My partner and I have conceived every time I've ovulated and we've had unprotected sex... so that's why we're going extreme this time as we're done having kids. Fertility is a blessing for sure and I never forget that some couples struggle. But I'm ready to not be so fertile! Although there's a really scary thread on MDC about getting pregnant after your partner's had a vasectomy :(. It's rare but it happens!
. It's rare but it happens!
We got pregnant so easily (round one, I'm not kidding) so I think we'll be really careful even when BFing.
Haha! Us, too! We'd *diligently* used NFP for the first two years of our marriage- so, no spontaneous sex, ever, pretty much. It worked really really well for us in delaying pregnancy, which we were grateful for because my husband is in med school and we weren't sure whether or not we should take the plunge now or wait until some vague future date after residency.
Cue last May, a few days before my birthday. I knew there was a chance I was entering my fertile phase... but we decided to throw caution to the wind JUST THIS ONCE, hedging our bets a little bit. My husband told me as we were climbing into bed that night, "I bet you're pregnant". I was doubtful because I had had lingering worries about infertility. (For no particular reason other than that I really view fertility as a gift and wasn't totally convinced it would come so easily for us given that many couples have to try for several cycles before conceiving). Well, happy birthday to me because I *was* pregnant on the first try!
We were stoked, though. That's what we love about NFP- that it forces partners to really get on the same page when it comes to managing fertility, instead of pushing all responsibility on one person or the other. Every month we had to have the same, in-the-heat-of-the-passionate-moment discussion: "do we want to delay pregnancy? achieve pregnancy? take a chance?" which I think has really benefited our marriage in terms of our sexuality and views on fertility. That month, obviously the answer was "take a chance!" and we left it up to a higher power to decide.
:)
I also was worried I wouldn't be able to get pregnant, but then I got pregnant right away both times I tried - once in 2005 and back in May. We moved out of our smaller semi (duplex in the US) and into our new house that has plenty of room for kids on May 25, and I'm pretty sure we got pregnant that night :)
It's one of reasons I'm pretty sure of how many weeks along I am, even though baby is measuring at 40wks 5days already according to ultrasound and fundal height, I find it unlikely that I would get pregnant "by accident" after NOT getting pregnant for years AND years only 2 weeks before we actually TRIED to get pregnant.
We are pretty sure we want another one after this little guy, in part because of the big age gap - our two girls are 7 and 8, and in part because both of our daughters are not always here - one only every other weekend and the other 50% of the time.
DH is concerned that we're going to be too old when the babies grow up. He's 42 and I'm 38. So ... all that to say I don't think we'll be preventing at all. With DD my fertility returned at 7 months PP and I think we could deal with that spacing, even though it is close.
I successfully did NFP before DD was born for about 1 1/2 years but it took one "oops" to get pregnant with her (I ovulated really late and was traveling so my signs were a little off). After she was born my cycle statyed away for 6 months during which time we used condoms just in case I ovulated early. Then I used NFP from the time she was born until trying to get pregnant this go around (about 4.5 years). We switched from using condoms to pull out during the fertile period and that really worked for us. I utilize fertility friend online and do BBT and that seems to be the most effective for me even with lack of sleep. It was acutally very useful to have my charts for this pregnancy because I ovulated late again (day 21) and would have had a very different due date had I gone by LMP alone. I think we will use this method again. I am definitely not sure if we are done yet but I do like having more spacing in between. Obviously the major downside of NFP is that if you mess up your chances of getting pregnant are very good as opposed to other hormonal methods but that is a risk I am okay with for now. I think when we are really done DH will get the big V.
I have known many people who have the paraguard (copper) IUD and absolutely love it because they get protection without the hormones. I think the main complaint is increased bleeding but I haven't known anyone who has had major problems.
i started charting again when my flow got light enough, about 5 days ago. my midwife has pretty much said we're good til six weeks, my Creighton Model instructor said 8 weeks, and my husband said 'why don't you stop bleeding so we can use this time better!!!'- 
he's pretty much counting down and checking in daily to see where we stand. in the past, i've stopped bleeding as early as 3 weeks, but this time around it looks like it will be more like 4-5 weeks!
i alternate between being terrified of ever having sex again, to being really really ready to quit this bleeding nonsense. 
anyone else struggling w/ fear of another pregnancy?
we don't know if we're done, we do know we're not ready for a while.
i'm co-sleeping, ecologically breastfeeding (which has worked for about 6 months to delay ovulation for me)- but i did get pregnant w/ an exclusively breastfed 10 month old who co-slept as well. that's really hard. we were also using a barrier method at the time. part of me just has to say that that baby was gonna happen no matter what!
and moms who chart- when are you starting and what are you using? (FAM, NFP, Creighton, etc)
I alternate between wanting another and feeling ok with being done. DH wants to go in for the big V, but I asked him to wait for at least a few months. I don't ever get fertility/ AF back until at least 14 months... I know things can change, but I am not feeling threatened right now.
DH doesn't trust charting this time since he is feeling done and doesn't want to have an oops.
I have to say that even though I am having this darn unusual bleeding, I was ready to jump DH this morning.... DS woke just at that time and stopped anything before it could happen, but I am feeling ready (body is saying otherwise, since I had more bright red bleeding this morning.... Arghhhh)
4weeks pp and still spotting here. Every time I think it's done I get heavier spotting.
I'm ready to start dtd again, but feeling DRY so will have to keep the coconut oil handy. We've been fooling around some, which is really nice-to get that kind of attention, just nothing internal.
both of us are 100% done with babies, so will be looking into the V some time soon. Until then DH will withdraw and in the past I don't ovulate for the first year or so.
Follow Mothering