Supporting each other and sharing your Trying to Conceive - TTC - Journey

Lesson 20 (Final Lesson)

Lesson Objectives:

• Raise awareness about the importance of support and sharing during the Trying to Conceive Journey.

• Encourage you to share your experience with others, especially if you are feeling isolated.
  

• Demonstrate features of FertilityFriend.com which are intended to enhance support and ease isolation.
  

More...

Throughout the lessons of this course we have discussed the basics of your fertility cycle, your fertility signs, how to chart, how to observe and record your fertility signs, how to interpret a variety of chart patterns and how to make the most of charting using FertilityFriend.com and Fertility Friend's Apps. At this point, you should have a pretty solid basic foundation for charting your fertility signs, using them to achieve pregnancy and using Fertility Friend to acheive your goal.

Oftentimes, even after learning how to chart, trying to conceive can be frustrating, confusing, and lonely when it is taking longer than you hoped or expected. Sharing the journey with others can ease the sense of isolation that so often accompanies the experience of trying to conceive. There are some things that can only be fully understood and appreciated by others who share the same experience.

Since beginning to teach fertility charting online in the early days of the Internet in 1998 and pioneering the concept of online fertility charting at that time, our team at FertilityFriend.com has been struck by the bonds that can be made among women who are trying to conceive. While some women like to chart on their own or under their doctor's supervision and choose not to make connections (and that is perfectly fine!) many women find that support and acknowledgment from others who understand them and share the same goal makes the journey more rewarding.

Sharing knowledge, joys, sorrows, frustrations and achievements with others can be empowering and healing. We can learn and share so much when we walk together.

Fertility signs and fertility frustrations are something so personal and so important, yet many of us are unable to find close friends or family nearby with whom to share our journey. The Internet, however, is particularly well-suited to helping people establish support and learning networks. FertilityFriend.com and its related apps makes use of this connecting technology to help establish networks of support and sharing. As the Internet and mobile technology has evolved, FertilityFriend.com has innovated and adapted a number of features to make the most of the connecting power of the Internet.

Some of the support features offered by FertilityFriend.com include:

Privacy Enhanced Community Forums

The FertilityFriend.com Forums (community link below the calendar on your app) are a non-commercial, solicitation-free place where people who are trying to conceive can find friendship and support. The forums are organized by various themes and buddy groups so that people can share information and form support networks. (For details, see the Community Vision).

The Charting Homepage

In the sharing menu you can find a link to set up your charting homepage. The charting homepage is your own personal page with your own web address so that you can show your chart to others and get feedback. You can choose which information to share, which charts to display, and you can personalize the page to make it your own.

FertilityFriend.com Story Gallery

The Story Gallery is a database of thousands of personal stories written by FertilityFriend.com members about their Trying to Conceive experiences. You can search the stories by keywords and categories to find the stories that are most interesting to you. 

Graphical Tickers

Graphical Tickers allow you to share your cycle status (or countdown your pregnancy or an event, etc.) on your web pages or in your message board signatures in a visually appealing way.

Chart Gallery & Pregnancy/Ovulation Tests Photo Gallery

The chart gallery is a database of fertility charts fully managed by Fertility Friend members. Members enter their real life charts and organize them by categories and keywords. You can search and browse the chart gallery. The HPT/OPK Gallery is a member managed database of pregnancy and OPK test photos that can be searched and browsed (Community button below the calendar in the app)

To see more support features, explore the sharing menu to the left of your chart online or select "community" from the menu on your app.

This lesson wraps up the course, "Charting your way to Conception". It seems appropriate to end the course with this discussion about support and sharing. Though our fertility signals are so personal, it is impossible to learn or teach about them without sharing some very intimate information. When we share this information and support, we can gain great awareness and remove the shroud of mystery that often surrounds natural and beautiful body processes.

This course was designed to help you learn the basics of fertility charting. Assess your charting knowledge and get your "Charting your Way to Conception" Certificate by completing the final quiz of this course (linked below). The questions can all be answered using material taught in the 20 lessons of this course. We recommend taking the final quiz when you are not rushed or distracted.

Best wishes from the entire FertilityFriend.com Team!