14 DAY TRIAL // Once there was a taboo on birth control, which was always on people's (especially women's) minds; nowadays, it has become a common topic. There's a large variety of birth control solutions, some of them being the result of years of scientific studies, while other solutions are as old as humans on Earth. But however evolved medicine gets, we can't always and fully control nature; scientific methods do fail sometimes, so it's a good thing to keep our body as an ally and try not to "trick" it.
When I refer to birth control, I don't necessarily mean contraception, but also conceiving children. Nowadays, women tend to postpone the conception of babies quite a lot, aiming for financial stability first. Therefore conception becomes a challenge for some women. It's truly ironic to think women try all their youth not to become pregnant to afterwards struggle to conceive. Well, this is how it goes, we can't have it all!
Contraceptive methods can be grouped in several categories: physical barriers (for both men and women), various chemical products (most commonly the pill, but also a large variety of other solutions), surgical sterilization (often permanent) and natural methods. The first three categories range in effectiveness from 95 to 100 percent, whereas natural methods stand at a much, much lower level.
Why do natural contraception methods work so poorly? Well, first of all, it's because the human body is very unpredictable and, in order to be sure no unfortunate pregnancy occurs, one should refrain from sexual intercourse quite a lot?most of the time, that is (thing which is, let's admit, rather inconvenient and unpleasant). The other reason lies in the inability of women to accurately calculate their fertile periods. Every woman has a specific fertility cycle that must be known and understood. Each woman who practices this method of birth control should own a personalized calendar with her fertile periods.
Well, keeping such a customed calendar is easier said than done. And you surely don't want to make mistakes when it comes to birth control. Again, programmers give women a helping hand by developing software specially made for calculating fertile periods with custom entries. You can just give the computer the little information it needs, and it will compute an output showing fertile periods, non-fertile periods, monthly charts and lots of other interesting things related to your cycle.
Ovulation Calendar Calculator is such a software. It looks nice, it's easy to use and understand. No need for specialists, appointments and you don't have to count or sum anything. Just enter your personal data and the program will give you what you need. Easy as 1-2-3, and surely more reliable than your own calculations (it's a computer, after all?)
When you open the program, you'll see a calendar with different markings. The program must be set with your own data, so you'll have to enter Last period Date, Cycle Length and Luteal Phase, on the bottom of the program window. Then the program will show your own customized calendar. You should also select your goal, because that will help the program to give you the information you need. You can choose between getting pregnant, avoiding pregnancy or conceiving a boy or a girl.
Days will be colored differently as to mark your period, your most fertile days, your ovulation date and the days your are most likely to achieve your goal, with a little help, of course?.not from the computer?
For each day, the program will tell you, depending on your selected goal, what the chances of achievement are. You can choose to view this information in a monthly chart, to get a better, more global look at you fertility variations. The program can also calculate for each day the date your baby will be born and its astrological sign, should you become pregnant on that day. Sounds like over-planning, I know. But for some, their child's astrological sing is very important and they would like to be able to plan it ahead.
Ovulation Calendar Calculator has another interesting option. You can monitor your fertile periods by recording your Basal Body Temperature (BBT) daily. The program will make a chart showing the evolution of fertility periods and this will be very helpful when trying to conceive a baby. BBT is well known for being a very relevant parameter when assessing fertility.
Apart from its main purpose, Ovulation Calendar Calculator also works as a small organizer and task manager. You can keep an agenda of tasks and to-do lists and also take notes. The program will manage all this information for you. The software's interface is nice and friendly. There is a Theme change option, but it doesn't work as I think it should. All the information the program gives you can be exported in HTML format (including your notes) and printed. Ovulation Calendar Calculator can be used, free of charge, for 30 days. If you feel you need it, you should register, it costs $29.95.
The Good
Ovulation Calendar Calculator is quite a helping hand for both women who try to get pregnant and women who try not to. Its interface is a very nice one and it's really easy to use. Depending on what you wish to achieve, the program will calculate all the data you need; no more day counting, no more markings on all the calendars in your house.
I think it's also very nice that it allows you to take notes, you can think of it as your little organizer.
The Bad
I feel it's a little expensive. Perhaps some more skins or a theme switcher would have worked nicely, but they are not necessary as the interface is quite pleasant.
The Truth
Ovulation Calendar Calculator is a simple and easy to use piece of software that helps women monitor their fertile periods by using the traditional calendar method, along with the Basal Body Temperature Method.
It can keep your notes and to-do lists so it also works as an organizer.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
