Florence and the gift of life
Lydia
I am so happy to be here again with you all because we have a very beautiful lady that is here with us today! Her name is Florence. I met her with her fiancee before they got married. They wanted to know how to plan a family according to the teachings of the Church; they contacted me and they started learning Natural Family Planning. Florence how are you?
Florence
Im doing good thank you.
Lydia
It is just so nice to have you here today and you look so beautiful. You have this beautiful glow because now you are expecting. There is a beautiful baby growing in your womb. I am so happy about that!
Florence
Yes, we are too!
Lydia
I would like for you to tell us a little bit about when you started learning about your fertility and your husbands’, what was the reason why you wanted to start doing this?
Florence
At the very start we actually approach you because we wanted to learn how not to get pregnant yet after getting married; since we thought, -we are not financially ready, we were not ready to be parents yet, to enjoy being married just us two. But later on, we kind of realized after seeing our sponsor couple saying, you know, be open to creating life. We kind of realized, we don’t really need to avoid it because getting married, it is about creating life too. That is why we approach you again for the second time to get help because we had been trying for a while. I thing it had been almost a year and I could not get pregnant. And I was thinking, there is something wrong with me or my husband. I contacted you and asked your help again.
Lydia
Yes, you came and you learned. It takes a couple of months, a couple of cycles. You wanted to do the things according of the teachings of the Church (catholic) . You did not wanted to use any contraceptives.
Florence
Yes, because a lot of my friends they got married and they are in different contraceptives. I already knew from the Church that is against our teachings using those things because our women body’s design, I don’t think is ok to be taking all of this, you know, taking all those pills or putting all of those, I don’t know how you call it, IUDs or things like that.
Lydia
And, have you seen among your friends or women that you know, that they have sometimes side effects or, not?
Florence
Yes, I have. For some, it takes a while to get pregnant, when they want to get pregnant, they weren’t getting pregnant. It was taking a while. There is another thing, there is. -expect side effects later on if you do take that route.
Lydia
The main reason for you was because you wanted to be open to life!
It was a joy to have you here, when you were learning. We went for a couple of cycles before you got married. And the last time that I saw you, we did not see signs of ovulation and I remember telling you if anything would happen, to contact me again.
Florence
Yes, we suddenly realized that there is no point waiting, it is when I remember you and I wanted to start the charting again. We had been trying for a while, actually after the wedding. At some point, we were just thinking, if it is not mean to be, it is not meant to be parents. Maybe there is another purpose for us, maybe, we were even discussing, we should adopt, things like that. We were unsure if we were going to get pregnant or not. Also with the pressure with people that keep asking me like, -are you not pregnant yet? What is taking you so long?
Lydia
The people that loves both of you is asking you right?
Florence
Yes, all the time, and all the time I see my tias, everybody, even my brothers.
Lydia
How would you feel?
Florence
Sometimes I would get upset but I always tell them: In His time not our time.
Lydia
Yes, whenever there is a couple that we teach whenever they are getting ready for marriage or, any couple that comes to learn for avoiding pregnancy or postponing pregnancy. We always let you all know that whenever you are ready to have a baby, if pregnancy does not happen just contact us again. And, this is what you did.
Tell us about when you contact me again. Of course you have stoped charting because you just wanted to have a baby right? But then it would not happen. How do you used to feel? When pregnancy was not happening. Tell us a little bit about it.
Florence
I was getting worried because I went to the doctor and he said there was nothing wrong. I don’t need to take any meeds. To me there was like, there must be something wrong, you know, I am not getting pregnant so there must be a reason, you know? But I glues they don’t know. I am not sure but they said, -I am normal.
Yes, so before going to the specialist I though of you, it was like, why don’t I try that charting again? Maybe that will help me and -we are now! It did helped me! Because we found out that there were time that I was not ovulating .
Lydia
Yes, definitely, the charting is so important. Most of the ladies we have help conceive, sometimes there is not a very clear indication of fertility. But the recommendations of this method is to pinpoint the most fertile day in the cycle and, sometimes pregnancies happen like that . So, it is individual you know, each couple is unique. How do you used to feel when you started charting?
Florence
I was like, I am going to Give it a try and see if we find out what is wrong with me. What is going on, why I am having a hard time getting pregnant.
Lydia
You were charting every day diligently and we’ll meet weekly. How were you and your husband on this, trying to conceive now with the help of The Billings Ovulation Method?
Florence
To be honest, I was not like expecting, -oh I am going to get pregnant!, that is why I was so shocked when you told me, do a pregnancy test! Like in my head it was like, -no way I’m going to get pregnant! And then I got that solid line and a faint line.
Yes, I was like it is worth the try I just want to see if there is anything wrong with me. But yeah like I said, God’s perfect timing!
Lydia
Yes, Florence, thank you so. Much for your honesty for letting us know that you were not really sure if this was going to work.
Florence
It is because I never really heard about this charting before. It was the first time with you, and the first time I approach you. And, I would ask my friends and they were: yeah we heard about it, nurses friends, and it was like, -no, it does not really work, that is what they would say. Then I found out that I have a cousin who does not even use contraceptives. I guess she has not heard formally about NFP (Natural Family Planning). But that is what she has been doing, she spaced all her kids very well. I was like, wow all this time and you did not tell me? But, yeah I’m kind of surprised, the majority, they don’t believe in it.
