We have two children so far – one boy, one girl – and the Shettles technique inadvertently “worked” with both. At the time, I was just keeping track of my cycles for medical reasons; we weren’t “using NFP” to influence the odds of conception, let alone gender. But it was interesting to be look back, in hindsight, and figure out what happened.
It seems to me that, if this technique is reasonably accurate, it raises some moral concerns. In our marriage preparation class, the people who gave the NFP talk went into a lot of “Rah-Rah!” detail about gender prediction as an “amazing bonus feature!!!,” but they didn’t even suggest that it could be used for selfish reasons. I even asked specifically about this (trouble-maker that I am…
), and they gave a vague answer about how the method “wasn’t totally accurate anyway” – which, while true, is sort of beside the point when it comes to determining the morality of one’s intent. It seems like they could at least have suggested that couples consult a priest on this matter, if they had any doubts.
For example, what if a couple decided that they wanted to have a child of a certain gender, because they didn’t want to have to redecorate the nursery? (I know, that sounds ridiculous… but the way children are viewed these days, I wouldn’t be surprised.
)
All I can say is, God must really want us to have lots of boys!
