Charting to Avoid/Fertility Awareness July 2012 - Page 2

[physics girl]

Yay, Lionessmom! Enjoy your new little one.

[dreamingtree]

Lionessmom- That's wonderful! I'm so glad your labor went well and that you are feeling good in the postpartum period. Very happy for you! It does seem like just a little while ago that you got pregnant. I bet it felt a lot longer to you though ;)

I can't think too much about how sweet and cuddly newborn babies are or I'll be activating my baby fever again ;)

[JMJ]

Congratulations, Lionessmom!  Enjoy those baby snuggles!

[Baby_Cakes]

Awe, congrats to the new bundle Lioness!!

I think I'm in another annovulatory cycle.  Bummer.  Well, not really.  But still!  I'd like some normalcy back!  

http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/1966df

[LionessMom]

thanks everybody! it did seem to go by fast. 

[sleepingbeauty]

Staying up late and getting up early to watch the Olympics is screwing with my temping.  Not sure if my jump in temp is due to O or my crappy sleeping habits recently. *sigh*  Going to take a little bit to get used to this again.

...anyone else glued to the TV/Olympics webpage? 

[lactatinggirl]

Hey everyone! Life has been hectic (which should just be the definition of life, am I right?), so I haven't been on the forums. Honestly, I've hardly made it to my computer at all. 

Still LAM, but I'm concerned that my fertility is returning. I have a BIP of sticky. It's very consistent too. Like the same kind of sticky? Anyway, 4 days ago, I noticed that it was more wet than sticky. I wasn't sure if it was because I had just had lunch with my husband though and we were holding hands (non-sexual, but bodies can be tricky so who knows!). Then, of course, he decides to mess up the next few days of me trying to see if the CM continues, if you know what I mean. Anyway, I keep dancing around in my head of what I would do if my fertility really is returning. I won't know until I keep track of it for a few days, but I just don't know if I can handle the extra stress right now of CTA. I also really don't like the idea of getting on any sort of BC again. I won't do hormones at all. I'm kind of considering the copper IUD, but I don't want to mess with my body. I feel like I've spent my whole adult life messing with it and I'm finally finding my normal. I also REALLY don't want another baby right now. I do want another baby, but I have visions in my head of my 6 month old being more like a 3 year old and my 3 year old being more like a 6 year old. :-P 

Anyway, what do you ladies do when you get down about CTA? How do you avoid getting stressed about it? Is there ever a point in your life when you've decided to stop CTA and use some sort of BC for your mental health and stress levels? 

[mt_gooseberry]

Hugs, lactatinggirl.  Pretty sure we all go through this.  As far as considering something else, well, I'm Catholic, so there is no other option for child spacing for me.  To be honest, I'm kind of glad I don't have to deal with the temptation of other methods.  When there is no other option it's easier to just buckle down and do it.  That said, it also helps that I am convinced that NFP really is superior to all those other methods.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that sometimes NFP sucks.  It's a hassle, it takes way more effort than other methods, and you have to be committed to it.  But it really is best in so many ways, and when you don't have the other methods constantly calling your name and trying to seduce you with their easiness, you can just relax and surrender to NFP.  It becomes a part of your non-negotiable routine, like brushing your teeth.

In any case, you can count on my commiseration and sympathy as you toil through your slump.  Cheers!

[sleepingbeauty]

lactating--I use both condoms and CTA.  I'm trying to do things as naturally as possible but at the same time we're trying to cover out asses, just in case.  Would this be an option for you?  MAny women use condoms in the fertile window then once the danger (ovulation) is a few days behind them they drop the condoms again.

I also can't do hormones.  The Pill made me violently ill and/or crazy, depending on which one I was on that month.  It was horrible.  WE don't particularly *like* using condoms but we are dealing with that for now until I get a month or two of charting done to make sure my post-pill body is leveling out.

[JMJ]

Lactatinggirl, strictly speaking, while you are still in lactation amenorrhea, you do not qualify for LAM for the reason that your daughter is over 6 months old.  There aren't as many studies that would give you great information on how effective ignoring fertility signs is beyond 6 months.  You'd likely have about a 5-10% chance (best guess 6% using eco BFing with no attention to fertility) of viable pregnancy before your first PPAF.  Paying attention to fertility and acting accordingly can reduce that further if needed.  Normally, you'd have a couple of months from the time you first see lots of changes from your BIP before you ovulate the first time.  If you wanted to take some of the guess work out, I'd look into the Marquette Method.  It uses the Clear Blue Easy fertility monitor, and they have a postpartum protocol (check out the NFP while breastfeeding wiki - very easy to learn method) that is said to be pretty darn good when it comes to minimizing abstinence without sacrificing effectiveness before your period comes back.  You'd have to pay for the fertility monitor, and you have to pay for the test sticks as long as you are using the method (1 every other day), but I'm not sure that's any more expensive than the ongoing expense of contraception (not to mention the unpriced cost of messing with your body).  If you start checking again and notice that it's just your BIP still, then I wouldn't use this when you're clearly infertile, but if things are going to be confusing, and you're so stressed out that you're considering other birth control, this bit of technology might be your answer.

[dreamingtree]

New thread is up:

http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1359780/charting-to-avoid-fertility-awareness-august-2012