We just celebrated my fourth child’s birthday. He’s 25! This time we had the party up the canyon and celebrated with his girlfriend, who also has a mid-July birthday. So we celebrated both birthdays! What’s memorable about my son’s birthday is that it is also the anniversary of when my husband and I determined to use Natural Family Planning (NFP). I had known about it for years and had talked to my husband about it. We finally took the leap of faith and said good-bye to artificial conception after this fourth child. It’s also interesting that his birthday is always around the time when people celebrate NFP Awareness Week. This week, July 19-26, is NFP Awareness Week.

I haven’t blogged about NFP in a looong time. Since I’m post-menopausal, it isn’t relevant to my life any more but I thought I’d pass on the good word about it to my younger sisters in honor of NFP Awareness Week.

Here’s why I love NFP and why I practiced it when I was fertile:

1. It is the most environmental-friendly form of “birth control.” So sustainable and democratic. Anybody can learn and practice it and not be dependent on a lab, a pharmacy and/or a doctor for a prescription.
2. It does not have any side effects on mom or baby, like hormonal birth control does.
3. It allows you to have a “honeymoon” every single month. So romantic!
4. It allows you to be in touch with your body and respect the amazing cycles/seasons of a woman’s body. Doing so can alert to any health problems.
5. It increases communication in marriage, which helps increase love and unity in marriage. Dr. Janet Smith says that NFP plus paying tithing is insurance that your marriage will last. She offers a challenge for a couple to practice NFP and pay tithing, and then if they get divorced she will pay them $100. She says, at least in the speech I heard years ago, which I think is the same one as below (I haven’t watched it all the way through) that nobody has taken her up on the offer.

It’s a myth that NFP is the rhythm method. NFP is about educating yourself about your fertility signals and then acting accordingly, based on whether or not you want to get pregnant.

If you want to read a short book about NFP, read this one below. This book brings back memories! I remember reading it when I was a young mom from our La Leche League Group’s lending library.

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Then if you want a long book, read this one below.

If you are nursing a baby, be sure to read this book below so you can learn how to extend your time of not having periods and not ovulating, if that’s what you want. That is called LAM (lactational amenorrhea). If you follow the 7 Rules you can go for more than a year without a period.

My favorite method of NFP is the Creighton Method. That’s because observing cervical fluid (used in the Creighton method) is more easy than taking your morning temperature (not used in Creighton method) when you have a nursing baby. Here’s are two videos below about that. Then if you want to know more, go here. I highly recommend it!