FABMs and relationships
How I Overcame Resentment toward NFP for Less Frequent Sex
For a man, sometimes practicing Natural Family Planning can feel like a no-sex plan. In July 2018, Natural Womanhood CEO Gerard Migeon published an article called “When Men Resent Natural Family Planning,” which included an anecdote from a male friend who told him “I hate NFP.” I can totally identify with that perspective. At the […]
Respecting Women as Women: Part I of II
Women are not the same as men. This widely acknowledged truth applies in multiple, multiple ways beyond the obvious external differences. Each sex is more vulnerable to certain diseases than the other, and each responds differently to certain medications. Most everyone recognizes that men and women tend to think differently, and for good reason: scientific […]
How Fertility Awareness Can Help with Healthy Libido
Low libido can be a bit of an embarrassing topic for many, but it’s actually a pretty common physiological condition. It’s even considered normal in certain seasons of a woman’s reproductive life. So can you know the difference between what is normal vs. what’s not? And can anything be done? Yes, and yes. Let’s step […]
The Unique Challenges of Practicing NFP as a Military Family
Sometimes promoters of Natural Family Planning (NFP) or Fertility Awareness-Based Methods (FABM) get criticized for painting too rosy a picture of these methods. And, truthfully, the promotional materials, workbooks, and charts for NFP—methods that help women know their cycle and their fertile time so that they can achieve or avoid pregnancy effectively without the use […]
Let’s Hear It From the Husbands
It’s fair to say that using Fertility Awareness-Based Methods (FABMs) to achieve or avoid a pregnancy will change your sex life. A couple effectively using a FABM (such as the Sympto-thermal Method, Creighton, Billings Ovulation Method, or Marquette) needs to be in constant communication with each other about their plans for a family and to have […]
Tips for When Your Husband’s Not On Board With NFP
They say it takes two to tango . . . and it also takes two to practice natural family planning, or NFP. When using Fertility Awareness-Based Methods (FABMs) to achieve or avoid a pregnancy, making observations about basal body temperature, cervical mucus, or hormones detected in urine must fall to the woman in the relationship. […]
What It’s Like to Live Out NFP, Compared to What You Learn in the Textbook
Sometimes, among my friends who use Fertility Awareness-Based Methods (FABM), or Natural Family Planning (NFP) as I first called it, I hear stories of how things weren’t exactly as they expected. It’s true, there are some things you experience while using Natural Family Planning that aren’t in the textbook. But I still wouldn’t choose any […]
How to Build Intimacy When Abstaining
I love when I hear couples exclaim how much Natural Family Planning (NFP) has increased the intimacy of their relationship. It might seem counterintuitive to some that a family-planning method requiring periods of sexual abstinence could add intimacy to a relationship, but you’d be surprised what some couples who use NFP would say. How do […]
When Men Resent Natural Family Planning
“I hate NFP. I hate it!” My friend, a 36-year-old man, sitting across from me at a popular Mexican eatery for a beer, is a tall, kind, and rather quiet type. A scientist, he is also a Catholic who wants to live the teachings of his faith about sexuality, which, if a couple would like […]
One More Reason FABMs are Different From (And So Much Better Than) Birth Control
When I first got into charting my cycles with Fertility Awareness-Based Methods (FABM), I considered it a (fabulous and exciting) alternative to my birth-control pill. I may have even referred to charting as hormone-free birth control. Eight years later, I now cringe at that saying. I’ll admit, phrases like natural birth control do get the […]