Where There Is No Doctor 2011 291
THE COUNTING DAYS METHOD
This method is not very sure to prevent pregnancy, but it has the advantage of
not costing anything. It is more likely to work for a woman whose periods come
very regularly, more or less once every 28 days. Also, the husband and wife must
be willing to pass 11 days out of each month without having sex the regular way.
Usually a woman has a chance of becoming pregnant only during 11 days of her
monthly cycle—her ‘fertile days’. These 11 days come midway between her periods,
beginning 8 days after the first day of menstrual bleeding. To avoid getting pregnant,
a woman should not have sex with her man during these 11 days. During the rest of
the month, she is not likely to get pregnant.
To avoid confusion the woman should mark on a calendar the 11 days she is not
to have sex.
For example: Suppose your period
begins on the 5th day of May. Count
that as day number 1.
Mark it like this:
Then count 8 days. Starting
with the 8th day, put a line
under the next 11 days like this:
During these 11 ‘fertile days’,
do not have sexual relations.
Now suppose your next period
begins on the first of June. Mark it
the same way, like this:
Once again count off 8 days
and underline the following 11 days
in which you will not have sexual
contact.
If the woman and her husband carefully avoid having sex together during these
11 days of each month, it is possible that they will go years without having another
child. However, few couples are successful for very long. This is not a very sure
method, unless used in combination with another method such as a diaphragm or
condoms, especially during the days from the end of the menstrual period until the
fertile days are over.