Hi, Mom of 6, Yes it is normal and actually using the Creighton Model that is a definite sign of ovulation.  (For me it is rare, but is just a slight tinge of pink in one or two observations.)  I was instructed to chart it with 1/2 white baby sticker and 1/2 red to indicate the difference from the other fertile days.  Consider it another sign (my word is consider49

Marilyn Shannon in Fertility Cycles and Nutrition deals with this matter of low temps, or inability to hold up the high temps throughout the second half of cycle.  That’s something I’m experiencing too, as I try to conceive in my dotage, age 41!  Ha, ha!  Check out the book, there are a few possibilities.  Ebb of fertility is the overall reason, but that doesn’t mean you have to accept it and live with it.

Also try the Couple to Couple League (ccli.org).  They have a special STM class for premenooausal women.

I suggest contacting the National Catholic Center for Bioethics:
http://www.ncbcenter.org/#

There is a place where you can submit a question and someone can get back to you. I’ve often heard on Catholic radio that this is a great place to go! Hope this helps.
Funny…my word is radio36.

There is no problem with using the “birth control pill” (that is, hormones) for medical reasons.

My understanding is that if you are prescribed ABC for a medical reason you may take it for such reason however there are a few things to consider and talk to your husband and confessor about:

1. is the pill you are being put on an abortificiant would it abort a pregnancy should you conceive?

2. (this should probably be number one) are you called to a period of celibacy/abstinence while on it since it will alter the union as it is intended to be.

Have you tried a Navpro or pro-life doctor? Many times there are other/better options then taking birth control.

God bless you!

To the best of my knowledge, you are never to use birth control while engaging in the marital embrace. There may be the possibility of using artificial birth control if you abstain completely, so as to ensure a conceived child is not aborted, and the marital act is not distorted. I also agree that you should look into talking with a pro-life, Napro doctor. Birth control oftentimes does not heal problems, but rather masks them (as has been the case for me).

God bless you, and I hope and pray your issue is resolved.

Here is a quote from th Catholic Answers website (http://www.catholic.com):

“Legitimate medical procedures and medications necessary for healing the body are not at odds with Church teaching. In his encyclical Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI stated: “[T]he Church does not consider at all illicit the use of those therapeutic means necessary to cure bodily diseases, even if a foreseeable impediment to procreation should result there from—provided such impediment is not directly intended for any motive whatsoever” (HV 15). “

So based on this is would not appear that you are required to abstain.  But I would also contact the above Catholic Bioethics website for advice.

Yeah, but the Pope does use the word “impediment,” there.  Some birth control does not just “impede” conception but actually aborts (microscopically).  I would be SO VERY CAREFUL!!

Little late at night but I am a Creighton Model medical consultant and there are other ways to treat the heavy bleeding if you can find a physician who is trained in using human identical hormones and you are charting (usually that means finding a Creighton model medical consultant—if you look up Fertility Care Centers of America on the internet the nearest one can help you out.)  However it is licit to both prescribe and use hormones for other medical reasons despite the side-effect of birth control . . . so if you don’t have easy access to someone who can help you I wouldn’t stress about it.

I have suffered from ploy cystic ovaries for years, and my Gyno always recommends birth control. Initially (during the first 5 years after I was diagnosed), I didn’t follow his advice. I am young, married and wanted to be open to life. We already had one child, and during those 5 years we didn’t “try” and we didn’t “not try” either. Just as my symptoms began to get worse, I got pregnant! Then, after my second child was born and my body began to return to “normal’, I was suffering from large cysts on my ovaries, severe depression and an inability to loose weight. Again, my doc offered the pill and again I refused. I tried antidepressants, other hormones, natural remedies etc., but the pain was awful and it was difficult for me to function in day to day life with the kids I do have. I read so many Catholic boards where women found other ways to treat their symptoms, but they did not work for me. Reluctantly, and after much prayer and reflection, I began taking the pill and within a month I was a whole new person. I do sometimes forget my pill, and I very rarely take it at the same time every day as prescribed, because my goal is not to prevent pregnancy. I have read a lot about this, and as I understand it-my medical reasons for taking the pill are understandable and not sinful as described by the previous poster. My father died of cancer before the age of 50, and if taking the pill reduces my chances by half so that I can be the mother and wife I have already been called to be, then I think I should at least consider it. That being said-it is a serious moral delima that I think about each day. I am not 100% at ease with my decision. There have been months where I didn’t take it, and the bleeding and pain were so bad that I was unable to leave the house! The pain in my poor swollen little ovaries was so bad that I couldn’t have sex with my husband anyway. I am currently looking for a Catholic doctor who may have a better alternative, but for the time being this is the choice I have made. (As a side note-my non-Catholic, pro-contraception doctor, did admit to me that IUD’s can cause abortion, so that should never be an option.)

oh mama, i’m sorry for you :(  maybe you could also talk to him about how it makes YOU feel and how it hurts your feelings?

as for kegels, actually, they can do more harm than good, they’ve realized

http://mamasweat.blogspot.com/2010/05/pelvic-floor-party-kegels-are-not.html

she has tips for what to do instead

Wow!  Thanks for that link!