Trying to figure out the best birth control method for you? Let’s take a peek inside to understand how it all works.

Your sex organs consist of two ovaries, fallopian tubes, the uterus (or womb), and your vagina.

When you were born, you had over 300,000 follicles, or balls of cells, with immature eggs in your ovaries. During your cycle, you release mature eggs when you ovulate, usually about 14 days after the last period.

When you ovulate, the mature egg bursts from the ovary and moves down the Fallopian tube, and into the uterus.

Hormones kick into action, and thicken the lining of the uterus, or the endometrium, and prepare to receive the egg.

If the egg is fertilized, you get pregnant.

This usually happens MID-CYCLE. Most women have a “fertile window” of about six days.

If the egg is not fertilized, hormones change again and the endometrium sheds, and a menstrual period begins. Periods usually last from 3 to 7 days, and happen approximately every 28 days.

A woman’s menstrual cycle is as unique as her face! So what is “normal” for one person may not be normal for the next. What is normal is what is normal for you. 

A woman’s uniqueness is what makes birth control choices so individual. 

Birth control pills, implants, patches, vaginal rings or depo provera shots: all change your hormones so that your body will not ovulate, or release an egg.

Emergency contraception, or “Plan B”, uses the same hormones used in pills and rings, except it is only taken after sex and if you did not use birth control or something happened accidentally. It is best to take it as soon as possible, within 120 hours of having sex. 

BARRIER contraceptives, like condoms or cervical barriers like a Diaphragm, all work to prevent sperm from getting to your uterus. And spermicides are chemicals that kill sperm.

IUDs, or intrauterine devices work to change the uterus so that the egg can’t be fertilized. 

Women who prefer more natural methods of birth control should look into Fertility Awareness Methods, recording body temperature every day, or cycle beads to help track fertile days.

Some women who are certain that they do not want more children will undergo sterilization, or “have their tubes tied.”

And of course, the surest way to prevent pregnancy is abstinence, or not having sex at all.

To learn more about the pros and cons of each method, as well as their effectiveness, return to the Power Your Body web site and click, “Birth Control Pros and Cons.”