Charts and graphs that should finally make it clear
Do you girls know about Mon.thly.info? You SHOULD. I looove it.
Basically, it's a period-tracking site. Easy as pie to use. (Probably easier, because pie involves chewing, and forks. And if you're me, adventure.) When you start your period, you just enter in the date in the calendar. You can add an extra note for yourself if you like (I usually do, with time-of-day information, and follow up with daily reports and end date, but it's not required). And that's it. It keeps track of everything else, and produces these amazing statistics. Anytime you visit the website, you can see Current day of cycle, Average cycle duration, Phase of current cycle, Last ovulation, Next ovulation, Your normal day of ovulation, Last recorded period, Standard deviation of your cycles...
There's a little picture showing the different cycles (maturing follicle, ovulation, corpus luteum, etc.) you can be in, and which one you're in currently, based on the date of your last period. And (delight of my scientific little soul) there's a little chart showing your cycle durations over the entirety of the data you've entered in the website, along with minimum, maximum, average, and standard deviations from the mean. And your history is fully downloadable and exportable, and if you've got old data written down somewhere you can add that in too. Check out samples of the delightful little charts and graphs on the About Page, here.
You can ask the website to send you e-mail or even, omg, text/SMS reminders any number of days you choose before or after your period or ovulation, so that you can be ready. And you can customize them! Mine read like this:
2 days before each period
To: [my e-mail address]
Subject: A friendly reminder from MonthlyInfo
Message: You have approximately 2 days until the start of your next period. Don't freak out when ya start bleedin' from yer crotch.
Love,
MonthlyInfo
2 days before each ovulation
To: [my e-mail address]
Subject: A friendly reminder from MonthlyInfo
Message: You have approximately 2 days until your next ovulation. Don't form babby plz.
Love,
MonthlyInfo.com
You can even (hilarity of hilarities) add your next period as an event to your Google Calendar with a single click. I am tempted to do this every month, because in Google Calendar you have all these options, like the ability to Invite Guests.
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Confession: I never kept track of my period in any consistent way before a year.5 to two years ago, when I started with this. (I know, I'm terrible.) I just sort of went along from month to month, wondering why I skipped months all the time, wondering when my next one was, sometimes writing it down, sometimes not. I've forgotten how I stumbled upon the site, but I'm glad I did. I'd been dating someone for awhile and was reaching the age when they tell you to start getting pap smears and suchlike and was just more aware of the importance of being proactive about feminine health. And I think this has helped!
I just, in a fit of (period-induced?) gladness, sent them a donation, 'cause their website rocks so much. This is very unusual for me! And now I'm raving about it here. Here's the nice letter I sent along with the Paypal donation:
Dear Heather,
I discovered MonthlyInfo some time ago; I don't even remember how. Some sort of Internet serendipity. Anyway, I loved it immediately--the clean, functional design, that it was free-and-no-pressure-to-pay-up, the whole concept. The charts and graphs and statistics delighted my nerdy little heart. I've never actually kept track of my period (I know, it's terrible) but with this, I honestly enjoy it. I know that's kind of corny, but it's true. I love being able to enter in new data and derive satisfaction from the pretty little graphs of trends from the past. I set the e-mails to send me inside joke hilarity as reminders twice a month. And I think it's helped me be more responsible. My period is wildly erratic (48 day cycles? what?) but with the extra attention this tool encourages me to give to the whole issue, I've actually been able to predict days with some accuracy, which is a celebratory event. I actually feel like a functional adult in this regard now!
Sorry to gush, but this is awesome and I hope you can keep it up, which is one reason why I am sending you money and a nice note. I used MonthlyInfo for about a year and a half as a broke, struggling-to-scrape-rent-and-eat new college grad. I think we're around the same age, if the info on your site is accurate, and I totally hear you on the young-and-broke-with-loans. But now that I have an awesome, fantastic new job that I love, I can afford to donate! And I actually want to, since your product is so awesome and you're so non-pushy about it. So please, keep on doing awesome things. :)
Best regards,
[my name and e-mail]
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If there's any girls out there like me, who hate keeping track of this sort of thing, check it out. I'm a fan.