Often, Natural Family Planning (NFP) is understood as a tool for spacing births and gaining a greater overall understanding of a woman’s fertility. But, many people overlook another important purpose for NFP: achieving pregnancy. This need becomes particularly apparent when a woman is facing infertility.
Learning NFP and facing my fears around fertility
I started my journey with NFP about six months before my wedding day, taking classes in the Creighton method and beginning the sticker chart extravaganza. (For the uninitiated, various stickers are used to track a woman’s menstrual cycles in some methods of NFP.) Knowing I had never been on artificial birth control and had what seemed to be pretty normal, regular cycles, I wasn’t particularly worried about going deeper than the basics in my classes. I had a few irregularities in my charting, but figured getting pregnant couldn’t be THAT difficult—right?
Meanwhile, I awaited my wedding day (and night) anxiously, fearful that my husband and I might end up navigating the beginning of our marriage at the same time as pregnancy and parenthood. It was intimidating to think about starting so many new things at once, but I also had felt the invitation from God to be open to conception from the beginning of our vocation, and so we had decided against using the Creighton family planning rules for avoiding pregnancy (although I of course continued to chart my cycles). (NB: In the NFP world, this is sometimes known as TTW, or “trying to whatever,” as opposed to TTC: trying to conceive, or TTA: trying to avoid).
So you can understand my relief when I got my period that first month after our wedding. I knew this meant that, for at least a little longer, I could ease into marriage and family life slowly (and without nausea). But something deep in my heart knew that my fear of the unknowns of pregnancy and birth were overriding the beautiful gift that new life could be for my husband and me.
Sustaining pregnancy through NaPro and progesterone supplementation
My relief at not being pregnant soon turned into curiosity, and curiosity into disappointment, and disappointment into anguish as I continued to get my period month after month. What had once been fear of pregnancy turned into a deep longing for a little person to join our family, and a deep ache for motherhood. After finally receiving my first positive pregnancy test, I was crushed to experience an early miscarriage.
Fortunately, my disappointment was not without hope as I pursued the root cause of my infertility through NaProTechnology about eight months* into my marriage. Because I had learned the Crieghton method, I was able to identify some biomarkers in my charts that pointed to root-cause fertility issues, specifically tail end brown bleeding, and I knew about its association with low progesterone. So, I drove 1.5 hours to see a NaPro doctor in Cincinnati, OH, who ordered labs to be drawn during my luteal phase so we could see if my progesterone numbers were off, an issue which can contribute to problems with sustaining a pregnancy.
However, before I could get those labs drawn, I found myself staring at another positive pregnancy test. Because I had evidence of low progesterone in my charts, my NaPro doctor immediately put me on a bioidentical progesterone supplementation protocol, including suppositories and injections, and ordered a new set of labs.
Though my progesterone numbers were still dangerously low around the 6-7 week gestation mark, an expedited ultrasound showed a beautiful little baby and a steady heartbeat. My joy could not be contained! Because of the deep knowledge I had gained by observing my cycles, my wonderful Creighton instructor, and the gift of NaPro, I was able to give birth to my first son in March of 2020 (while simultaneously watching the world shut down around me, but that’s another story for another day). Though I have experienced one miscarriage since, I have also gone on to have two (with a third on the way) healthy pregnancies and babies, all the while supplementing with progesterone as needed for preparation when trying to conceive.
NFP inspired me to take care of my health and fertility
Discovering my progesterone issue has also caused me to ask the deeper question of, “why?” Why do I have this hormone imbalance in the first place? While there hasn’t been a direct answer, I have found many ways to try and help my body and my hormones do their jobs.
Taking small steps to avoid toxins and nourish my body, like using a menstrual cup instead of tampons, changing soaps, beauty products, and household cleaners, trying to eat less processed (and more locally sourced or frozen whole) foods, regular exercise, and taking practitioner recommended supplements have been just a few of the things I have tried to give my body the leg-up in its ability to do what it’s supposed to do.
How NFP gave me a more intimate understanding of myself and my faith
When I look back on my fertility journey thus far, the overwhelming feelings I have regarding myself and my body include both empowerment and awe. I have felt so appreciative for the body God designed and entrusted to me, and so amazed at its capacity to conceive and bear life in such a beautiful and mysterious way. I have also been able to understand so much better the roller coaster of emotions and experiences we as women have. I am now able to tie it back to where I am at in my cycle, what my hormones might be doing, and how they might be affecting how I perceive reality so that I can more virtuously respond to challenges.
Ultimately, my journey with NFP has taught me to remember who is in charge of my fertility, and that no amount of supplementing or charting or lifestyle changes or worrying can control the uncontrollable mystery that fertility is. NFP has made me see in a concrete way that which my Catholic faith teaches: God gives and God takes away, and he does so as he sees fit for our holiness and the redemption of the world.
*Editor’s note: While mainstream medicine doesn’t consider a couple under 35 years old to be clinically infertile until they’ve been struggling to get pregnant for 12 months, restorative reproductive medicine practitioners (such as those trained in NaProTechology) understand that the vast majority of healthy couples who have been having intercourse timed with the fertile window (determined via a method of natural family planning or fertility awareness) should be pregnant within 6 months.
NFP/FAM and RRM therefore save a couple struggling with infertility both time and heartbreak by getting them the help they need faster than the mainstream approach, which requires 12 months of random intercourse before deeming a couple infertile.
See Natural Womanhood articles: How Soon Should You See a Doctor for Infertility? and When trying to conceive, save months by using fertility awareness for more information.
