To couples who practice NFP

[happymommy]

How does one make the leap from using ABC to NFP? Also, how can I convince my wife that NFP is the right choice. She’s currently in RCIA. We also don’t have the money or time to attend classes for it, though.

We had used it for a little over 2 years and then wanted to start a family. I went off of it and got pregnant, but miscarried. It was the year we spent trying to have a baby, charting and learning more about my body, that made me realize that you don’t need to use something else, you can try to conceive or try to space your children just by watching your body and learning how it works. Then we learned more about birth control pills and what they really do. We also learned more about the faith, I was Protestant and my husband is Catholic, but no one in his family used NFP, so he didn’t realize that birthcontrol was wrong. After the birth of our daughter, I didn’t want to go back on the pill. It just so happened that the Catholic Church was having classes on NFP, I knew a little from trying to get pregnant, but I really wanted to learn as much as I could, so we took them and I’m so glad that we did. I hate the idea of putting chemicals in my body to keep it from working the way that it should. We were made to work a certain way, I can’t imagine that it is healthy to mess with that.
With your wife, I would be patient. I came through the RCIA program in 2001, it’s alot to take in, but the more she learns about the faith and grows in it, the more she will love it! Get some reading material on it. Look into the classes. We are blessed to have a couple in our church that will work with you whenever you want to or can. You might have someone in the area that does that. Look on-line there are lots of resources out there. It’s easier to pop a pill everyday, then to take your temp and make 20 trips to the bathroom to check on fertility signs, but, I feel so much better and I know that we are doing what God wants us to do. Easier is not always better!!

 

[manualman]

I have a family friend who is a family practice MD who did a residency rotation in OBGYN. He affirms that in medical school they NEVER even discussed the topic of NFP once.

After lots of discussion when I finally convinced him it is scientific, his justification for it is something like this:

“I can’t even seem to get people to properly put a pill in their mouth every day. Most of these people have nowhere near the maturity or responsibility to check mucus, chart, make informed decisions and have the willpower to do what you describe.”

In other words, it is less about greed and more about the contempt doctors develop after a while for their generally unreliable patients.

 

[Serap]

I have a family friend who is a family practice MD who did a residency rotation in OBGYN. He affirms that in medical school they NEVER even discussed the topic of NFP once.

After lots of discussion when I finally convinced him it is scientific, his justification for it is something like this:

“I can’t even seem to get people to properly put a pill in their mouth every day. Most of these people have nowhere near the maturity or responsibility to check mucus, chart, make informed decisions and have the willpower to do what you describe.”

In other words, it is less about greed and more about the contempt doctors develop after a while for their generally unreliable patients.

People who practice NFP do it with faith and God’s grace. That’s why NFPers have the discipline to do it.

 

[New_at_this]

Just came across this thread

I have an 18mth old dd and a 10wk old son and have been trying to learn NFP since both DH and i are catholic and would like to use it for child spacing …

Fortunately iam getting free online instructions from a Billings method instructor and abstaining in the meantime …

In my search nothing has frustrated me more than the lack of knowledge about NFP in the medical community …

 

[StratusRose]

At my 6wk appointment after Zack was born, my OB/GYN asked me what I was using for birth control, I told her NFP, she nodded her head and said “ok, great!” I was waiting for the lecture, but was pleasantly surprised when she left it at that and noted it on my chart. I thought, ‘hm, that was easy!’ I wonder if she was thinking ‘this chick is nuts’ but when I go back for my second pregnancy (God willing) they’ll see that I didn’t get pregnant 2 minutes after leaving my appointment.

However, when we were getting my discharge instructions at the hospital, a nurse came in and started firing away things to do/not do. One thing she said was “your chances of getting pregnant again are very high, so use birth control.” I almost said, ‘mind your own business’ but DH and I didn’t say anything.

 

[JMMD]

1. What method of NFP do you use?

Billings Ovulation Method

1. How long have you been using it?

5+ years.

1. How effective has it been for you when used to avoid pregnancy?

Very, although we used it more to conceive than to avoid conception. The important thing when using it is not to tempt your reproductive system; i.e. if you are in a fertile period, assume you will get pregnant, not that you “might” get pregnant.

1. What problems/issues have you had with it?

Diffucult reading fertility signs during post-partum nursing period, but I think a temperature-based method would be better.

1. Have you switched to NFP from previously using artificial contraception? Was the decision mutual or did the switch cause tension in your relationship?

Always used NFP.

1. Is your spouse on the same page as you regarding NFP, so to speak? If they initially were not, how did they come around? If they initially were and now are not, why?

Always on the same page.

1. How has using NFP positively or negatively impacted your marriage?

Positively. NFP puts the responsiblity on both of us, not just me. I also believe that we are intimate more often than non-NFP couples because while there are periods of abstinence, there are equally periods of “better do it tonight because we might not be able to tomorrow.”