How has NFP worked for you? -Part I
Meg asked “Do you practice NFP? If you do and feel comfortable, could you write a post on how it’s worked for you?” Somehow my “yes, though I prefer to think of it as ‘fertility awareness‘ and it works wonderfully” did not seem like much of a post. So I asked some other women if they would write a paragraph answering the question “How has NFP worked for you?” The response was far better than I expected, so I now present you with the first in a series of posts addressing the question of how NFP has worked for very real women.
How NFP has worked for me
Rebecca’s Answer
One year ago, NFP Awareness Week and the blogging community introduced me to NFP; at first I was skeptical and overwhelmed, and doubtful that I could really do it. As I learned more, it became clear that NFP was the right answer. The first thing NFP did for me was free me from the idea that the only reliable way to prevent pregnancy was the pill (and abstinence of course). I was experiencing negative side effects of using the pill but I felt trapped because I knew that avoiding pregnancy was something we wanted to do for the foreseeable future.
As I researched the other contraceptive options, everything else had worse side effects or obstacles for us and NFP was not something I was familiar with (even though I had been raised Catholic and we attended pre-Marriage classes before our wedding). All I knew was that the Catholic Church was against birth control, but I didn’t know why and I thought the ‘rhythm’ method was our only option. After just 1 month hormone-free, I was starting to feel better. Not only did I lose the constant bloated feeling, but I felt more emotionally stable and in control of my emotions. As I learned how to read my signs, I gained a new respect for the power of my body. Now that my husband and I have used NFP for 7 months, it has done so much more. We communicate more about our physical relationship; I feel like I’m not alone in preventing pregnancy; and we feel confident in our discernment that we have just cause to avoid pregnancy at this time. Most importantly, NFP gave us back control of our fertility.
You can read more of Rebecca’s experience with NFP at her blog Feel My Love.
I am so inspired by the way you all address the teachings of the church in such a down-to-earth way. I find Rebecca’s account of her experience familiar. These NFP Awareness weeks are so important!
On a somewhat related sidenote, I went to a Catholic bookstore to pick up a book on Theology of the Body, and all that was available was Pope John Paul II’s Love and Responsibility. While that book fueled TOB, I know that there’s much more than that now…but finding it is difficult. With blog posts like this, it seems that TOB might actually pull into Catholic bookstores much more prominantly.
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OMG! I’m so grateful that you answered my question. I loved reading these. My husband and I are still scared to do NFP but sharing these with him have eased our minds, a little.