NFP Experiences

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awke

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A comment on another thread had me wondering how many people have had positive and negative experiences with NFP.
 
awke said:
A comment on another thread had me wondering how many people have had positive and negative experiences with NFP.
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Your poll options are a little odd given your comment. I don’t love NFP - it can be difficult and is never fun. But my experiences have been positive. So I will probably respond to the poll with mixed feelings but that doesn’t mean negative experiences.

Also, that isn’t to say there haven’t been any negative experiences but in 7+ years, the majority have been positive or neutral.
 
jlc2k2 said:
Your poll options are a little odd given your comment. I don’t love NFP - it can be difficult and is never fun. But my experiences have been positive. So I will probably respond to the poll with mixed feelings but that doesn’t mean negative experiences.

Also, that isn’t to say there haven’t been any negative experiences but in 7+ years, the majority have been positive or neutral.
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Well, I guess I’m wondering how many people have really enjoyed using it and how many have really disliked it. I’ll hear the claim sometime that although it’s a sacrifice, it really brings coupes closer together and they end up loving using NFP. I’m just curious to see how often that happens.
 
Yeah… hard to respond here. I am thankful for the alternative to abstaining, but when we use NFP it is because we have reasons to avoid. We aren’t able to use the gift of fertility at the moment, so it is regretfully that we use it. I wouldn’t love using NFP, but it isn’t because it is something negative. Also, you are possibly grouping the people that have never used it and do not see themselves needing to avoid with the people that may be using contraceptives and don’t see themselves using NFP.
 
I voted “mixed feelings,” but my real vote would probably be somewhere been “mixed feelings” and “loved it.”

It just is what it is.
 
As the other posters have mentioned, your poll options don’t really make sense, so I didn’t vote. Only the first three options capture feelings.

Personally I don’t love NFP, but I see it as more of a neutral thing. I am so glad that I’m able to figure out when I am fertile, and use that knowledge if necessary. I wouldn’t say it brought us any closer, and I do feel that it can be frustrating at times. But honestly, if I have a serious enough reason to avoid pregnancy I think it’s dumb to rely on contraceptives anyway- I’d rather know when I’m ovulating and avoid sex during that time altogether rather than not even know. It’s just knowledge that I’m thankful to have- nothing more, nothing less.
 
Don’t have the option to make use of it because of PCOS.
 
The decision to not use NFP is not due to having a negative experience with it. Although, it was a negative experience.

If I believed God was asking me to do something, I would do it regardless of the sacrifice or suffering involved. The decision to not use NFP and use FAM has to do with thoroughly researching, reading, dialoguing and praying about it and realizing I don’t accept what the church teaches, logically or intellectually or any other way. Actually, “we” as I speak for both my husband and I. NFP is no different to me than contraception. Ironically, whenever I read an article by the ultra-trads about why NFP is not different from contraception I agree with them. I don’t agree that they are both sinful.

I wanted to clarify that as other posters may have marked “don’t use NFP” but they are not using any method to space their children and have the financial, physical and emotional resources to have as many biological children that come naturally. (Or maybe they don’t and just realize NFP is more harmful to their marriage than having more children that they can care for)
 
I wanted to add that I understand what you are trying to capture but the way you phrased the poll may not get you the data you want.

It is a good topic for discussion. I don’t think you will find many responses here from people who had a negative experience with NFP and now use ABC.
 
sailor28 said:
NFP is no different to me than contraception.
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This is probably why you disagree with the Catholic Church on this topic, if you cannot see see the fundamental difference.

Edited to add: I am not sure that sounded right. I don’t mean it in a cynical way, it was just a comment, that it would be good to clarify the differences in order to understand why contraception is not ok, but abstaining during fertile time can be ok.
 
NFP is not something that I’d qualify with love or hate. It’s like healthy eating to me. Sometimes you hate not being able to just glug down all those lovely sugars and fats cause they are just so yummy… but there is a bigger picture. I think it is a Weight Watchers mantra that “nothing tastes as good as being thin feels”. I would say “nothing feels as good as being obedient to Church teaching is”.
 
12345678 said:
This is probably why you disagree with the Catholic Church on this topic, if you cannot see see the fundamental difference.

Edited to add: I am not sure that sounded right. I don’t mean it in a cynical way, it was just a comment, that it would be good to clarify the differences in order to understand why contraception is not ok, but abstaining during fertile time can be ok.
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no cynicism taken:)

Let me be clear. I understand why the church believes there is a difference between NFP and ABC. I don’t need any clarification. After reading all the theology, I personally do not see a moral difference between the 2. I know we could rack up 20 pages going back and forth on that. I am not interested in doing that. Just like the majority of bishop and cardinals that voted on this subject back in the 60’s when the Birth Control Commission was brought together I disagree with the Pope’s conclusions that ABC is mortally sinful and intrinsically evil.
 
We attempted to use NFP in order to conceive. It didn’t work - our charting was all across the board and even with the help of our OB/GYN, we were unable to figure out where I was in my cycle. Finally got tested for hormone levels, and they indicated I was very low hormonally, and probably couldn’t use NFP to determine when I was most fertile. Wasted a lot of time and very frustrating!

Finally gave up when the doctor said my hormone levels were too low to conceive in any case, and got pregnant 30 days later, LOL!
 
None of your poll options are relevant to my experience of NFP, so I would paraphrase my stance as the following:

NFP is better for my marriage than either total abstinence or contraception, and although I do not currently need to practice it, I have successfully used it in the past and plan to do so in the near future.

Whew. Not quite as succinct as your poll options, but definitely more accurate for my experience.
 
My wife and I practiced NFP for the first 10 or so years of marriage. We do not currently have need for it due to medical treatment for female fertility issues.

My experience can be summed up in two parts:

a) We hated it. It is hard to track and hard to abstain during the time of the month when the woman is most interested in sex. We practiced NFP merely in obedience to the Church.

b) We have four children. If we had used contraception rather than NFP, I am certain we would have fewer, perhaps only two. I love my children and would not give any of them back. Each of their existances more than offsets the negatives commented on above.
 
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