Charting as an Engaged Couple

Many new clients that practitioners see are engaged couples. These couples may have found the Creighton Model System on their own, or it may be part of their marriage preparation

requirements for their parish or diocese. However these couples come to me, I’m always excited to teach them. I’m engaged myself, and I love sharing the Creighton Model System with other engaged couples.

Being engaged is a simultaneously stressful and exciting time. There are all the details of

wedding planning and preparing to transition from single to married. Attending an introductory session and follow ups may seem like too much to add on top of an already packed to do list. However, learning to chart as a couple can help lay the foundation for a strong, healthy, and holy marriage. If a man and woman can discuss cervical mucus, they can discuss almost anything!

Those learning the Creighton Model gain knowledge of SPICE, the multidimensional aspects of intimacy that go beyond intercourse. Learning to chart together allows both the man and woman to take responsibility for understanding and monitoring their collective fertility. This is one of my favorite parts of the system since it is very different from the birth control pill. We focus on the fertility of the woman in the Creighton Model not because she has the sole responsibility for charting. Rather it is because while men are (for the most part) always fertile, women are only fertile for a certain number of days each cycle. The fertility of the couple depends on the cyclic fertility of the woman.

What does it look like for an engaged couple to take responsibility for their fertility? For starters, it is best for the man and woman to attend the introductory session and follow up together. This way they can both thoroughly understand the system and develop their confidence in charting and interpreting the chart. If possible, the man can do the recording on the chart even while the couple is engaged. When the couple talks over the phone in the evening, she can share her observations for the day, and he can record it in the chart. Once they are married, it will be natural for her to make the observations and him to record them. Then they can interpret the chart together.

Learning the Creighton Model System is a journey worth beginning for the engaged couple.

While it’s best to start charting at least 4 months before the wedding, I recommend starting as soon as the couple can. Beginning to chart early was incredibly helpful for me in my own

journey of learning about my cycle. It allowed me to identify issues with my cycle and to begin to address them with the help of a specially trained NaPro doctor before I was married. Any of our caring practitioners would be happy to schedule an introductory session with engaged couples who want to begin learning the Creighton Model System. It is an empowering and unifying experience for couples to comprehend and take ownership of their fertility.