7.27.2013

We do it every night...

And it's not what you're thinking....

Linking up with Katie @ NFPandMe during this week of NFP awareness.

Here are some amazing posts about NFP that are worth sharing:
NFP sucks by Stephanie
Why do you love NFP: A husband's response by Caitlin's husband
No H8, educate by Carolyn
Don't do what we did... Our NFP story by Mary

Of course, there are tons more out there. I am just highlighting a few that I have read this week.

Now for our reasons why we use NFP:
We submit ourselves, even our bodies to the will of God and his Church. It's something that we do together: Derrick wakes me up in the morning, hands me the thermometer and i take my temp. He records the temperature. Every night, i chart my external observations. we talk about our chart. We interpret it together.

Above scenario is totally different from me just taking the pill every morning.

Once we have decided to get off of the pill a few months after our wedding, we have seen how practicing NFP strengthened our marriage and communication.

You read that right. we were on the pill on our wedding night and few months as newlyweds. We never heard of NFP from our pastor during pre-Cana. I also sought  a few married Catholics' advice and they were ok and comfortable with their decision to use contraception. God is already knocking at the door of my heart, planting a seed but I chose to shut him out and seek the easy way out. Take a pill every morning instead of learn NFP.

One of the people I asked regarding family planning was a non-denominational Christian friend. She shared their story and I found out NFP actually works! I was hesitant at first being in the medical field and all. I relied on the medicine to work instead of my own will power and what my husband and I could do to take control of our fertility.

My husband (my saint-in-the-making) has been the main power who kept pushing me to open my heart and listen to what God is asking of me to do. That's the Holy Spirit working there on both him and me. Derrick is not excited about giving me medicines/hormones to help regulate my cycle, etc. etc.

So we went off the pill. we read our NFP book on our own. we held weekly discussions. we charted. we did not go to a class.... we were brave huh?! My Christian friend and i sent emails back and forth. She is not an NFP instructor but she was very helpful and encouraging.

NFP was successful for us. we wanted to wait until I was done with med school before starting a family. we stuck with it and did NFP. Finally intern year came and after "testing the waters" of life as a resident, we knew after prayer and deliberation that we were ready to have a baby.

NFP also helped us conceive our little ones. NFP empowered us both. I knew when my period is about the start. I was more in tune/aware of my body. NFP also kept an open line between me and my husband. Not just: is it ok to have s3x tonight? but "how are we feeling today?" etc. etc. and I like how we both are active and involved with our family planning. He has his role {temp recorder}; I have my role {symptom recorder}.


NFP is not all rainbows. there are some challenges with NFP:
- Intern year was challenging. I was on-call every 4th night which meant every 4th morning I was up pretty much all night. This means my basal temps in the morning did not make any sense. I had two thermometers: one kept at home with our chart and one in my overnight call bag. We had to rely more and more with the symptoms part of the symptothermal method of NFP {it's basically mucus only method or Billings method}. Some post call mornings, I didn't even have temps recorded as I was seeing patients when I'm supposed to be just waking up and checking my temp.
- I only charted external observations. I am a doctor --- but I cannot do my own cervical check. I just can't.
- Breastfeeding and return of fertility: Thanks to breastfeeding my periods did not start until 9-10 months postpartum. my cycles were 50-60 days long with misinterpretations of charts and temps and mucus changes. It was semi-difficult postpartum with Daniel. Even more difficult the second time around. I have to either re-read our NFP book and/or take an NFP class geared towards breastfeeding/postpartum moms and/or contact an NFP instructor postpartum with Baby D3. I'd love ideas or suggestions for breastfeeding moms, if you have any. More and more we are looking at the Marquette method.


We are open to life and when people ask if we are done with three, we honestly say "we don't know". If we could not handle more than three (like we are going crazy out of our minds) then we better be good NFP charters and interpreters!

For More info:
Iusenfp.com
NFP via couple to couple league
Symptothermal method
NFP classes in Indy
Couple to couple league of Indy



3 comments:

  1. We love Marquette!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am just now reading this post and I love it :) I also have to tell you that we use Marquette. If you have any questions, let me know! I wanted to take the online instructor course this semester and unfortunately it didn't work. But anyways, I am completely happy with the Marquette Method and they have a great protocol for postpartum/breastfeeding.

    ReplyDelete

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