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fam.

personal topic ahead. just warning. if you don't like personal things, don't read. also, if you are a man, don't read. unless you don't care, then fine. ok,

so one thing that freaked me out about marriage was birth control. probably because i was terribly freaked out by the idea of birth. and me having it. and i went through a pretty obnoxious time of not wanting to go to the doctor. not wanting to talk/think about you-know-what. and not wanting to figure out birth control. 


and then eventually i got over it because my wedding was fast approaching and i needed to get my act together. said my mom. 


so, i started on the pill. 


the transition was a little hard. i had a wave of immediate side effects, all of which were gone by the end of month one. but it was pretty traumatic at the time. and i thought it would never work to be on the pill. but then, it did work. and i loved it. and it turned out to be a great decision for us. and i really did remember to take it. which i thought would be hard. but it wasn't too hard. and it made things so simple. 


recently however, since i've settled into married life...i decided to switch over to a more natural method of birth control, fertility awareness. and i can't sing loud enough praises. i love knowing exactly what's happening with my body and when and why. it's really quite empowering. and i even have a super cool app on my iphone called kindara that allows me to chart my temperature each morning (and all the other "body signals" of fertility). i read this book, recommended by my sister, which told me all i needed to know about using the fertility awareness method (fam). it really has been one of my favorite decisions of life. ever. it-makes-me-feel like a nat-ur-al woomaan. nevermind, bad joke.  


i mean, you have to be committed and consistent with charting. so it's not quite as low-maintainence as a bcp. but if you are slightly ocd, like me, and you are crazy about charting and temperature taking, and knowing what's up, then it is pretty darn effective at preventing the whole baby/birth thing.

when friends ask me for advice about birth control, i hesitant to really give too specific of advice about what will work for them. i think it's great that different things work for different women, at different times, and that we have the freedom to experiment and pick the method that seems just right for us. and that there are so many different options out there. i wish i hadn't been so darn intimidated by it before i got married.  


what do you ladies think? was the birth control decision hard for you? are you happy/unhappy with your method? have you/would you ever try FAM? seriously, i wish i'd had this talk with you a long time ago! could have saved myself a lot of unnecessary angst. 






4 comments:

  1. Hi Elise,

    I've never commented on your blog before but I'm a frequent reader. You cover sensitive subjects with such grace and it's very apparent how present God is in your life. Being a young woman, it's inspiring to have accessible, real women talk like you do about living out marriage the way God intended. So I guess I just want to say thank you!

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    1. Sally, thank you so much for your sweet comment. I love hearing from new readers and i so appreciate the encouragement. Sometimes its hard to post personal things or talk about difficult issues, and it's why i don't do it all the time. But it was part of the reason i started blogging and it means the world to hear positive feedback. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment, and to read. :)

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  2. charting is so much work and energy devoted to your reproductive organs, just slap on a condom and get on with life lol

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    Replies
    1. haha, luckily i really enjoy charting and being in the know with what's going on with my body. but i can definitely imagine seasons of life where i'll be adopting that philosophy. :)

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