Matt and Mandie DeVries say their method of pregnancy prevention has strengthened their marriage.

Mandie, a recent graduate of the University of Northern Iowa, and Matt, a senior in electrical engineering, said natural family planning has improved communication in their relationship and helped them learn how to express love in non-sexual ways.

“It promotes our marriage,” Mandie said.

“Natural family planning is the general term used to describe birth control methods that don’t use any mechanical or hormonal methods,” said Malhar Gor‚, physician at the Student Health Center.

He said natural family planning is a timing method in which physical changes in a woman’s reproductive system are observed to determine when she is most fertile. Couples who practice this method abstain from sex for a minimum of six to eight days around the time of ovulation.

Couples who use one of the several types of natural family planning measure one or more physical signs, such as menstrual patterns, hormone levels, basal body temperature and cervical mucus qualities, he said.

“The prevention of pregnancy is fair to good with the combination of abstinence and natural family planning,” he said. “It has a high failure rate because of all the variables.”

Some of these variables include fluctuations in a woman’s cycle because of stress or variations in body temperature due to changes in activity, he said.

Gor‚ said there are fewer than 10 young married couples in his practice who use family planning. Generally, his patients who use this method are of non-traditional age and don’t have intercourse frequently, he said.

The advantages of family planning include increased knowledge of the reproductive system, male involvement in this method and the lack of side effects, Gor‚ said.

Another advantage could be its low cost.

“The cost is either none or quite high [if a pregnancy results],” Gor‚ said.

These advantages can become disadvantages if couples don’t understand the woman’s physical changes or if they aren’t committed to abstaining from intercourse during fertile times, he said.

The DeVries said natural family planning has benefits that go beyond the scope of medicine.

Matt said that it has strengthened their communication with each other because of his involvement and the periods of abstinence it requires.

“He wakes me up at 7:15 [a.m.] and puts a thermometer in my mouth and records my temperature on the chart,” Mandie said.

They agreed Mandie’s fertile periods present opportunities for them to grow closer without sex.

“You have to find other ways to be intimate,” Matt said.

They also said they like this method because it is easily reversible. If they want to conceive, they will know exactly when Mandie is most fertile.

Family planning educators Tony Pometto and Diana Grebasch said the natural family planning method is beneficial to the family.

Grebasch said it helps husbands be aware of and respect changes in their wives’ bodies.

“He can see where she is in her cycle and understand her moods,” she said.

Grebasch and Pometto agreed these techniques can easily be taught to anyone.

The DeVries learned how to do the sympto-thermal method of family planning from a home-study course offered by the Couple to Couple League.

Several types of family planning classes are available in the Ames area.

Grebasch and her husband have taught in Ames through Family of the Americas for 12 years. Pometto has taught the sympto-thermal method through the Couple to Couple League with his wife for 23 years.