Lilypie Pregnancy tickers

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Two Pink Lines


...and no, I'm not pregnant.


As my husband and I were discussing ( pre wedding) what our plans for our family would be, many ideas came up. The pill, the patch, the ring, the shot..so many options. I researched, and then we'd talk each idea over. In the end, we went with none of the above.

No, we're not trying to get pregnant.

We settled on a more natural type of family planning..one that involves charting, and taking temperatures and all of that. When friends ( and family!) have asked us what birth control we were going to use, this is the answer they were given. Then came....

Blank stares.
" Wait, so you're trying to have a baby?"


While natural family planning can be used to help figure the best time to get pregnant, it can also be used to figure out which times to not be together in order to avoid pregnancy. Yes, it can fail..but so can the pill, a condom, or any of the other methods. We just decided that for our family we want to avoid hormonal contraception, and be open to what God has for us- whether thats a bunch of kids, just one, or none at all.

Its been very interesting to see the reactions from people, because from what I've seen, according to most it would be THE end of the world if we got pregnant. I realize that in the end, it is our choice- and we just didnt like hormonal bc for many reasons, including health ones.

It's a little scary-I don't know anyone here locally doing the same thing..but we'll figure it out. I had a very planned out, prescribed path for my future- one involving a precise timetable for children. At this point I'm not sure if I feel ready for children, but I know that when/if God chooses us to bless us with a child, it will be a wonderful thing.

So those two pink lines are just an ovulation predictor kit ( because I wanted to test my charting skillz and see if my predicted ovulation time was correct)...and here we go into the NFP wilderness.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi! First timer in your blog :)

I was in the same situation a little bit over a year ago. We had the same discussion with my future (at that time) husband, and made the same choice to use NFP.

I'm never been a person who talks all her things to everyone, but some how Lord led me (and my husband too) to discussions about this matter with many of our friends. None of them had never even heard of it.

And as you said, the reactions at first were quite interesting. But we kept on talking and explaining.

Finally we choosed to let babies come when God sends them, but the prosess we went through was really great. The discussions with our friends were allso fruitfull, now some of our married friends are using NFP.

Now we are having interesting discussions about not having a contraception at all :)

So, what I'm saying here is: some one has to be the first one in everything, open the road to others, so to say.

Be blessed in your marriage!

(I put my blogaddress here, eventhough it's written only in finnish. At least you can see it, and have a tiny flash about me :)

Katy-Anne Binstead said...

We are going to start using that method too.

Kathie said...

That sounds interesting. I've heard of people using this method, but I didn't know that those using it had it so figured out. I thought they just looked at the calendar and guessed when the most likely time to get pregnant was.

Oh, and there's a couple in our church that have used this method for 24 years, and they say it works great for them. (they only have 2 kids, so I guess it did!)

Congrats, btw! I just read that you've only been married a few weeks, how exciting! I've just been married 6 months and we're still in our "honeymoon" stage. =)

Oh, and I found your blog through comments on Mrs. W's blog. =)

~Kathie

Kelly @ The Barefoot Mama said...

We used NFP to conceive and I found so much help and ease in charting with Fertility Friend (www.fertilityfriend.com). I believe that it's still free to make and use a chart? I love NFP. It's amazing how God has created our bodies to work.

Praying that you guys enjoy a wonderful journey as you start marriage and with whatever plans Christ has for you as a family!

Kelly :o)
www.thebarefootmama.com

Anonymous said...

I use FAM (NFP except with a barrier instead of abstinence during fertile times). "Taking charge of Your Fertility" is a book that has been an invaluable resource. It tells you everything you need to know.

Bethany Hudson said...

Good luck with NFP! My husband and I have used it before...but then after a few months, we decided to have a baby :) The good news was, we didn't have to wait to start trying.

I know you're not Catholic, but if there is a Catholic church nearby, you might be able to hook up with an NFP support group through them, since NFP is the only birth control allowed by the Roman Catholic Church. Just a thought :)

~Bethany

JoyFilled said...

Hi! Thanks for stopping by my blog!

I can totally relate to the reactions...and the sad thing is, I've never even flat out said that we use NFP/FAM! People are crazy judgmental and assume way to much...oh, and much too nosey. ;)