On the other side of fertility by Ann Gundlach
Thirty-two years and eight months. That’s how long my husband, Greg, and I practiced natural family planning before I entered menopause. To the world, I almost feel like I should be a museum exhibit or perhaps the subject of a viral post: Rare woman manages entire fertile years without the need of contraception! I’m definitely an anomaly in most circles. But among those who learn a fertility-awareness method, I’m not that much of an oddity. Having worked for an NFP organization for many years, I know there are thousands of women (actually, couples!) who have left the artificial and unnatural stuff behind with no regrets. The naysayers will likely jump on that last phrase, “with no regrets.” Too often any positive message about a no-contraception approach is followed by rumblings that the real truth about living without contraceptives is not being told. My own seasoned advice to anyone considering leaving pills, patches, condoms, etc. behind is to be somewhat discriminating about which voices you listen to. Facebook and other social media groups are good to a degree. But like anything online, I’ve seen plenty of incorrect information shared, and my experience tells me there is more negativity among the online crowd than among NFP users in general. For the record, everyone’s NFP experience is valid for them. My decades of working with NFP couples has
shown me that a number of them do struggle with practicing it, some even mightily. But not everyone does. Some couples equate navigating the postpartum time as on par with getting a root canal without pain medication. But for many other couples, it’s not anywhere near that difficult. There are anxiety-ridden premenopausal couples who are afraid to trust that their fertility is waning. But not us. My fertility knowledge gave me the confidence to know that my signs had been pointing to being infertile for several years, despite still having periods. So much so 20
