Nfp question

[lifeisbeautiful]

Hmm, see what confused me was he stated:

she wants to continue w/ NFP for a while longer, before we quit using NFP and just enjoy our marriage with no obstacles. I think that at this point even using NFP is not needed.

my difficulty is that there are no obstacles at this time, she just doesn’t feel ready

she 's concerned that life is busy and will just get busier

and you inferred

]… she has stated hers is serious reason to avoid preganacy now.

….if ***she ***says it’s just reason, than you betcha i believe her. . .

The OP talked very lovingly of his wife, and never ever stated she had said she felt it was a just/serious reason, which is why we were suggesting for them to discern if it was, and for him to make sure and listen to and try to understand his wife. No one was saying her motives were not just, we were just wondering how you all knew what they would conclude through prayer when not even the OP seemed to be clear.

… we have ten kids born and 2 in heaven. i have discerned serious reason to avoide further pregnancy-- serious reason that is not

up for public polling.
Absolutely!!! This is what I am trying to say here, no one should try to decide for you or anyone, no one knows your family’s situation, its between you and your husband and God, and it would be very wrong for anyone to assume they can know or judge you for your decision either way! This is why I liked Em’s suggestion:

These are you to you and your wife to discern, but she needs to be honest with you and you need to listen to her and appreciate what she’s going through. It needs to be a mutual conversation of love and respect for what the other is experiencing…

Back to the OP :

Dough, you sound like a very loving husband and father, with a very beautiful family, God bless you and your wife for seeking God’s will and living your Faith! I am very glad to hear your wife and you are on the same page, and most importantly, you have discerned it is the same page with God. May God bless you and your family!

Our family works as a team, through the strength of Christ and support of Mother Church our love grows more and more intimate daily as a couple, both emotionally and as a result physically. …
Those beautiful little moments are amazing, and although there are many difficult moments as well and times of exhaustion the beauty out weighs the difficulties.

 

[silentstar]

Has she ever had postpartum depression after any of her pregnancies? In my opinion, the risk of that needs to be looked at even if it has never happened to this point. Postpartum depression may affect 5% to 25% of women. When a woman is busy caring for the children she already has, and does not feel ready for another but gets pregnant anyway, the risk of postpartum depression might increase. This could be because she might be more prone to becoming chronically exhausted by physical and emotional demands of pregnancy/childrearing than other women who do feel ready for another child.

I would strongly suggest consulting with a doctor as well as a priest who is sensitive to both child-raising issues and the physical and emotional needs of both parents but especially, the mother. A woman’s physical and emotional health can break under the strain of having and caring for more children than she is capable of doing. I have seen this and the consequences can be devastating. I am not saying this based on my own life. I have seen this in a variety of situations which I am not going to detail, and the above statistics state that postpartum depression is not uncommon, unfortunately.

I’m not saying it’s “bad” or wrong for a husband to question the situation or discuss this with his wife. Sometimes it’s hard to tell where the other person is coming from, but postpartum depression possibly due to chronic exhaustion can be a risk in a situation like this, and I think that’s best discussed with a priest as well as a doctor. It’s not a situation you want to find out about by living through it.

You both sound like you care about and love each other and your children a lot and maintaining your health and raising your children is very important.