There are numerous reasons why couples choose to postpone having a baby. For many, financial stability is one of the top reasons. Whatever the case, people have resorted to different modes of family planning.
One of these methods which has been scientifically proven to be highly effective but is not widely known and understood, especially in the Philippines, is the Billings Ovulation Method (BOM), which involves planning to conceive and not just postpone pregnancy.
This article hopes to shed some light on what the Billings Ovulation Method is, and its benefits as shared by parents who actually use it, and, in some cases, teach others how to use it, too.
What Is The Billings Ovulation Method?
The BOM was developed by Dr. John Billings and Fr. Maurice Catarinich. Both were later joined by Dr. Evelyn Billings. Dr. John and Evelyn eventually became the main proponents of the method.
If properly practiced, the BOM is 98-99% effective when used to avoid pregnancy. It is not the same as the Rhythm Method which is not recommended because women differ in their cycles. The BOM is an individualized method based on the woman's self-observation of her cervical mucus pattern.
Basically, the BOM teaches women to recognize when she is fertile and infertile by helping her learn to identify “sensations of wetness” i.e. the presence or absence of mucus at the vulva.
Due to the extensive scientific research and effectiveness trials done on the Method, it is now taught in most countries of the world, regardless of people’s religion, race, economic status, culture and educational achievement.
In fact, even people who are illiterate can be taught the BOM since users only need to use colored symbols or stamps to keep a record of their fertility patterns. In most cases, only a pen and paper are needed, or charts using symbols.
Click here to read more.
[previous|page|next]
Christine Jacob-Sandejas, host and celebrity mom of five, uses Billings combined with the Rhythm method. She highly recommends it to couples as it is “free and natural and anyone can learn it.” She and her husband Paco first heard about the BOM at a marriage seminar, and proceeded to learn more about it from books.
Christine cites the benefits of the BOM for us: “It is easy to use, and at no cost at all. Plus it allows us women to master our own bodies and know what is going on and when… I know when I am fertile and could get pregnant. I inform my husband if we plan to be intimate. Out of the 30 days in a month, we abstain for maybe 6 straight days just to be sure.”
Because of this communication about the wife’s fertile days, and the times of abstinence for couples postponing pregnancy, the BOM “encourages respect between husband and wife and mutual consent,” according to Christine.
How Does The Billings Ovulation Method Work?
The Billings Method, also known as the Mucus Method of Natural Family Planning, requires the woman to take note of the changing sensations at the vulva, in addition to looking at any vaginal discharge found on her underwear.
The basic explanation of the BOM is as follows:
1. All women who are able to bear children notice that at some time between their menstruations they have white or colorless vaginal discharge called mucus.
2. This mucus discharge is not a sign of any abnormality. It is actually an indication of good health and “signals” to the woman that it is now the time when an act of intercourse may cause pregnancy.
3. When the mucus begins to show at the vulva, it is opaque and sticky. Next, it becomes stretchy and slippery, and may look like the raw white of an egg. After that, it becomes sticky again, and then stops altogether.
4. The woman’s most fertile days are those when the mucus is stretchy and slippery, and for a few days afterwards.
5. For some women, sometimes a little bleeding occurs between one menstruation and the next. Again, this is usually not something to be worried about. Each woman has a unique cycle.
Couples who use the Billings Method are taught to help each other record what the woman feels at the vulva at the end of each day. Her husband can then help record her observations on a special readily available and reproducible chart.
Click here to read more.
[previous|page|next]
What are the BOM Basic Rules?
If you want to conceive a child
1. Observe the days when you have stretchy, slippery mucus. For women with irregular cycles, these may not occur in every cycle.
2. The best chances of having a child is likely to occur if intercourse takes place on the days when the woman is most aware of the slippery feeling produced by the mucus.
3. The husband’s fertility may be enhanced at the same time by a rest from intercourse or abstinence a few days beforehand.
If you do not wish to have a child
1. Do not have intercourse during menstruation.
2. Do not have intercourse on days when the mucus is present and for at least 3 days after.
3. Avoid intercourse on days of slight bleeding and for at least 3 days after, should bleeding occur between one menstruation and the next.
4. During the dry days right after menstruation, you may have intercourse on alternate nights so as to avoid confusing the wetness from the husband’s seminal fluid and the wetness of the wife's mucus.
When you are unsure if the mucus is fertile or infertile, avoid intercourse on that day and for 3 days after.
Using the BOM in this manner can help improve a couple’s relationship by opening more lines of communication between them. Both the man and the woman are also taught to respect and get to know the woman’s body and the optimum time for conception. If they are postponing pregnancy, then they abstain from marital relations on the fertile days.
Click here to read more.
[previous|page|next]
Nona D. Andaya-Castillo, or Nanay Nona to many who know her, is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and a freelance teacher of indigenous vegetarianism, natural healing using food as medicine, prepared childbirth, breastfeeding and natural parenting and family planning. Nanay Nona says that she learned about natural family planning from her breastfeeding counselor, Ms. Ines Fernandes, when she gave birth in 1988. She bought a book on the Billings Method, and upon discovering “the beauty of BOM,” she wanted to become a teacher so she attended a training conducted by Drs. Billings when they came to the Philippines in 1995.
