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Mistress Cupcakkes Captain
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 Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 1:02 pm
Natural Family Planning
What is natural family planning?
Natural family planning is a method used to help a couple determine when sexual intercourse can and cannot result in pregnancy. During each menstrual cycle, one of a woman's ovaries releases an egg. This process is called ovulation. The egg moves toward the uterus through the fallopian tubes, where fertilization may take place. An unfertilized egg may live for up to 12 hours. The egg will be shed later during the menstrual period if it isn't fertilized. A woman is most likely to become pregnant if sexual intercourse takes place just before or just after ovulation.
During the menstrual cycle, a number of changes occur in a woman's body. By keeping track of these changes, couples can plan when to have intercourse and when to avoid intercourse, depending on whether they are trying to achieve or avoid pregnancy.
How does natural family planning work?
Two methods of natural family planning are currently taught. The first is the mucus or ovulation method. In this method, the days just before and just after ovulation are determined by checking the woman's cervical mucus. When a woman is most likely to become pregnant, the cervical mucus is stretchy, clear and slick. The mucus during this time looks and feels much like an uncooked egg white.
The second method is called the symptothermal method. With this method, the woman takes her temperature each day with a basal body temperature thermometer and writes it down on a chart. At the time of ovulation, a woman's temperature will rise slightly (about .9°F). The woman also checks the consistency of her cervical mucus like she does with the mucus method. She may also notice other changes, such as pain in the area of the ovaries, bloating, low backache and breast tenderness.
In both methods, couples use a chart to keep track of the changes in the woman's body.
How effective are these methods in helping a couple avoid pregnancy?
These methods can help a couple avoid pregnancy if the couple receives training from a specialized instructor and if they carefully follow all of the instructions provided. (Ask your doctor how to find an instructor who is specially trained in teaching natural family planning.) Both methods can be 90% to 98% effective (2 to 10 pregnancies per 100 couples) when they are practiced correctly. However, if a couple doesn't follow the instructions completely, these methods will be much less effective. In practice, these methods may not be as reliable as other forms of birth control.
Can natural family planning help a couple achieve pregnancy?
Yes. As many as 2 out of 3 couples who don't have fertility problems become pregnant if they have sexual intercourse on the days that the cervical mucus is clearest and most stretchable.
What about the rhythm method?
The rhythm method is based on calendar calculations of previous menstrual cycles. This method doesn't allow for normal changes in the menstrual cycle, which are common. The rhythm method isn't as reliable as the mucus method or the symptothermal method and is generally not recommended. Women who have no variation in the length of their menstrual cycles can use the rhythm method to know when they are ovulating (usually 14 days before the start of their period).
What about women with irregular cycles or who are breastfeeding?
It is common for a women to have menstrual cycles that are irregular (either longer or shorter than 28 days). A woman who has irregular menstrual cycles may still be able to tell when she is ovulating by watching for the changes in her body.
Special instructions have been developed for mothers who are breastfeeding their babies. Ask your doctor for these instructions if you are breastfeeding.
Health
Waiting until the mother is at least 18 years old before trying to have children improves maternal and child health. Also, if additional children are desired after a child is born, it is healthier for the mother and the child to wait at least 2 years after the previous birth before attempting to conceive (but not more than 5 years). After a miscarriage or abortion, it is healthier to wait at least 6 months.
Finances
Childbirth and prenatal health care cost averaged $7,090 for normal delivery in the US in 1996. US Department of Agriculture estimates that for a child born in 2007, a US family will spend an average of $11,000 to $23,000 per year for the first 17 years of child's life. (Total inflation adjusted estimated expenditure: $196,000 to $393,000, depending on household income.)
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Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 4:14 pm
This is a list of questions that myself (22) and my 19 year old (20 years old tomorrow) fiancé have discussed in the course of our family planning and that I feel a lot of people could benefit from asking themselves. These questions are NOT meant to be the be all and end all. They are meant as a launching point for discussions. I've included some of the discussion that myself and my fiancé have had in order to help you consider the spirit in which these questions are meant.
