How it Began

If you knew me in the past, the person I am today would shock you. I shock myself from time to time. Five short years ago I was a typical selfish twenty year old. I was completely uneducated about life processes and I had a fear of being defined as only "a mom." Today, I like to believe that I am somewhat educated on life processes and being defined as a mom is the thing I am most proud of. The style of parenting that I have taken on is what I believe would shock most. I am a baby wearing, pro-breastfeeding, cloth diapering, natural childbirth promoting, essential oil loving, slightly "crunchy", green momma. In the past I would have laughed at you if you suggested that I would do any of these things. So, how exactly did I get here? Let's see...

It all started with birth control. In October 2010 my doctor changed the pill that I was on. The pill I was previously taking had changed the shape of my eyes making it near impossible to wear contacts. Lucky me, the new pill made me Mrs. Crazy Pants. It was almost like I was depressed. I came home form work, had dinner, and went to bed. Sometimes I would just completely skip dinner and just go to sleep. To add to it, I was mean to poor Chase. I talking really mean to the point I realized I was being hateful for no reason at all and had to apologize. Something had to give. It was all really scary when I thought about the synthetic hormones changing the shape of my eyeball. So, I started reading and discovered natural family planning (NFP.) It didn't take long and I threw away my pills in January 2011 to start practicing the Standard Days Method using Cyclebeads to track everything. For six months we successfully avoided pregnancy and in June 2011 the methods success continued; only in June we used the method to get pregnant. NFP was right for us and ultimately kept me from putting the synthetic hormones in my body.

Making the decision to switch to NFP was the beginning of a slippery slope for us. It was that decision that led us to making decisions based on a more natural agenda. Being ever so slightly "crunch" often takes hold of many conversations I have with people so there will definitely be more to come on the topic. Just food for thought, what ways have you changed in the last few years? Have you taken on any new natural habits?