NFP before first period after birth

[eyesopening]

My wife and I recently had our first child (delivered via c section). It has been two months and my wife and I have practiced abstinence to avoid a second pregnancy for the time being. She was a high risk pregnancy. We are planning to practice NFP but she has yet to have a period since giving birth. I realize that it can take a while for that first period to arrive, but I was wondering if there were any NFP options in the meantime. Would ovulation strips help us to know when she’s ovulating despite not having a period? I’m happy to clarify my question further but hopefully this gives you an idea of what I’m asking. Any advice would be most welcome.

 

[Xantippe]

Postpartum is one of the most challenging NFP situations, so I would encourage you to gather as much information as you can.

Using some sort of monitor is a very good idea.

There may be some very substantial abstinence involved until your wife’s cycles reset to normal, particularly if she is breastfeeding.

 

[jilly4ski]

My wife and I recently had our first child (delivered via c section). It has been two months and my wife and I have practiced abstinence to avoid a second pregnancy for the time being. She was a high risk pregnancy. We are planning to practice NFP but she has yet to have a period since giving birth. I realize that it can take a while for that first period to arrive, but I was wondering if there were any NFP options in the meantime. Would ovulation strips help us to know when she’s ovulating despite not having a period? I’m happy to clarify my question further but hopefully this gives you an idea of what I’m asking. Any advice would be most welcome.

First have you and your wife taken a class or practiced any form of NFP before getting pregnant? NFP is very difficult (though not impossible) to learn while postpartum, since you tend not to have cycles yet, are not ovulating, and can have lots of mucus patches.

Second, is your wife breastfeeding? The easiest form of NFP after a birth of a child is LAM. The rules are, if there has been no bleeding, baby is exclusively breastfed, and under 6 months,the method is 98% effective. (exclusively breastfed, usually excludes pumping and thus daycare).babycenter.com/0_lactational-amenorrhea-method-lam_1477017.bc

Ovulation strips will probably not be helpful, (and feel like a big waste of money) unless you already know a form of NFP and she is having confusing mucus patches, or has an idea that she will be ovulation soon. As far as avoiding goes, by the time you get a positive on the ovulation strip it is already too late to prevent pregnancy (again, unless you are abstaining, and then want to confirm or not that ovulation has occurred).

Most methods of NFP have a postpartum protocol. I charted my first ovulation before my first period after each of my 3 births (using the mucus and cervical position), however, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t lots of abstaining and uncertainty before that first cycle came. I knoe Sympto-thermal postpartum protocol has the user follow phase 1 rules, and then if there is a mucus patch, to wait for 4 days of drying up.

Congrats on your new baby, and good luck with the NFP.

 

[Cricket2]

My wife and I recently had our first child (delivered via c section). It has been two months and my wife and I have practiced abstinence to avoid a second pregnancy for the time being. She was a high risk pregnancy. We are planning to practice NFP but she has yet to have a period since giving birth. I realize that it can take a while for that first period to arrive, but I was wondering if there were any NFP options in the meantime. Would ovulation strips help us to know when she’s ovulating despite not having a period? I’m happy to clarify my question further but hopefully this gives you an idea of what I’m asking. Any advice would be most welcome.

Now, I never had children, but from what I learned from my parents, you need to be careful. Every case is certainly different, and since you wife had a difficult pregnancy her body may take longer than others to recover and of course become fertile. Still, lets just say my mother had 3 children in 25 months. Every time she went in for her 6 week checkup she was pregnant with the next child.

I was the first and born about 8 -10 weeks early. We both nearly died, and in fact the doctors were surprised we lived. So, I guess I am thinking if you want some time between pregnancies abstaining is your best bet for a while. A missed period may not be the best sign that ovulation has not occurred. It may simply be that her uterus is not catching up with the rest of her body.

Another thing to consider, according to my doctors after many surgeries in life, I have learned that anesthesia can take up to 6 months to leave the body. Your wife may still be under the influence of this at this time. Another reason to wait a little longer.

 

[eyesopening]

Looks like we’ll probably be abstaining for the rest of the period. My wife has a seizure disorder (on very heavy meds) and our baby was born with major complications and is still in the hospital now over two months later. Thanks for all the replies.

 

[Lorelei12]

As far as avoiding goes, by the time you get a positive on the ovulation strip it is already too late to prevent pregnancy (again, unless you are abstaining, and then want to confirm or not that ovulation has occurred)

This isn’t true if you use the Clearblue monitor. I am not sure if your wife is breastfeeding or not, but the Marquette method has a specific protocol where you avoid on both “high” and “peak” days and for a certain number of days thereafter. The high readings give you some warning that ovulation is approaching. I can’t attest to the its effectiveness myself (have only used Marquette before getting pregnant) but you can look it up on Marquette’s website and see if it’s something you’re interested in.

 

[Xantippe]

Is she breastfeeding or not? (I’m assuming not with all her meds.)

If she is breastfeeding, you may be in for a substantial wait. If she isn’t, things should reset in the next couple months.

Best wishes!

 

[The_Bucket]

This isn’t true if you use the Clearblue monitor. I am not sure if your wife is breastfeeding or not, but the Marquette method has a specific protocol where you avoid on both “high” and “peak” days and for a certain number of days thereafter. The high readings give you some warning that ovulation is approaching. I can’t attest to the its effectiveness myself (have only used Marquette before getting pregnant) but you can look it up on Marquette’s website and see if it’s something you’re interested in.

I’m not a Marquette expert, but I’m pretty sure there is supposed to be some abstinence before the “high” days as well. Intimacy say, the night before the first “high” day could lead to pregnancy for sure. Those high days are about 2-4 days before “peak” and even “peak” is not 100% as to p(name removed by moderator)ointing the day of ovulation. That’s why there is abstinence for a few days after as well. After all, if you could for sure project the day of ovulation, you would only need to abstain for about five days before ovulation and 24 hours afterwards. Not five days before and 3-4 days after.

 

[Lorelei12]

I’m not a Marquette expert, but I’m pretty sure there is supposed to be some abstinence before the “high” days as well. Intimacy say, the night before the first “high” day could lead to pregnancy for sure. Those high days are about 2-4 days before “peak” and even “peak” is not 100% as to p(name removed by moderator)ointing the day of ovulation. That’s why there is abstinence for a few days after as well. After all, if you could for sure project the day of ovulation, you would only need to abstain for about five days before ovulation and 24 hours afterwards. Not five days before and 3-4 days after.

Apparently not while breastfeeding:

nfp.marquette.edu/sc_breastfeed_monitor.php

It looks like the “rules” are no high or peak days, plus three full days after peak.This is what we plan to use after our baby is born, but I’d personally never rely on the monitor only. I’d be really interested if anyone on here has used it effectively.