Technical question about NFP

[Feanaro_s_Wife]

Hi… I know the morality of NFP is being discussed on various threads.

What I would like is an NFP instructor or someone who has practiced it for awhile to help me with a few basic questions.

First, what constitutes a “temperature spike”? It seems that my “normal” temp hovers around 36.3 degrees Celcius. Would 36.5 be considered a spike?

Also, sometimes my temp is below what the chart allows for (36 being lowest). Is this normal?

I have heard and read that I need a certain amount of consecutive hours of sleep in order to get an accurate reading… how many? I have a sleep disorder and I am lucky if I get 1 or 2 without waking. Is this affecting my ability to chart?

I have been charting since May of this year. I do not believe that I have ovulated yet. And the one time I think I did, my luteal phase was very short (less than 10 days).

I was on the Pill for many years and I know that my body needs time to sort things out and start to function normally, but I would appreciate any help you have to offer.

We are going to take a course for NFP, but we cannot afford to right now. We are still paying off a trip my husband took back home when his grandmother passed away. So hopefully we can take the course sometime early next year. So for now please help!

Malia

p.s I have a few more personal questions that I did not feel were appropriate for the public forum. I will pose those in a PM to whoever can help.

 

[Almeria]

Hi Malia,

You probably should contact the Couple to Couple League. They have trained experts (doctors and nurses, I believe) that can answer your questions more accurately than we can here. I believe they have a sliding fee scale as well, so you may be able to do the classes sooner than you think.

God Bless!

 

[Marauder]

As the above poster said, I would encourage contacting the Couple to Couple League. As was also said the course is $75 only to pay for the supplies. The teachers are volunteers. If you have any of the supplies, that can be taken off the course cost. Also they have scholarships and some churches will pay the cost.

It can be normal to have low temperature (i.e. below the scale). Some people just have temperatures that are lower then other peoples. The important thing to remember when using the sympto thermal method is that you need to have temperatures that are above a previous 6 temperatures. In order to meet any of the requirements you need to have at least one temperature that is 4/10 of a degree above the previous 6. Without knowing all the details it is hard to tell what is happening.

Yes your temperature is supposed to be taken at the same time every day and it is supposed to be after a relatively good sleep. We just had a baby so our degrees of good sleep vary. Contact the Couple to Couple league for advice on the best time and even possible things to help you deal with your sleep disorder.

P.S. don’t worry about the arguements going on about NFP. The church has approved the use of NFP as long as you are using it for unselfish reasons. It is between you, your spouse, and your spiritual adviser to know whether you are using it for unselfish reasons. Not a bunch of armchair quarterbacks.

 

[felra]

Feanaro's Wife:

Hi… I know the morality of NFP is being discussed on various threads.

What I would like is an NFP instructor or someone who has practiced it for awhile to help me with a few basic questions…So for now please help!

Malia

Malia,

Below is a wonderful web resource for any and all NFP questions. The site is facilitated by:

Sara Fox Peterson: a stay-at-home mom and certified teacher of the Billings Ovulation Method of Natural Family Planning. She holds a BS in biology and an MS in human physiology, both from Georgetown University, and lives in Maryland with her husband and two sons.
**
*I have communicated with her on some of the moral and practical aspects of NFP for my own marriage. She is 100% orthodox and competent in her advice.You can check out her web site/discussion forum/email using the below links.

---

Looking for more information on Natural Family Planning? Visit our Natural Family Planning Resource Center.

---

*For additional ‘cyber-support’ you are also most welcome to join in the discussions in the Catholic Mom Community’s NFP Forum - p205.ezboard.com/fcatholicmomcommunityfrm63 *

copyright 2004 Sara Fox Peterson* :*Sara can be contacted by email at sfp@thosepetersons.com - please indicate “NFP” in the subject line of your email.

I believe that you will find this resource most helpful and reassuring.

Felra

 

[Feanaro_s_Wife]

Thank you so much for all of the great advice so far

Malia

 

[johnnyjoe]

Feanaro's Wife:

Hi… I know the morality of NFP is being discussed on various threads.

What I would like is an NFP instructor or someone who has practiced it for awhile to help me with a few basic questions.

First, what constitutes a “temperature spike”? It seems that my “normal” temp hovers around 36.3 degrees Celcius. Would 36.5 be considered a spike?

In general, a 2/10’s degree spike, celcius, means 4/10’s fahrenheit, which is considered a “shift” by the Couple to Couple League, so I would look hard at this kind of a spike. What you don’t talk about is the mucus signs that coincide - if you are tracking them.

Also, sometimes my temp is below what the chart allows for (36 being lowest). Is this normal?

Well, it is not ab-normal. We see it commonly, and the quality of the charts - the ability to properly predict fertility cycles - is good.

I have heard and read that I need a certain amount of consecutive hours of sleep in order to get an accurate reading… how many? I have a sleep disorder and I am lucky if I get 1 or 2 without waking. Is this affecting my ability to chart?

Hmmm…I have a lot of questions here. Many sleep disorders disturb sleep, but not the “rest” of sleeping. That is, the body must be “at rest” for the temp to reflect the basal body temp “at rest”. There are some disorders that inhibit deep REM sleep, but still allow “rest” for the individual afflicted. As far as your situation goes the plain answer is “maybe”. In general, you need at least 6 hours of sleep or “at rest”, and need to take the temp before 8:00am, according to Dr. Retzer.

I have been charting since May of this year. I do not believe that I have ovulated yet. And the one time I think I did, my luteal phase was very short (less than 10 days).

I was on the Pill for many years and I know that my body needs time to sort things out and start to function normally, but I would appreciate any help you have to offer.

It would not be uncommon for a woman to go 6 months without ovualting after discontinuing pill usage, but it would be non-the-less worrisome. We have a student who was on Depo for 7 years, and has ovulated, at last contact, only 3 times since the year 2000.

We are going to take a course for NFP, but we cannot afford to right now. We are still paying off a trip my husband took back home when his grandmother passed away. So hopefully we can take the course sometime early next year. So for now please help!

Malia

p.s I have a few more personal questions that I did not feel were appropriate for the public forum. I will pose those in a PM to whoever can help.

Most CCL chapters - Couple to Couple League Chapters (www.ccli.org) - have “scholarships” available to any couple that cannot afford the class. We have a local individual I tap into to pay for any class someone cannot afford, and most CCL teachers have that ability when they need it. I am the lesser half of a certified CCL teaching couple, and if you want to contact me via email, feel free to do so…
God Bless you,
John