Natural Family Planning: Honoring God’s Design For Married Love

Throughout our lives, we prepare for many things. We prepare to go on vacation by doing the research on locations, weather and hotels. We prepare to purchase a house by looking at loans and connecting with a realtor.

Why don’t we, Sandra Ruelas asks, prepare for family planning?

“We don’t really prepare for our family in the sense that we don’t discuss how many kids we want to have or when we want to have them,” Sandra says. “This should certainly be something that is just as important, if not more so, than going on vacation or purchasing a home.”

Natural Family Planning, or NFP, offers us true methods of avoiding and achieving pregnancies that exclude the uses of hormonal birth control.

“Unlike hormonal birth control, NFP is a system of shared responsibility for a couple,” Sandra says. “With the Creighton model, you can also monitor your fertility and follow up with a NaPro doctor.”

NFP is particularly important for us as Catholics since it “honors God’s design for married love.”

“No married couple should have to decide between their faith and their fertility,” Sandra says. “NFP fosters mutual communication and values life. There’s really no such thing as an ‘accident’ with NFP. You know when you’re fertile and have chances of achieving pregnancy.”

Sandra’s sister first talked her into attending an NFP session with Dr. GM, but at that time, Sandra didn’t think much about it. She had three children, three fairly normal pregnancies, and then became pregnant with her fourth.

“I had my first appointment with my OB/GYN at 12 weeks, and the baby didn’t have a heartbeat,” says Sandra. “What I immediately thought about was Dr. Gretchen Marsh and what my sister talked about.”

Sandra had an appointment with Dr. Gretchen Marsh and began charting with her. After a few months, she asked Sandra if she would be interested in teaching NFP courses in Spanish for Spanish-speaking couples at St. Isidore.

“I’ve been a member of St. Isidore since I was 9, and I lived with my parents in Mexico for years, and then we moved back here,” Sandra says. “While attending the training to become an NFP practitioner, I almost gave up, but I thought that anything that is worth it is probably not going to be easy.”

Shortly afterwards, Dr. Gretchen Marsh moved away, and Sandra continued to offer NFP preparation in English and Spanish at St. Isidore and the surrounding parishes as needed. She would encourage people to go online and research the different methods of NFP and find what works for you.

“When it comes to learning about NFP, I say the younger, the better,” Sandra says. “It is very empowering for young women and puts them in the driver’s seat with their fertility. I often hear in introductory sessions couples saying, ‘If I had only known this years ago.’”

Currently Sandra is offering courses and introductory sessions online, and individuals are welcome to reach out to her directly to schedule a session or ask questions.

“Hormonal birth control has made it so that there are no consequences to our actions,” Sandra says. “That can lead to a destructive path that separates us from God. NFP brings us closer to God’s Will.”

If you would like more information about Natural Family Planning, please contact Sandra Ruelas at sandra.ruelas@att.net or 530-870-0121.

Sandra Ruelas