When I was fourteen, I learned that some types of hormonal birth control might cause abortions. I shared this new information with my best friend. She told me that that’s one of the reasons that she wanted to use NFP when she got married. “That’s what my parents do,” she said.
My best friend is Catholic and I’m so grateful for her introducing me to NFP from such a young age.
Later on, in high school, I started having bad period cramps. These painful periods continued into college and I began to research ways to lessen the cramps. Many articles suggested hormonal birth control. Even though I wasn’t sexually active and so there wouldn’t be a risk of early abortion, I didn’t want to take hormonal birth control. There had to be another answer!
A year later, one of my friends and I started discussing hormonal birth control. In the research I had done about hormonal birth control and periods, I knew that they came with a whole list of side effects beyond potentially causing an abortion. Weight gain. Nausea. Cancer. Etc.
I didn’t want any of it!
I told this friend that I didn’t want to ever take hormonal birth control and instead I wanted to use NFP when I got married.
“That’s the rhythm method,” she smirked, “It doesn’t work.”
Being the stubborn person I am, that comment led me to a week-long rabbit hole where I spent all my free time googling NFP and its effectiveness.
Somewhere along the way, one of the articles I read mentioned using NFP to know which cycle phases you’re in so you can manage your period cramps preemptively.
What!?
I began to wonder if charting my cycle and learning NFP as a single could be a tool to stop my cramps.
That summer, I bought the book Cycles and Spirituality (affiliate link) by *NAME*. That book was written for Catholic teens. And while I was neither a Catholic nor a teen, I greatly enjoyed learning how to chart my cycles without learning the family planning rules that I would have found in all other methods.
My mind was blown the first time I was able to use my charts to accurately predict my period.
My quest to find a way to naturally help my periods also led me to buy essential oils. By learning my body’s fertility signs and by knowing when my period would come, I was able to use certain oils at certain times of the month to support my hormones and prevent cramps.
I continued to chart from that point on.
Five months before Caleb proposed to me, I told him that I didn’t want to ever take hormonal birth control. I told him my reasons and I asked him if he would be okay with that.
“Yes,” Caleb replied, “I don’t want you to ever take anything you don’t want to.”
Once we were engaged, we talked about our family planning options more in-depth. I began to study the rules of NFP as presented in the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni (Affiliate Link).
Five months into our marriage, and I found myself speaking up against hormonal birth control. Two of my friends messaged me, asking me about NFP and I gushed all the things I had learned to them. I discovered that I LOVE talking about NFP!
So I began investigating ways that I could teach NFP. I discovered FEMM and decided that would be a perfect fit! In July 2021, I began taking classes to become a certified FEMM instructor!
I believe hormonal birth control is not a one-size-fits-all solution for all women.
It is often pushed as the only solution for acne, irregular periods, and cramps. I believe that there is always an underlying hormonal issue that acne, irregular periods, and cramps are symptoms of. Hormonal birth control has been shown to be a “band-aid” or a mask for those symptoms. It doesn’t fix the root cause.
For some women, hormonal birth control might be the only answer for their issue. It might also be their desired family planning method.
But I STRONGLY stand for informed consent.
It’s important that women know the side effects of hormonal birth control and how it can affect their bodies if it is taken for a long period of time.
It’s also important that women know there are other, more natural ways to avoid pregnancy.
I want to present NFP as an alternative.
Whether you are single and want to learn how to chart your cycles to learn about your body and for health reasons, or if you are engaged and want to learn a natural way to prevent pregnancy, I’m here for you.
If you want to learn more about charting, grab your free Cycle Charting 101 ebook!
