The postpartum time can one of joy and wonder, as well as adjustments, anxiety, and sleeplessness. A family is forever changed by the arrival of a new little person,whether it is the first child or the fourth. The postpartum time is also one in which couples commonly begin to explore options for postponing or avoiding another pregnancy. Natural family planning can be a very attractive option for a number of reasons, such as wanting to avoid artificial hormones while breastfeeding. However, many couples have reservations about using this method during a time when a woman's cycles can be irregular, or non-existent. Is it possible to use fertility awareness to avoid pregnancy during the postpartum time, or while breastfeeding? Yes indeed!
One of the strengths of the sympto-thermal method of natural family planning is that it involves observing multiple signs of fertility. If one sign is confusing, there are one or two other signs with which you can cross check. Here are some tips to make charting postpartum successful for you:
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According to the Guttmacher Institute, 99% of sexually active, American women of reproductive age have used some kind of artificial contraception in their lifetime. This could mean various hormonal contraceptive or barrier methods. That's a pretty staggering statistic! It would seem that contraception is a nearly universal experience for the American woman. But should it be? I personally believe that most contraception is overkill for pregnancy prevention. That may seem like a strange thing to say, given that contraception by definition is intended to prevent pregnancy! Human Fertility and Birth Control To explain what I mean, I'll have to tell you a little bit about how female fertility works. Thyroid disease can have significant effects on a woman’s reproductive health and screening for women presenting with fertility problems and recurrent early pregnancy loss should be considered, suggests a new review published today in The Obstetrician & Gynaecologist (TOG).
(Original article here)
Our modern environment is full of toxins, chemicals and substances that can mess with your hormones. If you struggle with irregular cycles, endometriosis, infertility, thyroid problems, etc., you might want to check what you are eating. Our modern diets often contain huge amounts of estrogen! Here are the top 5 high estrogen foods to avoid.
Did you know....?
When you take oral contraceptives, the synthetic hormones they contain make their way into our water system. One synthetic estrogen, EE2, is notoriously difficult to remove. Scientists have found that fish and other wildlife are beginning to be affected by the massive amounts of synthetic hormones flushed down the toilet by users of the Pill. Fish have been found to display decreased fertility for generations, and sometimes male fish are so 'feminized' by these contaminants that they become intersex (displaying male and female sexual organs), Read more here. Natural family planning is an incredible skill that is completely safe, free to use, and empowering for women and couples. So why don't more people use it? Here are a few beliefs that may keep couples from using NFP.
1. It's not effective I'm not sure why so many people don't believe NFP is a reliable way to avoid pregnancy. Perhaps they are confusing NFP with the old-fashioned Rhythm Method, which relied on counting calendar days rather than observing a woman's physical signs of fertility. Perhaps they've heard from people who were unsuccessful at using NFP for some reason (maybe they didn't have an instructor, tried to learn from a book, or used a phone app). Often a woman's own doctor will discourage her from trying it, because unfortunately most medical professionals are woefully misinformed about the effectiveness of fertility awareness based methods. But the fact is, when learned correctly with proper instructor follow-up and used consistently, the sympto-thermal method of NFP is 99.6% effective(according to this 2007 study). This study also shows that after a year of using NFP, around 90% of couples are so satisfied with all aspects of the method (not just effectiveness!) that they keep using it! Low libido can be a big barrier to intimacy in your marriage. Misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and resentment can grow, causing distance between you and your spouse. You might feel annoyed with your partner, or frustrated with yourself, wondering why you don't feel the way you did when you first married.
Here a few lifestyle changes you can make to help improve your sexual desire.
Here is a fantastic video discussing your body's 'data', and the empowerment that comes from becoming an expert in yourself! In the video, Talithia Williams touches on fertility awareness briefly, but the scope is much broader than that. This is a wonderful reminder of the many benefits of becoming in tune with your own body (and cycle!) besides simply pregnancy avoidance or achievement.
Couples can start their natural family planning journey from many different places. You may be newly engaged or newlyweds, and learning NFP together feels like an exciting, romantic adventure. Or maybe you've never thought much about family planning before, but now that you have a house full of kids, you're exploring your options. Or perhaps you are a contraception veteran who has tried (and hated!) everything, and NFP is your last hope. Wherever you are coming from, learning NFP can feel a bit overwhelming in the beginning. You wonder, is it effective? What if I make a mistake? My cycles aren't normal - will this work for me? What if I can't get my spouse on board?
Here are some tips that I hope you find helpful as you begin this journey. .....“[The doctor] started to tell me, you have multiple pulmonary embolisms in both lungs,” said Megan Henry. “They’re sending an ambulance, they’re going to come and they’re going to rush you to the emergency room … it just really took me by surprise and you know I knew it was something bad but I never imagined it would be something like that.”
According to her hospital discharge papers, the NuvaRing Henry was using “was probably the risk factor” for her pulmonary embolisms. Henry went from peak physical condition to using a breathing machine. She was put on blood thinners, too. Her doctors told her it’s too risky to use hormonal birth control again. (Read the entire article here) |
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