Ep. 4: Can you avoid pregnancy naturally?

Here we are! The final episode of our BASICS series - 4 short episodes designed to get you started in your personal fertility awareness, no matter what your fertility goals or experience or struggles. 

We began here because these are the basic essentials for any direction your fertility journey may go. Just like in camping, you know that having the essentials are priority over everything else. Michael Scott would say those essentials are a knife and a roll of duct tape, obviously to fashion your pants into shorts and back into pants again. (I couldn’t resist.) But most everyone else would say you need a way to get clean water & food, stay dry, and make fire. If you don’t, having things a fancy bedroll or the newest camping gadget is not gonna get you very far. 

it’s the same way with your fertility - Having that $500 fertility tracker or the newest app is not going to be much help to you if you don’t first have the essentials - understand what ovulation is, what your hormones do, and maybe how you can interpret that for your own cycle using your own biomarkers, like cervical mucus. In fact, without this information, those gadgets or apps could be really misleading! 

But when you do have a basic understanding of each of those things, you can make far more informed decisions about your fertility - in the doctor’s office, in your marriage, and beyond! 

Now, The topic I find many couples are most interested in is how all of this knowledge can be used practically to naturally plan their families, meaning avoid or achieve pregnancy. So that’s what we’re gonna talk about today! 

SO - the big question! Can you avoid a pregnancy without chemicals, devices, hormones, or implants? Yes, my friends - you absolutely can. 

How many of us were taught in high school that a woman could get pregnant at any time? It was probably an attempt to discourage the possibility in the first place, but misinformation is a dangerous thing. The truth is, a couple can only achieve a pregnancy during a few days each cycle. 

if you’ve been listening to this series, then you already know that the female body creates a mucus in her cervix that’s directly in response to her hormones at that time. Understanding that mucus in detail then reveals exactly where she is in her cycle, and whether or not the couple is fertile that day. It’s a scientific fact that certain cervical mucus is present to help sperm meet egg. And when that mucus is there, sperm can live for multiple days waiting for ovulation to occur. 

So, learning a system that teaches you how to accurately interpret this mucus, and never miss it when it shows up - gives you the ability to have a clear picture of your window of fertility - or the time, each cycle, that you could conceive a pregnancy together.

And, I want to point out, this information is just as critical to couples wanting to achieve pregnancy as it is couples who want to avoid pregnancy. Because if they’re not actively using those days of fertility, they will not achieve a pregnancy. Timing matters, for either intention.

So knowing your intention - in any given cycle - directly determines how you’ll use the Creighton method that month. That means that you always have the ability and flexibility to adjust that pregnancy intention from cycle to cycle. This means that a system like Creighton is not just a form of birth control - it’s a comprehensive family planning system - you can seek to avoid or achieve on any given month. Think about the other ways we have to avoid a pregnancy - doctors often won’t remove IUDs before 2-3 years, and even a year of taking hormonal contraception can cause a delay in your return of fertility for 3-6 months, or even a year. I’ve seen it happen to clients. But, when using a natural method, you have the ability to be truly open to the Lord’s prompting to grow or maintain your family size. You can check in with your spouse about how each of you truly feels and whether God is beginning to lead you in one direction or the other. 

That kind of flexibility is so freeing and powerful. I’d love to get a couple to share how this impacts the communication and intimacy in their marriage sometime - because I’ve seen the difference just that can make. 

So, the important thing - for either intention - is to accurately identify that fertile window. 

Now, You already know that I believe the Creighton method to be the absolute best way to do that. (and if you’d like to hear more about why, ep. 2 explains all about the Creighton method and how i came to that conclusion and why i have used it personally and professionally for almost a decade.) 

One very specific reason why we use it - is that The Journal of Reproductive Medicine published a research study showing the method effectiveness of the Creighton at 99.5%. Guess what other methods are also in the 99%? Hormonal contraception, IUDs, birth control pills. Not condoms, or diaphragms, or spermicide, as those are far less effective. 

For those of you hoping to avoid a pregnancy, using Creighton gives you the ability to do that with the same success rate as birth control pills - but without any of the physical, mental, or emotional side effects that come with those pills. That’s huge!

That means that you have options.

I can’t tell you how many couples I’ve worked with over the years who were using hormonal contraception to avoid pregnancy but they hated it - they felt like they had to use it, though, in order to successfully avoid a pregnancy. But - hold on - everyone take just a moment to think of all the friends you know who have conceived a pregnancy while on birth control pills. I promise you have them. I probably hear about more of them, perhaps, because people share that kind of stuff with me - but it happens all the time.

