Our Journey with Natural Family Plannig
“You guys are doing WHAT?” “Wait, so you’re not taking birth control?” “Does that even work?” “Oh my gosh, you’re going to get pregnant as soon as you get married.”
Comments like these are only a few of the myriad of things I have heard over the years when I tell people we chose to go the Natural Family Planning route for family planning. And honestly, these comments have not bothered me, because I gladly welcome the chance for further conversation on this topic! Not only do I feel that so many people do not understand NFP or have never even heard of it. But it has also been my experience that people (particularly women) are shocked to learn that there are other options out there, other than hormonal birth control.
NFP was something that Jeremy and I talked through prior to getting married, and agreed that we would do together. I am not a marriage/family counselor, nor do I claim to me. But I have to say, from my own personal experience AND the experience of countless other married couple friends we have, this is a BIG conversation to have with your prospective spouse prior to the Big Day. (And even those of you already married!) Because it is a journey the couple takes together, not just the woman.
I have to admit- my reason for first wanting to follow NFP was faith-based. But as I have learned more over the years about safer alternatives for human health, I have become am passionate about allowing our bodies to work in the way they were intended, without chemically altering the natural design of things. Beyond those two major reasons, I could go on about the many little additional ones we have discovered on our own journey as a couple to continue with NFP. But I may have to save the nitty gritty list of other reasons for another day… ;)
So… how does Natural Family Planning work?
This is a loaded question. So I am going to give you the bare bones in layman’s terms. I am not a certified NFP instructor, just a user of this method. The basics of NFP, or really just “fertility awareness”, is a method of monitoring and recording the different fertility signals during a woman’s menstrual cycle. By doing so, this allows the woman to best identify natural times of fertility and infertility during the menstrual cycle, ultimately aiding in allowing the couple to either achieve or avoid pregnancy. Now there are multiple methods of Natural Family Planning you can use. I will post the most popular methods that I am aware of below, and you can see what best suits you! For me and Jeremy, we personally use the Creighton Model, which has been wonderful for our marriage, lifestyle and family planning goals.
(*A side note- by tracking your menstrual cycle and recording the daily observations, not only are you able to identify times of fertility and infertility, but you may also recognize signs and markers of possible problems that need to be addressed with your OBGYN that you may have otherwise missed if you were not tracking!)
When those close to us learned that we were planning on using NFP once we were married, I can’t tell you how many family members and friends alike were SURE we were going to have an unexpected honeymoon baby. My own sisters had a running bet of how long it would take us to get pregnant!!! We all laugh about it now. But I can honestly say that our firstborn, Edward, was a prayed for, hoped for, and planned for baby. That is not to say that surprises are not a blessing. And we are COMPLETELY aware that ultimately it was God’s timing in choosing to gift us with Edward. But through NFP, we were able to “plan” when we were hoping to conceive and begin having children. What a blessing! And the sweetest gift of the conception and pregnancy journey of Edward – I was able to surprise Jeremy on our second anniversary with a positive pregnancy test. NFP is 99% effective, with that 1% “infectivity” attributed to user error.
I think I will save more nitty gritty details on NFP for future posts, but I would love to leave you with resources below. Here is a list of popular Natural Family Planning methods. I am also always an open book, so feel free to drop questions in the comments or email me if you want to know more!
