Grace T’s User Questionnaire

I’m a high school history teacher and I love training for and competing in endurance events like running and triathlons. When I’m not working or training, I love to read history, theology, philosophy, and a good historical fiction book from time to time. I went to undergrad at Marquette University where I also partook in Naval ROTC, so I graduated and was commissioned as an active duty Navy officer for 5 years. I’ve been in southern and central California since getting my commission for both my active duty service and now my teaching job.

My fiancé and I have learned a lot about each other and what the role of sexuality is within a relationship. We are abstaining until marriage because we’ve both made mistakes in that area in past relationships, and learning NFP (specifically Creighton, though we’re going to probably switch to Marquette) has really forced us to acknowledge past sins and hurts and look ahead to building a solid faith base around not only our sex life, but our intimacy in all areas. It’s also forced some really tough theological questions on us since he is Southern Baptist, but the result of those convos has overall been that both of us recognize, at least a little more, what sacrificial love is and how God is always calling us to something deeper and better.

I found Lisa through one of Emily’s blog posts actually! Lisa and I have met for all of the required follow ups and we’ve had some extra interaction as well as we try to nail down a couple of questions my chart presents us with.

Ugh, well, the last three weeks life has been crazy so I’m not gonna factor that in for the response….I used my notes app on my phone the first couple week to keep track of all of my observations, but I was able to figure out a system in my head to keep track of what I’d seen and how many times throughout the day. I write my observations down on my chart each night or sometimes put the necessary lingo in my phone to put it on the chart the next day. So far I only track mucus, which has been relatively easy for me to get used to doing. It hasn’t honestly impacted my life too much in a physical sense, I think the mental, emotional, and spiritual senses are really important though. I’ve delved a lot deeper into the biblical and doctrinal reasons that support NFP since my fiancé is Protestant, and the discussions we’ve had about the spiritual effects of the physical sexuality and how our fertility shapes that have been really tough but really fruitful.

I started with Creighton because I have horrible PMS and pre/post menstrual spotting that needs to get evaluated by a NaPro doctor. I’m so glad I learned about NaPro because for YEARS my doctors and OB/GYNs just brushed me away when I told them I didn’t just want to put a band-aid on via hormonal birth control. Because I do get pretty much continuous mucus to some degree or another, we’re probably gonna switch to Marquette to have a more analytical approach to my hormones and when my fertile window really is. My favorite part is just having an educated instructor who is also an RN and a great “big sister” in the faith. Every meeting we have brings me to a better level of understanding my body and my faith and the way those two parts of me are meshed together. The worst part is seeing how many days my future hubby and I won’t be able to enjoy each other’s company via intercourse, but we both feel a lot better about that sacrifice than me being on hormonal birth control or using barrier methods.

I was already pretty familiar with my cycle in terms of knowing when I would start PMSing, when I was most likely fertile, etc, but learning Creighton enhanced that SO much. Being able to pinpoint the hormonal shifts based on something as simple as mucus is amazing and I feel so much more comfortable with other physical changes like bloating or tender breasts, etc, because I can match them up exactly with where I’m at in my cycle and then predict what the next day or two will most likely bring. I haven’t been to a NaPro doc yet but I have an appointment in a few weeks to get hormone labs done to check and see what causes my PMS and spotting.