Why I choose NFP

In learning all that goes into being a Catholic, reproductive health is definitely one that requires a lot of thought. As Protestants, we weren't given any guidance about family planning. The idea that God chooses the size of our family is a scary even foreign topic. We had taken several years off from having children to help our oldest with overcoming some difficulties with autism. We had somewhat settled on having four children and then I would get my tubes tied. Well when we were in RCIA classes, we were pregnant with our fourth.

We decided against getting tubes tied and proceeded to learn about  NFP. Not even a year later, we were surprised with a pregnancy. I was in shock for a week. This would make five kids in ten years and I very well could have 10+ more years of fertility. I won't go into deep details of our personal lives but there are at least five reasons why we shouldn't have been able to get pregnant. But how much joy has our little Joseph brought to our family. Life wouldn't be the same without him. God knows what He is doing.

A few months ago, I began having trouble with my cycles. I had a premenstrual migraine, much heavier and longer periods as well as mid cycle bleeding. I wondered if my hormones were all out of whack and searched for a solution. From friends, I heard the expected solution of birth control pills. I hoped that I could get hormone level testing at my dr and find solutions naturally. My doctor wouldn't even test for it because the only solution that had research to back it up was birth control pills which I couldn't and wouldn't take.

During my doctor visit, we took care of the regularly yearly visit stuff. The nurse called with results of what they had found on my Pap smear and was calling in a prescription. I freaked out for a minute and asked, "What was found?" "Yeast." I thought it was odd that I hadn't had the typical yeast infection symptoms but I researched a bit and found that yeast can disrupt a lot of things. My next cycle was perfectly normal.

Now if I wasn't Catholic, I would have been on the pill with the increased health risks for who knows how long without ever knowing what a simple fix my problem was. Or, I would have had my tubes tied and missed out on a most precious blessing. That would be tragic!