1) We need time for us, in our own home, to build a stable, strong, healthy foundation for our family. Not in our parents' homes. Not in someone else's home. In our home. Now, whether your home be an apartment or a house you buy is up to you. But until you have your own home and have lived there for a bit, you don't have the stable, healthy place to raise a child. Do you need to take more time to get your relationship into a state of equilibrium where you can have a long-term relationship that will provide a stable base for your child's upbringing? If you're choosing the single parenthood route, do you have a good support network in your area in order to help you?
2) We want some savings and we want to pay down the first few years of our mortgage very quickly. Mortgage interest rates don't look that high at a glance, but 5% on a 100 000 dollar house over 30 years is a lot of interest. You could end up paying as much or more than the cost of your house in interest! The earlier you pay down the largest amount of your mortgage, the less money you spend pissing it into the bank's funds on interest. With a child, it is MUCH harder to pay a mortgage ahead of schedule. If we can stay on the budget I've proposed, we'll own our own house after only 8 or 9 years of marriage. That means that he'll be under 30 and I'll be just over 30 and we'll own our own house free and clear, no money owed to the bank. If we wait until we've been paying the mortgage, our own home for three years, our children will only be perhaps 5 or 6 and we won't owe anymore mortgage. That means more money to go into the children's college fund and to take them on fun trips! What are your financial priorities? What are your priorities for your potential children's futures? If you want to become a home owner, have you considered the housing market in your area and are you ready to make a down payment?
3) We want good careers that we will always be able to find work in. With him as an electrician (he's starting his apprenticeship in a year or so) and me with a degree in psychology and ready to get my therapist's licensing before we have kids, we won't ever want for money. That means never having to worry that our kids will be on welfare or unable to do sports and hobbies. Will you need to work after your children are born? If not, how is the stability in your spouse or partner's career area? If something were to happen to your partner, would you have the job skills to rejoin the workforce and balance your budget on your own?
4) We'll be able to have a decent college/expense fund started BEFORE we have kids. And if one of our children has a birth complication, we'll be able to use those savings to pay for things like wheelchairs and so on. While we all dream of a beautiful, healthy baby, sadly many babies are not born perfect. Are you prepared to provide for a disabled baby?
5) We'll be able to save for college from day one, even if we DO have a disabled baby. Do you have a plan for how to save for college? Remember what I said above about 5% being significant interest over 30 years? It goes the other way, too. If you start a high interest savings account, in 18 years' time, it will have accrued a lot of interest. Are you ready to take advantage of that?
6) We'll be able to raise our children how WE want, not how our parents or grandparents want us to raise them. Remember--your mother's roof, your mother's rules. Do you want to be the one to choose the way in which your children are brought up? What are your values when it comes to child rearing? What about your partner's values? Do you have any specific "dos" or "don'ts?" Are you and your partner's values compatible? What is your chosen "style of parenting?"
7) We'll be able to choose exactly what foods we want to feed our children because we won't live with someone else who will feed our children for us. What are your food values? Can you cook? Do you know what foods are good for you during pregnancy and which aren't? Do you know what foods are best for you during conception (that goes for girls and guys!)? What are your dietary values that you want to model for your children? Are you modeling them now?
8 ) We'll have more life-experience so we'll be better able to deal with life's challenges. Children bring a LOT of challenges. I'm the eldest of 6 kids and a former childcare worker who specialized with disabled kids. I know what the challenges are and I also know that I'm ill-prepared to deal with those challenges. We'll know better how to deal with illness, a period of little work, a child who is mouthing off, exhaustion and many more issues of dealing with kids. Do you know how to deal with all of these things with the immense wisdom that comes only with time and experience? Are you ready to deal with questions like "Where do babies come from?" out of the mouth of a three year old? Are you ready to deal with hours of physio or weeks in a NICU for your child?
9) We'll have steadied in our temperaments. Right now, as adults just exiting the last stages of puberty, we have hormonal fluctuations and temperament issues that we can't even recognise. Our patience will wear thin more easily than someone older. Do you have a stable temperament? Are you at a point where you are steady enough to bring up a child for 18 years and produce a well-rounded human being?
Think long and hard before you bring a child into this world. These questions and many more are things you should ask yourself as part of your family planning.
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