One day, I may need to figure out how to get pregnant

April 4, 2026 — 7:00am

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It took me until my mid-20s to properly understand my menstrual cycle and what each phase meant for my mind and body. Not because I wasn’t curious or feeling the effects of them, but because learning about women’s bodies tends to happen reactively – after confusion, discomfort or something going wrong.

Over many moons, I paid careful attention to moods, cravings, discharge, pain and energy. Eventually, I pieced together how my hormones were affecting my mind and body (for better and for worse). It may have taken over a decade of menstruating, but I now know my body well enough to clock ovulation from the smallest cramp, and understand that a 10-hour sleep accompanied by a change in the smell of my right underarm (I wish I was kidding) means my luteal phase has commenced.

All of this awareness, laboriously acquired, has so far been used to achieve my to-date life’s most important mission: to not get pregnant. But as more of my friends enter a new era of life, I’m realising that one day, I may need to figure out how to get pregnant. Given how much fear has been ingrained in me about how easy it is to have an unwanted pregnancy, I assumed to plan one must be as simple as 1 1, but that’s not always the case.

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