Getting to Mass has been more difficult lately because of the morning sickness. I get it all day, but mostly in the morning and evenings, so it's tough to get there. This morning Mike and I were walking up the sidewalk to church and I groaned, "Oh, I don't feel good."
"We can go to church later," he said.
"No, that wouldn't be any better," I replied.
"We could go home and watch Mass on TV," he said. "Or Mass on the internet."
"No, we can't do that!" I exclaimed. "I need to bless the baby!"
Ever since I found out I was pregnant I've been doing this. I always enter the church and dip my fingers in the holy water to make the sign of the cross, and then I take the excess moisture on my fingertips and make a tiny sign of the cross over my belly where I estimate the baby is.
I do realize that the holy water is supposed to remind me of baptism, and the kid hasn't been baptized yet. However, it does make me feel better. So far nobody has noticed me doing this, but I kind of wonder what remarks I'll get if anyone ever does. I wonder if it's even allowed. But then again, Catholics do believe that life begins at conception. Why can't holy water begin there too?
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Lately I've been thinking a lot about why my birth control failed. Now, don't think at all that I regret getting pregnant...there's nothing I want more than a healthy pregnancy that results in a healthy baby. But when you make a plan and it turns out so differently than how you planned it would, I think it's natural to look back and try to figure out why.
Here's the thing I learned about Natural Family Planning...there is no fudge factor. With other birth control methods, there's a little wiggle room. You can have sex without a condom once and you might not get pregnant. You can forget a birth control pill or two and not get pregnant. But with NFP...man. Those days you can't have sex are the days you WILL get pregnant. Not might get pregnant. WILL GET PREGNANT. Even on your least fertile day, you're still fertile. So if you try and fudge it like I did you'll just wind up like I did...pregnant.
So yeah. I still think it's a great method for birth control, and I want to try it again after my cycles go back to normal. But I'm sure as heck going to take it a little more seriously.
2 comments:
This is another reason that NFP seems unnatural to me. I've read studies where some women (not all) have found that sex is most enjoyable and wanted during their fertile period of the month. Not being able to have sex during those fertile periods cause extreme frustration and stress on themselves and their marriages.
Only you can say if this is what happened to you. You probably fudged a little because you didn't think it was a big deal, but could it also be that it was more "natural" to have sex while you were fertile?
A Faithful Catholic
keep in mind that you can ovulate even if you're breast feeding and not having a period making it impossible to track fertile periods. there are lots of kids that are born less than a year after their older sibling to prove that.
i mention this because your body needs to rest after pregnancy. having children in close succession can cause a huge number of complications.
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