How effective has NFP been for you?

[Calliso]

I have yet to meet a couple who conceived while monitoring fertility correctly and abstaining correctly.

I bet if you dig a bit deeper with those who claim NFP is ineffective, you will find that one day Preggo Wife forgot to temp, or didn’t temp long enough, or faked her chart, or that the husband misinterpreted the discharge, or that they “took a chance” on an iffy day.

We’re not talking about voodoo magic here. It’s basic biology and basic monitoring procedures.

While I agree that MOST cases can be explain by this…I imagine there might be some cases where a woman’s fertillity signs are very hard to interpret or practically nonexistant to the point where it is almost impossible to use. Just saying.

 

[samovila]

Like it’s anyone else’s business anyway."

Even the original poster asked indirectly.

 

[hasikelee]

While I agree that MOST cases can be explain by this…I imagine there might be some cases where a woman’s fertillity signs are very hard to interpret or practically nonexistant to the point where it is almost impossible to use. Just saying.

You’re entirely right and I don’t want my post to stand as some self-righteous nose-wiggling. NFP seems to be used in a lot of special cases such as when a woman could have fatal complications during pregnancy.

I was just saying…for those crotchety naysayers…the case is often one of them a) having no idea what they are doing or b) not following the process and cutting corners/cheating a little.

You could say I am just very jaded from my science courses at college. I consider it an amazing miracle that even half the population knows where to wipe and where to feed after meeting the students in those classes. And they were supposed to be advanced level bio/chem classes!

 

[Catherine_W]

Well my husband and I have only been married for 10 months… but NFP has worked 100% for us as we have been trying to avoid the 10 months we have been married. We use the Creighton Model Method.

 

[crohnie4life]

DH & I have been using NFP to avoid due to several serious health problems I have for 10 1/2 yrs. 2 months.

We are very happy with it seeing as I can tell when my crohn’s flare and can prepare for it. Now, I am entering perimenopause based upon my chart and physical symptoms.

Oh, the joy of hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, and flare ups are whenever now so I take it day by day. Gotta love being a woman. lol

 

[kind_bean]

I bet if you dig a bit deeper with those who claim NFP is ineffective, you will find that one day Preggo Wife forgot to temp, or didn’t temp long enough, or faked her chart, or that the husband misinterpreted the discharge, or that they “took a chance” on an iffy day.

Actually, the debate is a general one on birth control with other non-Catholic Christians and non-Christians. None of them use NFP and many think that it is the Rhythm Method. When I posted (the debate is taking place on another message board) that I didn’t believe in using ABC and I practiced NFP, the debate basically changed into an attack session on me and my beliefs. NFP ineffectiveness was a big issue that many of them couldn’t get over. I have read studies about its effectiveness (for both sides) and became curious about people’s experience with it on this site, which is why a posted the poll.

I voted “no unplanned pregnancies,” but I don’t know if I like the way it is worded. I’m pregnant now and we weren’t really planning on another baby right now, but it’s not NFP’s fault. We knew we were fertile and we did it anyway on that day. I think the way it’s designed, NFP only fails if you have a freak ovulation thats not accompanied by any signs of fertility (I don’t even know if this is possible) OR if the NFP user makes a mistake in identifying fertility signs or ignores them.

I agree with you, it is not NFP’s fault. That is why I added the edited section on the bottom of the original post: "In the poll I put “While practicing NFP” I mean that you followed it to a T, always check your signs and always charted, only had sex during what you thought were infertile times."

Also, I posted that I agreed with the following post on page 1 of the thread:

I voted that we use NFP and have never had an unplanned pregnancy. But I have to say this - we had one baby during the 6 years we’ve used NFP that we didn’t plan on but we knew we were “taking a chance” when she was conceived. And we thank God for her each and every day even though we didn’t plan on her!

So I hope I voted the right way. I assume that when you say unplanned you mean surprise! baby due to NFP not working. That’s not what happened with us. NFP worked fine - that’s why we knew we were “taking a chance” that might end in pregnancy and we were open to that.

Perhaps the original post was not worded great, but I was trying to keep it short.

 

[kind_bean]

The problem here is the mis-understanding of what NFP is all about. The focus of NFP should not be on avoiding pregnancy. The focus should be on openness to God’s Will in our lives. If we practice NFP with that in mind, then there is no such thing a an unplanned pregnancy because with God every pregnancy is a planned pregnancy.

I understand that by using NFP, we are being open to God’s will in our lives, which is why I use it. However, I wouldn’t have used it at all, if I wasn’t trying to avoid having children at a particular time in my life, so for me (and many others who use NFP to avoid pregnancy) that is one of the main focuses on NFP. And considering with who I was debating (I explained in my previous post), this was their only focus.

Just think how it would be if we had used some sort of artificial birth control to avoid pregnancy, then got pregnant anyway. I might resent my child, and God, for intruding on our “perfect” lives.

This is a good point!

 

[kind_bean]

Even the original poster asked indirectly.

What do you mean by this? Are you referring to “planned” vs. “unplanned” wording (I know it can be confusing) or something else?

KB (the original poster)

 

[kind_bean]

I just wanted to point out again, that NFP is not just used to prevent pregnancy!!

I know, and I considered added pregnancies achieved using NFP as well as avoided, but at the time I was making up the poll (the first one I ever made) it seemed too confusing, plus, my interests at the moment (due to the debate mentioned in my OP) are really on using NFP for avoiding pregnancy.

But it is good to be reminded of this fact (and one that I pointed out in my debate, as well as the health benefits).