HOW BILLINGS METHOD WORKS

Billings Method is based on a woman's ability to recognise in her body one sign, That is the Mucus sign.
To grasp the meaning of the word 'mucus' we can relate to the fact saliva is the mucus that occurs in the mouth. BM deals with the mucus that occurs in the vagina. Everyday many women see some kind of mucus, but as for the ovulation mucus its only appears a few days in every cycle.
The mucus sign can be seen(stretching) and felt(slipperiness). Every woman who ovulates notices the slippery sensation while wiping in the normal way. A woman on contraceptive pills doesn't notice any regular slipperiness because the pills interfere with her ovulation. Even blind women can use BM because its most important is feeling the slippery sensation of the mucus; there is no need to see it.
The Stretch Test: it's done after every urination, everyday along the cycle even during the menses. Charting is done once a day at night before retiring. Only the most fertile sign seen during the day is charted.
After every urination, the woman wipes the outside of her vagina from front to back and notices any slippery mucus, non-slippery mucus or nothing at all. Fingers should not be inserted in the vagina because it may alter the result. After wiping, she does the stretch test with her other hand. If there is any mucus she will see whether it stretches and remains stretched like an 'egg white' or it breaks automatically.
Dryness is the Infertile sign for most women. There are usually Early Dry Days occurring before the Peak and Late Dry days occurring after the Peak.
There are two kinds of fertile mucus: Early Pap and Egg white.

• Early Pap is the first indication of the approaching ovulation. The name Pap is given it because it feels and look like the baby food known as pap; it mat be thick or thin. Pap is not slippery when you feel it and sometimes it is even sticky. When you stretch Pap between your fingers, it breaks. Pap is very cloudy.
• Egg white feels, stretches and even look like the 'white' of a raw egg. The only difference is egg white is always clear as Ovulation egg white can be either clear or cloudy. Once the mucus is definitely slippery, it is egg white no matter what it looks like.

To help her husband, a wife can show him a little bit of mucus so he can feel it himself and learn to recognize it as well.

The Peak is the last day of egg white, last day of any slipperiness even if there is little or no obvious stretching. The number of egg white days varies from cycle to cycle. The Peak day is identifies when there is no egg white the next day. Although a woman can not know the moment of her ovulation, she can discern signs that her ovulation has already taken place.

The three Red Zero Days : those are the three days following the peak. Many women recognize their first zero day by a distinct change in mucus rather than its complete disappearance. It important to avoid intercourse during these days to avoid pregnancy. the fourth day is safe.

The Genital contact rule If a couple wishes to avoid pregnancy, they should have no genital contact on fertile days, early pap days, egg white days, peak.

Sensations (what you feel):

• Dry: nothing is felt in particular.
• Wet: feels like some water or milk and it is not slippery
• Sticky: feels like thick pap or cornflour. Doesn't feel slippery
• Slippery: feels like oil or the white of a raw egg.

Signs in the chart:

1. Menses vertical red line
2. Early Dry days vertical blue or black line
3. Early Pap(before Peak) two red lines across
4. Late Pap(after Peak) two black or blue lines across
5. Egg white Red X
6. Peak Double red X
7. Sexual intercourse A black or blue Dot
8. Zero days Red Zero