Can I lose the baby weight before conceiving again?

[LovesTheFather]

I have two children, ages two and nine months. I still have a lot of baby weight to lose and I don’t think my body is healthy enough to carry another baby until I lose this weight. Is this being selfish if I don’t want to be pregnant again right away? And am I supposed to resort to abstinence until I lose the weight even though my husband isn’t on board with abstaining? He says we should use condoms because we are still open to life in our marriage and we are just waiting now.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

If you are concerned that you are not yet healthy enough for another pregnancy, that may be just reason to delay another pregnancy. But the only moral means of doing so without resorting to complete abstinence is to use Natural Family Planning (NFP). Your local diocese should offer classes in NFP for engaged and married couples, or you can contact the Couple to Couple League. Your husband’s idea of using condoms is not morally permissible because each and every act of marital relations must be open to the possibility of life; which means that if you do not want to get pregnant, then you abstain from marital relations at those times when you are fertile.