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Life before the Lady-comp Baby Fertility Monitor
I know that there are some people out there that practice Natural Family Planning. And, in theory, every practicing Catholic couple should be.
But, in reality, there are many couples, Catholic or not, who choose not to follow this method of living out their marriage vows. They have reasons that appear to be justified and very real to them.
Though now we are confident and loyal to NFP, it wasn’t always that way.
In the beginning
Our marriage began as an ‘already made’ family. My husband had a son and I had a son and daughter. So from the start we had three children under our roof.
As a newly converted Catholic, I had already seen the beauty of the Church’s teaching on NFP, and together with my husband, we made the decision and ended any artificial birth control.
Soon after we had two more children just sixteen months apart. It was then that we realized that we needed some direction with this whole ‘NFP thing’. There was obviously more to it than counting up the days between my periods.
We decided to be proactive and started to inquire about taking classes. I had never even heard of such a thing. But, I called around to a couple of Parish offices and finally got directed to someone one and a half hours away.
First the Creighton Model – I had no idea!
Not really knowing what to expect, We began to take weekly classes on the Creighton Model of NFP. The classes made me a little uncomfortable. I would never have thought about discussing ‘fertile signs’ out loud.
The consistency of one’s mucus had never come up in any conversation before. Never in all of my previous thirty years! Yes, I had heard of keeping track of your menstrual cycle, but that was it.
But, there we were talking about it and learning about how to check, observe and chart for the weeks ahead.
I did get a real appreciation for my husband during this experience. I realized that it was not just mine but, our fertility. We both had to know and acknowledge the gift itself, and the responsibility that came along with it.
From the beginning, for me, it was very difficult to feel confident in my observing and charting. I always had the feeling that I was not observing correctly, I may have missed something – I was always second-guessing.
Being very fertile and obviously open to life, we had three more children with two years between each. So, we were up to eight children. I remember people sarcastically asking, “Do you know how this happens?” or “was this planned?”
Where do we go now?
Comments like these, even from family, took its toll on my confidence and ability to really have a handle on the whole NFP way of living.
So, being human, I started to look for some reassurance. Looking for another method of NFP that would help me feel more confident in my daily observations and charting while adhering to the Church’s Teaching.
It was then that we found the Marquette Model for NFP. It was a method developed by Richard Fehring, Ph.D., RN, FAAN. This method used the Clear Blue Fertility Monitor, which we purchased, along with charting the mucus.
The Clear Blue Monitor would detect and hormones in my urine and would let me know if I was approaching, in or outside of my ‘fertile window’. We had to purchase the Clear Blue monitor sticks each month. This obviously got a little expensive for a ‘one income’ family.
Sidenote: I would have to collect and test the first urine of the day. Sometimes I would be too tired or have interrupted sleep and that would cause me to forget altogether to save my urine.
I would chart the results along with my mucus observations and we should have a clear vision of our fertile window.
We attended classes over the phone with a nurse from Boston. I would have monthly calls with her and we would go over my charts. Finally, I felt like I was getting this whole NFP observation practice down.
I was-sort of. But, things like conflict, stress, babies not sleeping through the night, attending functions, moving, and holidays can cause your observations to be off a bit.
All of these things can affect your fertility signs. And as fertile as I am, that did allow for opportunities to be blessed with another baby.
Fast forward, five years later, and with two more beautiful babies, for a total of ten children, we finally discovered the method that gave me the confidence I now have in the monitoring of our fertility.
It was my husband who researched and found the monitor we began to use. It is called the Lady-Comp Baby Fertility Monitor. This monitor took all of my years of guessing and hoping and turned it into complete confidence.
By simply taking my temperature each morning, before rising, the monitor tells me where I am in my cycle. It is equipped with a database of thousands of women’s recorded cycles and also records and analyzes my personal cycle data.
It even has a quiet alarm built in you can set, if you so choose, so that you can get up the same time each morning if you so desire.
I know from day to day exactly if I am fertile or not. It is so precise that it can even tell on that if I conceive on a particular day if it is more likely to be a boy or girl. (We never used this option – it is just a fact that portrays how accurate the monitor is).
It gives so much more information than that. But, our reason for deciding to use it was the simplicity. We have busy lives. My husband works full time and is in ministry. We have children of all ages and in all stages.
Along with our continued communication, this monitor has brought a deeper peace to our NFP journey.
We are comforted knowing that we have safely respected our fertility and have been able to delay pregnancy when we were confident of a ‘just’ reason for doing so.
Husband and wife are called to stewardship of all their gifts, especially fertility, which concerns the birth of a new human person made in the image of God and destined to union with Him for all eternity.
Foryourmarriage.org
How are we doing now?
Our youngest child is now eight soon to be nine. We are still and always will be open to life. And to tell you the truth I am a little saddened by the thought that I am probably over the age of ever conceiving again.

Journeying through pregnancy, experiencing childbirth, and then becoming a mom again to a new soul is such a wonderful gift, and an awesome privilege God has allowed us to share in.
Natural Family Planning, although difficult at times, has been a true blessing.
All of our children respect and value life from conception to natural death. They are open to life and stand up for it without question.
Where to get one?
If you are considering looking into this monitor for your NFP journey it. is linked below.
It is a little pricey, but for the peace of mind & confidence it can give to those who struggle as I did, I think it is well worth it.
Our monitor has never had any issue or malfunction and I have used it every day for the last eight years. ( ours is an older model – with not as many options)
>> You can get it through Amazon here
Wishing you all the blessings that come with the gift of fertility and by respecting this gift with NFP!
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A Catholic mom of 10 & a Deacon’s wife.
A Christian who lives an intermittent fasting lifestyle, my days faithfully begin with prayer & black coffee.
I want to encourage women to realize their life’s purpose, share their faith, embrace God’s Word, grow in confidence, and commit daily to reclaiming overall health while living a life dedicated to their vocation.
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