Here's a scenario for you. You fall in love with someone. Your lives intertwine over several years. Then, your Discussion about Where Our Relationship Is Going ends poorly. You decide to break up, but after months of reflection you miss each other for all the right reasons. You get back together. And four years later, you're married with three children, none of whom was planned.
These are friends of ours who, blessed (and a little shell-shocked) by their extraordinary fecundity, have decided they're done having children. And now the debate begins: Does she get tied, or does he get snipped? And is tying or snipping even necessary?
They've each consulted us about what we'd do in their situation, and I have to say I'm all for Option Three. There are plenty of noninvasive ways to take control of your fertility, through cycle monitoring and such; that plus condoms should work just fine. Just as there's no way I'd ask my wife to undergo a tubal ligation, there is absolutely no way I'll ever get a vasectomy. It's cliche, I know, but I like my vas deferens just the way it is.
So few people think that cycle monitoring is effective, but we happen to know it works just fine. And the occasional condom is necessary when you're in the mood and it's just not ideal timing. Good for you for standing up for a method of abstaining from fertilization that is not often offered as a good option.
Posted by: Holly | Feb 21, 2006 7:05:43 PM