 years
and are still being made by experts.
Possible
problems
If you have noted the dates of your past menstrual cycles when not on
the pill, you can start using the SWISS LADY WATCH straight away for
family planning, although you must be sure of the length of your cycle.
You need to be specially careful because there is a risk of carrying
over past errors in your calculations. The length of a menstrual cycle
is the difference between the first day of two consecutive cycles, but
the last day of the old cycle is also the first day of the new one.
This is why the number of days in the cycle must be 1 higher than
the length of the cycle. Example: Period starts on 2 March, the next
on 30 March. The cycle length is therefore 28 days (30 minus 2 = 28)
but 30 March is the 29th day of the old cycle.
The SWISS
LADY WATCH cuts out calculation errors because you only have to read
and note down or act according to the positions of the red dot.
You just have to remember that, based on your knowledge of the length
of your menstrual cycles, the dot position on the SWISS LADY WATCH is
always 1 higher than the basic cycle length.
However it is not advisable to use the method if the difference between
your shortest and longest cycles is more than 10 days. |