Natural Family Planning

Okay, pick your chin up off the floor!

The Gent and I have given the role of birth control a lot of thought lately. We used the pill for the first two and a half years of our marriage. I did great on it, no side effects, and it was obviously effective until I went off of it in November and got pregnant with Noel the very next month. We put a lot of thought and prayer into birth control before we made the decision to go on the pill. I won't second guess myself now; what's done is done. I don't think the pill caused our miscarriage or anything like that. But we don't plan to go back to hormonal birth control again.

There are several reasons for our decision.

Children are a blessing! Psalm 127:3 says "Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him." Our society often ignores God's view and sees children as an inconvenience. I don't believe there is anything wrong with using birth control, but I do think that as Christians we should examine our motives before doing so. I do have a problem with certain forms of birth control, especially IUDs. Because I believe life begins at fertilization, IUDs can cause early abortions. They don't prevent a life from being formed, they only prevent that life from implanting and growing.

I don't like having synthetic hormones in my body, altering my natural cycle. I didn't realize how much better I feel off the pill until I went off of it! I don't want to go back to that.

I want to know what is going on with my own body. Women, God designed our bodies! We are fearfully and wonderfully made.

If you want to learn more about Natural Family Planning/Fertility Awareness, I recommend Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler. Heck, I think you should read it even if you aren't interested in NFP. No one bothers to teach us what is going on with our own bodies, and I think we should know! One more thing . . . I've often heard people disregard NFP because it doesn't work, or my cycle's not regular, or it's too complicated. None of these arguments hold water. NFP is effective at achieving or preventing pregnancy, you can use it if your cycle is regular or not, and it takes about two minutes a day. Trust me, you can do it. And you'll feel so confident in yourself when you finally understand your own body, working just as God designed it!