Never in a million years did I think I would be sharing this experience with you, but the more I’ve opened up and talked about it the more I realize how much sharing this information with this community makes sense. I love (and I mean LOVE) the opportunity to empower other women and that is exactly what Natural Family Planning has done for me. I have never felt more confident when it comes to my body and family planning with my spouse. That’s another incredible piece of this journey, it has made me adore and appreciate my spouse even more than I did prior to the joint decision we made to use NFP.
WHAT IS NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING?
Let me start by saying what it’s not…Natural Family Planning is not the Rhythm Method. Natural Family Planning is a system of tracking your cycle to meet the goals of your family – whether it’s avoid pregnancy, become pregnant, or treat a certain medical disorder.
TREAT A CERTAIN MEDICAL DISORDER YOU SAY, TELL ME MORE…
Right?! I had no idea about this either until I did a NFP intro session with my now instructor (see below for more details on that). Tracking your cycle naturally can offer you and medical professionals so much information on how your body is functioning, where there are discrepancies and what treatments (natural or medical) can be done to alleviate these issues. You can read more on how NFP, specifically Creighton, can help with women’s health diagnoses here.
IS NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING ONLY FOR AVOIDING PREGNANCY?
Absolutely not. It’s helped so many women struggling with a variety of medical conditions, to include: infertility, ovarian cysts, menstrual cramps, abnormal bleeding, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), recurrent miscarriage, premature birth prevention, postpartum depression irregular cycles, annovulatory cycles, endometriosis, chronic discharges, hormonal imbalance, and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).
WHY NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING?
This is a personal choice, so it truly depends on your body and your marriage! For me, getting off the pill was a priority. I was originally put on it at a young age because I was experiencing heavy cramping (which was no surprise because the women in my family had a history of this), and I just didn’t know there were any other options. When it came time for us to start a family, I knew I would need to give my body at least 6 months of time to “readjust” after getting off the pill before getting pregnant would be realistic. Sure enough, I got off the pill in January and was pregnant by June. YAY! I couldn’t believe how accurate that timeline was for me, I also couldn’t believe how irregular and unpredictable my cycle was in those 6 months. This terrified me thinking about what our options were post-partum. We constantly discussed what our plan of action would be once Carmen was here, but truly couldn’t find anything out there that we felt comfortable with, and before we knew it, she was here and we were being asked what we planned on using for birth control. The only thing we knew for certain was that we weren’t ready for another newborn. After several months of research, I finally stumbled across an awesome option that didn’t involve taking a pill that was stuffed full of things I didn’t feel great about. Enter Natural Family Planning!
HOW DID YOU GET YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER TO BUY IN?
By including him in this process. We talked through all of the reasons I didn’t want to be on birth control anymore and agreed it wasn’t solely my responsibility in our family to manage our family size. He attended the intro session with me and every single meeting (with the exception of one due to a TDY scheduling conflict) we had with our instructor. We learned how to implement Creighton in our lives, together and followed the guidance of our instructor on how to take joint-responsibility for charting and knowing what our family planning goals are.
I also like to point out that in the intro session offered by my instructor she shared cold, hard numbers that were shocking to us both in the best way. When used correctly, Creighton is MORE effective than hormonal birth control. I don’t have the research studies handy to link, but she will. Those hard numbers made my very analytical husband a believer from the gate.
WHY THE CREIGHTON MODEL?
Natural Family Planning is the overarching system, and within it there are several different models people can opt to use. I specifically chose Creighton because of my history with irregular cycles/being on the pill for so long and not knowing what my cycle really looked like when it was “normal”. We also felt the most comfortable with this method because the effectiveness was better than the pill. Yes, you read that correctly. Creighton uses a charting system with observations of biological signs – specifically, cervical mucus. I know, I know. That sounds…gross, right? But, it’s truly not! It’s simply observing the biological signs your body is giving you about your fertility…and it’s relatively affordable. We opted to pay for an instructor (I’ll talk more about that below), but once you get the hang of this method, it will essentially cost you ZERO dollars to maintain it for the rest of your life. If you’re interested in more details on this particular model, you can read more here. If you’d like to explore some information on additional models, you can find that here.
HOW DID YOU USE CREIGHTON WITH A NEWBORN/MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT WAKE UPS?
My instructor walked me through all of this step-by-step, but it really didn’t change much for me…if I went to the bathroom when I woke up with baby, I would check and note my read at that time. A big hack she recommended was having a little flashlight or nightlight handy by the toilet so I could accurately see my observation without blasting on all of the bathroom lights in the middle of the night and alarming myself awake for hours.
DO I NEED A COACH/INSTRUCTOR?
We opted for an instructor because we were brand new to Natural Family Planning and did not want a baby right after having our first. Simple as that. We thought the cost of paying for an instructor was worth that security. I’m happy to provide you with my instructor’s information. Sarah is an absolute doll! She’s not only extremely knowledgeable but she’s walked a journey of infertility and NFP, so she’s empathetic to the vulnerability that comes with it. Her business partner, Kate, is also a great trusted source! You can find their website here, check it out and feel free to reach out to me or them with any questions you have.
WHERE DO I EVEN START?
A great place to start is with these two resources that outline what Natural Family Planning is and what method/approach would be best for you: FACTS and Natural Womanhood! You can also sign-up to take the informational intro session my instructor and her business partner offer for a small fee using this link. Last year they did a free session for our WAF community that so many WAFs have since shared with us helped them better understand their bodies, their cycles, and their options for family planning that don’t involve hormonal birth control.
WHEN SHOULD I START?
Whenever you’re ready! Women have successfully used NFP throughout any phase of life, pregnancy, post-partum while breastfeeding, post-partum not breastfeeding, pre-pregnancy to achieve, from day one of their very first cycle or shortly before. It truly does not matter, it’s never too early to start charting and get an idea of what your unique body’s “trends” are.
I can only hope that this post will help one woman out there that is frustrated find some relief. Charting my cycle has opened my eyes so much when it comes to my own body, and the support our family has had from Sarah and her team has been a huge blessing in our life. Please don’t let the negative rumors about this method deter you from exploring it as a viable option for you. As I’ve said with other commitments I’ve made, this opportunity is what you make it, if you educate yourself, follow the guidelines set by years of research and really commit to this lifestyle – you’ll be successful (in whatever way YOU define success).
