2 posts tagged “fertility”

I saw this perspective meme-- at Heidi's blog and thought I'd give it a go. I had to write out the years to keep it all straight in my head.

2008 One week ago --
I was getting ready for Thanksgiving
Looking forward to my husband having a week off from work

2007 One year ago --
I was three months pregnant with Emma.

2006 Two years ago --
I was five months pregnant with Micah.
I had just found out that I was having a boy.
We had recently decided to move into our current house.

2005
2004

2003 Five years ago --
I was six months pregnant with Joel.

2002
2001
2000
1999

1998 Ten years ago --
I was engaged to my husband.

It pretty much hits all the highlights and glosses right over the years of infertility. Until I did this, I didn't realize I was already five years removed from the thick of it. I don't understand it all, to look at this I look like the most fertile person ever, baby after baby after baby.   And maybe I am now, I don't know, but those years of infertility and a miscarriage are seared on my consciousness. It changed how I conceptualized my family and the world around me. I'd like to think, and I guess I do believe that I am a better person having gone through it, but even believing that, I can't say that I would ever choose for myself or anyone else to have to go through years of infertility. 

Having two children so close together (my second and soon to be third child) has really got me thinking about birth control options. I love my children and, at the moment, haven't ruled out the idea of having more, but I really don't want to have them this close together again. Until this pregnancy, the idea of having kids so close together was a bit of a non-issue for me. Before we had our oldest son we didn't use any kind of birth control for about three years before conceiving him. So, forgive me if I didn't really consider myself the fertile type.

I've repeatedly talked to my GYN healthcare providers (usually a midwife in my case) about birth control options and the responses I get are to take something hormonal based (the pill, ring, etc.), get an IUD or use some kind of barrier method (condom or the like). None of these options are very appealing to me. I've not taken any form of birth control for the majority of the past six years (wow, that seems weird to think about in our culture), and, truthfully, I really like not taking birth control. For the short time I did take a hormonal birth control over the past six years (for about six months after the birth of my oldest son), it did not agree with me. I gained weight and at very least it didn't help things with my postpartum depression (at worst it contributed, perhaps even caused my PPD). I don't like the idea of anything as invasive as an IUD and as far as any long term use of a barrier method, well let's just say I'm married people! Are you kidding me! That's just not a realistic option for us. So, where does that leave us?

The Art of Natural Family Planning

Taking Charge of Your Fertility

1 comment

So, what are your thoughts on birth control options for married people? Do any of you have any practical experience using NFP or FAM?