One small correction, if I may: the return of menses FOLLOWS the return
of ovulation. It is ovulation that comes first and triggers the hormonal
changes that lead to the menstrual period. So we should be speaking of
the return of ovulation rather than the return of menstruation. Women's
cycles are variable in the first part, that is, between the end of a
menstrual period and ovulation. The period from ovulation until the
beginning of the next period (if no pregnancy occurs!) is usually in
nearly all cases, 14 days. So a woman can say when she ovulated for
sure, in retrospect! Nature does have its sweet little ways of showing
us who's really in charge (smile). But that is why some women become
pregnant while breastfeeding, before they experience another regular
flow.
Back in the 'eighties, I knew an elder Iraqi woman who had her children
in the 'thirties. She had four, each spaced four years apart. She used
to chide the young women in our circle for having their babies too close
together. Her daughter-in-law, who was a good friend of mine, was
particularly criticized by her for having her babies every one and a
half or two years. Bibi, as we called her, would become very angry,
saying that it was bad for the mother's health and bad for the child to
not have its due as a baby. She said we should allow the full
breast-feeding time for that baby, and then at least a year for the
mother's body to renew. Finally with the help of an interpreter, a group
of us asked her how to do it, how had she spaced her children like that,
in the "pre-pill" days. She described using a natural sea sponge soaked
in lemon juice as a barrier/spermicide. She said that all the women she
knew used that. We were amazed and not a little incredulous, though some
of us recalled the promotion of sea sponges, in the 'seventies, as a
natural alternative to tampons.
So imagine my surprise, and a smiling memory of dear Bibi, when I found
this online one day:
http://www.faxdaily.com/lemons.html
Peace,
Rifat Nafisa