Natural Birth Control/ Planning

My husband and I don't believe in controlling reproduction by method of chemicals, extra horomones, or by putting something forgein into my body. We have one daughter (10 months) and just lost another baby at 4 months pregnant. We want to wait to have another but without messing with the natural course of things.

Anyone know of some things we can try?

 

pull out / rhythm seems like your only course of option then.

 

Thats what I was thinking.

 

The pull out method would be the only way then unless he can use a condom, but that is one of the worst methods, unless you track your ovulation.

 

There has got to be some obscure herb or fruit, consumed in the jungles of Guatemala, the mountains of Papua New Guinea, the rainforests of Brazil or some other similarly out of the way area, that inhibits conception. I just don't know what it is.

 

There are lots of herbs that have been used all over for long times, but I have never had a personal experience enough to know how effective it is... however I do know that spiritually many advocate that men do not ejaculate unless it is to have a baby... it is a practice that can be completely and effectively controlled, though it will take some practice for him to "learn" it, most likely... and for health reasons(physically and mentally) many people swear by this method... and believe that ejaculation for any other reason than to concieve is reckless, unhealthy, and physically and emotionally draining on the man and the woman... channeling the energy... via tantric breathing methods are really beneficial to a man, in terms of energy, strength, vigor, clear-headedness, etc. and has been alluded to for a long time.

I will have to say that I've personally seen the transformation with my spiritual partner, who no longer ejaculates and his mentors and other peers also practice this method, practically religiously and it really seems to have done a balancing trick to all their lives and their sexual issues and such. So I will advocate for it as well... it works, yogi's and many other spiritual and health junkies are 100% successful at it.... so yeah.

 

we use the pull out method for all the time except during my period. we're ok with an oops though, so you gotta be ok with that possibility, as it's not the most effective. it's been working for us for about 6 months now though.

as far as herbs and stuff (i've done a bit of research, and unfortunately there's not a lot of info out there on doses and stuff), i've heard pomegrannets and/or pommegranet juice has been used since ancient egyptian times, and is related in the mythical stories from ancient greece as well. so i try to drink it, eat the seeds, etc. for an extra umph.

also, there is a rhythm method where you take your body temp every morning as you wake up before you get out of bed, and that will tell you when you are ovulating, so you can avoid having him ejaculate inside during that time. it's called basal temp monitoring. there's also a microscope thing you can look at your saliva and supposedly tell your fertile days that way. i think that one's about 30 bucks. i haven't tried either of those methods though, as they are too cumbersome for me at this point in time

 

Yeah... there are lots of methods out there, lots of good books dealing with charting and there are lots of herbs I've seen mentioned too... but like the ap said, there's not much info about it's effectiveness, and how exactly it all works... but if you have the time/desire to try out the different methods, maybe you could figure it out and be the one to make the information more readily available... do a google search, there's good sites and good books out there.

 

It's pretty easy to know when you are ovulating....and there are only a few days a months when you can easily get pregnant anyway.

 

Sure there are those physiological methods like pulling out and keeping tabs on ovulation plus some herbs... but the fact is some 80-85% on couples who choose to follow these methods DO become pregnant within a year. So no, they are NOT reliable methods of birth control.

 

I've posted this site a few times on various threads here. They have a lot of information about herbal contraception.
http://www.sisterzeus.com

 

monitor your ovulation and/or pull out. even then, you can get preggo. i hope your next baby is healthy and everything goes well, im sorry to hear about your loss.

 

A "chemical" is simply a material with a defined chemical composition. Water is a chemical. It is always comprised of two hydrogen molecules for every one oxygen molecule. If you drink water, you are putting a "chemical" into your body. (here's a cite, look at the second paragraph: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical)

All of the herbal remedies mentioned in the link above, such as Queen Ann's Lace / Wild Carrot (Daucus carota) also contain "chemicals".

The common birth control pill contains estrogen and prosgesterone, which are both naturally-occurring hormones found in the human body. Just because they put them together in a laboratory doesn't mean man created this shit originally. And just because you don't understand how it works or how it's made, doesn't make it a bad, nasty "chemical" any more so than chewing on a root is a chemical. It's just more effective, as has been proven through many instances over many years.

 

just to clarify -- when it's needed I use regular hormonal birth control. nuvaring wooo.

I didn't post the link because I think 'chemicals' are 'bad'.

I posted it because there might be people interested in alternatives for any reason. It's not just a matter of 'chemical=bad' or whatever. Some people who click on that link may not have the money to pay for hormonal stuff every month. Some people might want to use it in conjunction with what they're already doing. Some people might just like the idea of having a choice about what they put into their body or what they do not without the insinuation that they're being ignorant.

idk. maybe it's just late and I'm cranky. but more alternatives and choices to consider are always good in my book.

 

i haven't been with a woman yet who didn't get at least a little fucked up taking hormones.

 

another thing I've recently found -- it's much easier to monitor your ovulation when you are not on hormonal birth control.

strangely enough, now that I don't use the nuvaring anymore, it's very very obvious to me when I am ovulating.

innaresting.

 

Checking your vaginal mucus, combined with taking your temp, is very reliable in detecting ovulation. It's as reliable as oral contraceptives IF IF IF you do it right.

You shouldn't even count pulling out as a "method" ...

 

I want to try the temperature-thing to see when you're ovulating. I see no real problems with this, exept when you get sick and your temperature rises and stuff..
Now I'm still on NuvaRing because I just bought a new package I was just wondering how to get started, the first couple of months you only have a few statistics to use... I guess we should just use condoms but I have had kind of a lot of broken condoms so that scares me :s Anyone out there who uses this method can tell me more??

 

darth, the reason it's easier to tell you're ovulating now is because.... you are ovulating now. You do not ovulate on hormonal birth control, or if you do, it is rare and random.

Now, I studied midwifery for a few years and while I'm not a midwife, here is what I know:

Charting does NOT have a failure rate of 80%. With proper and consistent use, it is around the same as hormonal birth control. However, this means you must chart fertility signs as well as temperature. It does not mean "pulling out" and it does not assume you ovulate on day 14. You must chart consistently, and you must never assume that one month will be the same as the next. I highly recommend the book by Toni Weschler called "Taking Charge of Your Fertility." Every woman should read it. Really.

Diaphrams can be used with lemon juice and aloe vera. Sperm are not hard to kill, it's just a matter of making the environment inhospitable. Combine this with condoms and/or charting, and you have quite effective natural birth control.

 

Condoms.

No chemicals in your body. It's just a physical block for sperm..

Otherwise, you will get knocked up.