Still, many couples don’t know of any other options that are as effective. Their doctor gave them no other options. Their pastors hadn’t mentioned any alternatives. They assume their friends have the same information they have. 

Learning Creighton - even listening to this BASICS series - gives you valuable knowledge that you deserve to know. And with that knowledge comes options. 

You now know that there are other, natural, cooperative methods that prioritize your health and give you the flexibility to try to grow or maintain your family size each and every month. 

With Creighton, the success of the system relies on the observation of one biomarker - cervical mucus. (That’s one thing I love about it, because I feel like it’s approachable for anyone.) So for this system to work and work well, you need to understand, (confidently and in detail) how to see your mucus, how to interpret it, and how to chart your fertility to make those informed decisions.

This is also why you don’t learn it on your own. And that’s a good thing! if you’re scouring the internet trying to teach yourself Creighton, not only are you going to come up short - because it’s not to be found there - but you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage and giving yourself a far lower success rate. Practitioners want you to be successful. And the way to do that is through one-on-one follow up sessions with a fertility care practitioner, like myself. This way, you know you’re learning everything you need to know, you know your mistakes are being caught early, your questions are being answered promptly, and you can feel comfortable and confident. Trust me, we want you to be at that 99.5%.

Notice, by the way, that that number is not 100%. In fact, no method is 100% effective at avoiding pregnancy. Not an IUD, not hormonal contraception/birth control pills, not even having your tubes tied. That’s one piece of high school health that was correct - the only way to 100% definitively not conceive a pregnancy is through abstinence from all genital contact. 

….What does that mean? Could there be something to that? That God ordained an inseparable relationship between physical intimacy and the creation of life? Think about it - our society has tried to separate these things. Our world doesn’t really want procreation to be a direct result. but, ultimately, these two things are intimately connected. Could it be that this is possibly something to be acknowledged and honored, instead of so suppressed and controlled? 

And, hear me - I’m not saying God doesn’t invite us to have a voice in our family size and make up. I’m no fertility providentialist, believing that whatever may be may be and you just have to see what happens. But the fact that we cannot separate these two things… there’s something beautiful for us there. 

We live in a world that tells us that sex is about ourselves - our enjoyment, our desire, our body. But it can be about so much more than just that. That’s just one part of the gift of that kind of intimacy. there’s such richness to be experienced when we acknowledge the unitive, sacrificial, and procreative aspects of it. 

Sex is more than pleasure, it’s 

The unique and lasting bond with our spouse, 

it’s each individual being acknowledged and cared for, 

it’s the trust and vulnerability being cherished and protected.

It’s also… the opportunity to join with God in the creation of a soul. Phew. 

And that’s hefty. But it’s also holy. All of these different aspects are difficult, yet wonderful and meaningful, but this one… it feels like a whole other level. 

And if we only suppress and reject and control this holy and hefty thing, we miss out on the unity and intimacy God offers us with God’s self. 

God gives us a way to acknowledge this gift, to honor it, and to offer our prayer and desire for its planning, as well. God doesn’t want us out of the equation, but I have to imagine that God doesn’t want to be pushed out of it either! We are all being invited to deeper level of intimacy with God through the acknowledging and honoring and submitting of our fertility. 

That balance and that journey is going to be unique to each couple as they pursue that intimacy together - honestly and vulnerably. 

Oh, there’s so much more that we could talk about here that I look forward to talking about in future episodes.

But for now I’ll bring it back to the basics to close us out - 

God created you with beauty and intention. 

Your body was made with hormones and an anatomy designed for your thriving. 

You don’t have to issue-free in order to thrive. God will be with you as you discover more about your body and fertility, and honor that good creation.  

Couples are fertile for only a few days each cycle. Not every day. And you can learn how to identify that window of fertility to use it to pursue health & wellness, plan your family naturally, and celebrate God’s good design of your body and of intimacy. 

You have options. 

It is a journey, for sure - there are ups and downs and twists and turns along the way. But God will be present and faithful to you in this sacred space in your life. 

I hope this series has been informative and fruitful in your own fertility journey. We’re not done here! There’s lots more to come about health issues, like PCOS and endometriosis, client stories, resources like nutrition and pelvic floor therapy, and topics like fear and anxiety. I hope you’ll join us! 

And, as always, I’d love to help you on your personal fertility journey through the Creighton method. If you’re interested in learning, I invite you to join us for this month’s Introductory Session in just a few weeks. You can register online at wovenfertility.com/join-us. 

I hope you’ll join us here next week as we continue to explore together what it means to be, woven well.