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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
NFP question
I am getting married this summer and we are thinking of using NFP for our BC. I've used the pill before for regulating things and gained 25+ pounds and overall did not feel good on it. I decided to go off of that and in the last year I've lost all of my BC weight (I've done no extra dieting or excercise) and feel great! I've also never been 'regular' and have recently started being 'regular' and don't want BC to mess that up like I know it sometimes can. FI is not ok with condoms, for personal reasons that I totally understand. All of that to say that we are seriously looking into NFP. Any suggestions on books to read, websites, or materials to use to help track things?? Thanks!
Re: NFP question
I know there are classes that you can take, but I never did that.
I know most of the women on here will recommend reading "Taking Charge of Your Fertility". I read it and it has worked so far, but now we're moving to a not-not trying path.
Many of us also chart using Fertility Friend (check out my ticker).
Come on over to the Getting Pregnant board. There are plenty of women there who are TTA (trying to avoid) and many of us are decent chart readers.
Good luck!
I took a class that was though my church. It was over several months and very informative. The book that we got was The Art of Natural Family Planning by John and Sheila Kippley. We actually got a kit at the class called the Couple to Couple League course kit on the box it says they have a website www.ccli.org I have never used it so I don't know what is on the site but the kit came with the book, the basil thermometer, tracking charts, etc. so it might be worth looking into. That is as much as I know about NFP. Good luck!
I ditto Taking Charge of Your Fertility and Fertility Friend.
ETA: I had a reading comprehension fail. Carry on...
I've been using "lady-comp" for 2 years now.... it does the work for you.. love it!
Definitely check out Taking Charge of Your Fertility. No religious overtones. Also, I like their online charts better than Fertility Friend - I think they're more accurate. I think there's a small yearly fee to use their charts, but I think it's totally worth it. The forums on that site are great too: tcoyf.com. Everyone is very helpful.
Many sites will say that it's just for TTC but that's only to cover their butts if someone does something wrong (or just plain stupid in some cases) and gets pregnant accidentally.
I just celebrated my 4 year anniversary of avoiding with Fertility Awareness. I never want kids and I wouldn't trust any other birth control - it's awesome! You just have to follow the rules!
Best of luck!
I think it would be very beneficial for you to consider a diaphragm with spermicide as well as NFP or FAM (Fertility Awareness Method). Definitely read Taking Charge of your Fertility (TCOYF). I loved this book! I suggest the diaphragm since your FI isn't ok with condoms.
ETA: TCOYF is very TTA (trying to avoid) friendly. There is a chapter specifically for TTA. They also have a website that you can track your cycles on.
Personally I would never recommend using an "ovulation calendar" like yourdays.com. That is simply counting days and assuming that your body will do the exact same thing every month. It will NOT always be the same. Especially if your are coming off of BC Pills. The only way to accurately determine fertile days and ovulation is through charting temperatures, cervical fluid and cervical position. Yourdays.com and other calendar methods are just assuming that you can predict the future by recording when your period was in past months. You may be lucky and have that work for a while, but it is absolutely NOT reliable. That's the Rhythm Method and does NOT work. Fertility Awareness (temps, fluids, etc) DOES work. Please read Taking Charge of Your Fertility.
I don't mean to sound harsh, but it's a very important distinction and a common mistake that leads to unplanned pregnancy. Not something to be taken lightly!
I second this! NFP is not the Rhythm method. It is very effective! I use NFP and chart using TCOYF software found on the website (www.tcoyf.com) and I actually also use LadyComp. It does the work for you - but I like knowing whats going on so I do both!
Sage & Berries Blog
I love tcoyf.com and their charting system seemed much easier to manage for me than fertilityfriend. It is FREE now btw, but I think they used to charge. Also, I wasn't going to use fertilityfriend because I wasn't TTC (until January). Read the book. I guarantee you'll love it and feel so much more informed about your body, you'll never want to go back to hormonal BC!
Also, it's not a religious book, just informing women about their bodies.
Here are a few websites for the Billings method. This method is the one taught by the Catholic church but these websites have no religious affiliation. There is information to teach yourself and also contact info for teachers. I would recommend getting a teacher if you can. It is not very expensive but worth the peace of mind that you are doing it right.
http://www.billingslife.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1&lang=en
http://www.woomb.org/bom/index.html
http://www.billingsmentor.org/personalinstruction.html
I cannot overemphasize the importance of charting especially if you are trying to avoid pregnancy. The beauty of NFP as opposed to BC is that you don't have any of the side effects, you get more in touch with your body and if your FI learns about it with you the responsibility can be shared and it allows him to understand and appreciate your fertility as well.
Goodluck.