I can't help but wonder if your friends ended up with three unplanned pregnancies because they used "cycle monitoring" as their form of birth control. According to the FDA, typically one in four couples who use so-called natural planning as their primary form of birth control end up pregnant every year. Plus you still need to pay really, really close attention to what day of the month it is. I much prefer a no muss, no fuss method that you don't ever have to think about: the Copper T IUD. It does not prevent conception, only implantation, so if you have moral qualms about that, skip it. The IUD was the perfect choice for us after TIC was born, and since it was so easy, it will likely be the perfect long-term solution once we decide my uterus is permanently closed for business.
For a long time I figured that Father in Chief would be in charge of the post-baby birth control, with that permanent, snipping solution. However, one of the biggest tide-shifts for me was all the research I did on circumcision. You ask, what does circumcision have to do with vasectomy? Well, since there's no way I'd let anyone cut my son, I realized I don't want anyone knifing my spouse in that general vicinity either.
Those FDA stats are worthless because they collapse all methods of natural birth control into a single category. That's like averaging the effectiveness of standard latex condoms and the effectiveness of homemade saran wrap condoms and saying, "See? Statistics show that condoms don't work." Calendar rhythm doesn't work very well at all, but the sympto-thermal method and the Billings/Creighton approaches are a different story.
Posted by: Jamie | Feb 22, 2006 11:22:11 AM