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The holidays can be a very beautiful time of the year with all the traditions, time with family and delightful meals. The holidays also come with the stress of travel, the perfect holiday picture, that one family member, decorating the house, Christmas cards to write, baking cookies, cooking, shopping, extra cleaning, hosting, parties, and making those special memories for the kids. I'm sure you don't have to guess who does the bulk of these things...spoiler alert, it's women. With all this stress, we are at risk for having a change in our charting called a double peak.
There is a misconception that a double peak means you are ovulating twice in a cycle. This misconception comes mostly from those not using the Creighton Model. It's an urban legend. A woman can ovulate twice or even three times in a cycle in the case of twins or triplets. However, that happens in the same 24hr period and is not considered to pose a problem with a natural system. This is NOT called a double peak. A double peak is when your body starts to show signs of fertility (AKA mucus), and then all of a sudden it stops. It stops due to stress and is the body's natural mechanism that says "I'm not ready to have a baby. There is danger." Once the stress is relieved, the body then starts to produce signs of fertility again (mucus) because it now feels safe and ready for a baby. The time between the stress stopping the cycle and the stress being relieved allowing ovulation will vary for different women and situations. We as women are not as good about detecting our own stress levels, so we always recommend asking your husband or close family or friends how stressed you are.
So whether using the system to avoid, achieve, or monitor health, this holiday it is very important that we watch our stress level. This will allow the true peak day to be identified allowing your goal in using the Creighton Model System to be met. I encourage everyone to take this holiday season to relax and choose what brings you the most joy. If writing Christmas cards or making those perfect cookies you saw on Pinterest is making you stressed, I encourage you to let it go. I wish you and your family a beautiful, delightful holiday session with hopefully no double peak and lots of love. I know personally I'll be drinking lots of hot chocolate and decreasing my 6 advent devotionals for my family and me. 2 should be just enough. Also, this year my son will help with the Christmas cards, so that double peak legend doesn't get me ;)