Despite having very little knowledge on medical matters at the time that she studied the Billings Method, Nona and her husband were able to use the method without formal instruction from 1989 to 1995 until she took the BOM teacher training. Nevertheless, she encourages couples who feel that they need some coaching to seek one out.
According to Nona, the Billings Method gave her the confidence to know more about her body and has empowered her to be able to reach their family planning goals without artificial contraceptives.
In 1995, Nona’s husband suffered from rheumatic heart disease and because of all the drugs he was taking at that time, they both agreed not to get pregnant anymore (which she says she still regrets until now) because they thought that it was unhealthy to do so. Nona is proud to say that they were able to reach that family planning goal “even without the use of a single condom!”
Because it has worked for them, Nona strongly recommends BOM to couples instead of artificial contraceptives, which involve many risks and discomforts, the extreme of which are kidney and liver damage.
Maryanne Ocampo, a former injectable contraceptive and pill user, has been using the Billings Method for 9 months now. She says that using artificial contraceptives negatively affected her health, as she experienced “hair loss, a feeling of heaviness or being overweight, shortness of breath and had varicose veins.” She was also constantly hot-headed.
Click here to read more.
[previous|page|next]
Maryanne soon stopped using artificial contraceptives and resorted to BOM. She says that using the Method has not only improved their communication as a couple, but has also helped her health-wise. She no longer complains of hair loss and shortness of breath, she feels more physically alert and healthy, and her varicose veins have disappeared. She also says she is not anymore hot-tempered like before.
In the case of Derald Fababeir, 38, a teacher and dad to 1 1/2 year old Teige, the Billings Ovulation Method helped him and his wife Therese conceive a child after eight long years of waiting. He heard about BOM. from his co-teacher, whose mother, Erlinda Ganar, is the President of WOOMB (World Organization Ovulation Method Billings) Philippines. Derald attended the seminar and applied what he learned in their own family.
According to him, the BOM is very easy to use as “all you have to do is to chart or record diligently your wife’s menstrual cycle.” It is also beneficial to them both because “there is no money involved, so it’s very cheap, it’s natural so it’s according to God’s will, and requires no intake of any medicines, therefore avoiding complications and side effects.” Since it is a joint responsibility between husband and wife it also makes for “bonding time for couples.”
Derald says mastering his wife’s menstrual cycle and being diligent in charting his wife’s menstrual cycle were two minor hurdles they had to cross in using Billings. However, he is confident that couples who wish to use BOM can master it after a month of diligent monitoring.
Meg Murrf Trinidad, a 30-year old preschool teacher and writer, is mom to
2-year old Reese and Cate, 9-months old. She likes to read book on family planning like “The Art of Natural Family Planning” by John & Shirley Kippley and “Taking Charge of Your Fertility “by Toni Weschler. Eventually, she and her hubby learned the BOM with Rally Ganar.
Meg is currently breastfeeding, so her cycle is irregular, which means she has to follow the BOM rules to the letter. It's a sacrifice for both her and her husband, but ironically they are now much closer to each other because of it. Since they had decided early on that they would only do Natural Family Planning, they seriously talked about their goals for their family (such as saving for the needs of their growing family, spacing their children's births so that she could breastfeed each one for two years, etc).
Click here to read more.
[previous|page|next]
“I want all breastfeeding women to know that they can do Billings. Many OB-Gynecologists believe it's impossible to do Billings when you're breastfeeding, but I’m living testimony that this is not true! In fact, breastfeeding women should only do BOM because the harmful stuff in contraceptives can be passed on to the baby through their milk. Baby girls may become infertile! I'm doing this for the health of my daughters, as well as for my own,” Meg shares.
Meg also says that she feels very much loved because her husband Jack “prioritizes my health (no contraceptives), and has come to learn that sometimes, I really value being able to just talk to him, hold hands, share dreams about our family. I can say that, in spite of our practicing abstinence on some days, we are much closer to each other now than when we first started out as a married couple. And of course, practicing BOM has made the marital act even more special for us on `safe’ days.”
Because of all these reasons, Meg highly recommends the BOM to everyone. “I teach it to my friends, and I am very comfortable talking about it with others” she says.
Based on these stories, the Billings Ovulation Method is definitely one mode of family planning that couples should try learning and practicing. It may prove beneficial not just to them as husband and wife, but also to their whole family, and, perhaps, even to their community.
The Billings Method is best learned before being put into practice. For further information on how you can learn about the B.O.M., please contact:
Nona D. Andaya-Castillo, IBCLC
(www.breastfeedingphilippines.com)
Phone No: +639198395555
The Philippine Lactation Resource and Training Center
TESDA Women's Center, TESDA Complex
East Service Road, SLEX, Taguig City Philippines
Pro-Life Philippines – 6923749 / 7337027 / 734-9425 (www.prolife.org.ph)
Linda Ganar, WOOMB Philippines, Billings Ovulation Method Centre, PO Box 191EA, Emita, Manila, Philippines 1045 WOOMB Philippines http://www.woomb.org/index.html
Pregnancy Support Services Asia – 8906187 / 4037179
Couples for Christ Global Mission Foundation Inc. Gift of Life Ministry – 7094868 / 7094873
Resources:
www.nfpoutreach.org
www.billings-centre.ab.ca
www.prolife.org.ph
Photography by Edsel Ochoa
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod
