Anyone use Persona Monitor? Or Marquette method of NFP?

[ktgrok]

There is a small chance I may get my Mirena out at some point in the not so distant future. (if interested reasons mentioned at the bottom of post. Not really relevant here)

 

Anyway, while researching various things I came across the Persona monitor. And the Marquette method of NFP. I used fertility awareness successfully for years after my first child was born, then again less successfully between kid 2 and kid 3. Kid 3 was concieved 5 days before ovulation or so....on a dry day. I was only charting cervical fluid at that point and obviously I now know cervical fluid alone isn't enough. I'd probably be fine just actually tracking on fertility friend versus my lazy "hmm, don't see any mucus so it's probably fine" method I had fallen into before kid 3 was born but I think having an extra quantifiable step would help my husband feel more confident. On it's own the Persona seems to have a 94% success rate but I wonder if that is higher or lower when you add in other factors like cervical mucus, charting on the calendar, etc. 

 

 

(My OB thinks my lack of libido is from the Mirena (he sees it a lot) and the DHEA supplement he put me on is not really helping much. Not sure how long that will take. I am not sure that's the cause, because I've had the Mirena for 3 years almost, and the low libido is fairly new, but it could be that with losing 20% of my body weight (and probably a lot of excess estrogen because of the obesity) I'm more sensitive now to the hormones in it. And I want it checked anyway as my period has returned after years of being gone so I want to make sure it is still properly in place. If it isn't, I'll have it removed. (have never been able to feel strings, doctor didn't see them during Pap smear, and my uterus is attached to my abdominal wall now, which he noted at the appt but I don't remember anyone saying before. )

[Guest]

Marquette is the only nfp I haven't gotten pregnant on. I'll add more after I get the kids to school.

[Guest]

The people at Marquette have figured out an algorithm that works with the Clear Plan fertility monitor to predict ovulation. Starting on cycle day 8, you pee on a stick first thing in the AM and put it into the Clear Plan monitor. You enter the information into the website and follow the rules and it tells you when you are fertile.

 

Pros--

Very easy. All I have to do is pee on the stick. No tracking of subjective signs, which was a deal breaker for me. The information is there, I'm not the gatekeeper.

Anonymous online support--users are given a username for their site so no one knows who anyone is. They answer questions on their forum once a day.

Effective!! Like I said, I've used many firms of nfp (stupid baby stickers!) and this one has kept me not pregnant for almost 2 years.

Not subjective--I'm not sitting there trying to figure out mucus quality while my toddler bangs on the bathroom door.

 

Cons--

Expensive--the monitor and sticks are expensive but cheaper than a baby.

Lots of abstinence--ovulation can vary by many many days. To account for sperm life, abstinence starts pretty early in the cycle and goes several days past the predicted ovulation date. If you are very serious about avoiding, they recommend you wait until ovulation has passed. In this regard, it sucks like any other NFP.

No husband involvement-it is 'our' fertility but only 'I' do anything about it. That totally sucks but that is how nfp works.

 

That's all I can think of now. Ask any questions!

[carriede]

Thank you so much, Moxie! I remember reading your posts the past few years and thinking I'd be in the same boat as you soon...

 

DH won't like the expense, but we'd at least like the CHOICE of if/when we get pregnant again instead of being blindsided for the 4th time.

 

And I'm glad you finally found something that works for you.

[ktgrok]

LOL, at first I was like, huh...you've only been using it 2 years, maybe you just aren't that fertile anyway. Then I looked at your signature :)

 

So yeah, you get it. For the record, first baby was a pill baby, 2nd was concieved first month I tried, third was our "lazy not quite charting but no mucus" baby. I think the breastfeeding dries up my mucus a lot, so even when my cycles are very regular and chartable the mucus is not the best thing for me to chart. 

 

speaking of dry...anohter reason I'm looking into all this is lately I have a lot of vaginal dryness. I thought it was dehydration postsurgery but I'm plenty hydrated now. Even my Ob commented on it during an exam. It's another side effect of Mirena that I'm wondering if I just am more sensitive to from losing the weight?

[Guest]

Thank you so much, Moxie! I remember reading your posts the past few years and thinking I'd be in the same boat as you soon...

 

DH won't like the expense, but we'd at least like the CHOICE of if/when we get pregnant again instead of being blindsided for the 4th time.

 

And I'm glad you finally found something that works for you.

 

Yes, I went through a very public bad time during a miscarriage. All better now, ha ha!!

 

If the expense is an issue, check eBay. I've seen the monitor on there several times and sometimes you can find sticks as well (just pay attention to expiration dates). The cheapest place I've found the sticks is WalMart.com. If you order 2 boxes, it costs enough to get free shipping. I use about 7-10 sticks per cycle (once the monitor reads "peak" you quit testing because it goes into auto-pilot). This month only 2 sticks!! Yikes!! And, even knowing within 48 hours when I'll ovulate, I can't get a clear reading on mucus. Take that CCL!! Not all methods work for all women, despite what they tell us.

 

See, I'm all better!! Not bitter at all!!

[Guest]

LOL, at first I was like, huh...you've only been using it 2 years, maybe you just aren't that fertile anyway. Then I looked at your signature :)

 

So yeah, you get it. For the record, first baby was a pill baby, 2nd was concieved first month I tried, third was our "lazy not quite charting but no mucus" baby. I think the breastfeeding dries up my mucus a lot, so even when my cycles are very regular and chartable the mucus is not the best thing for me to chart.

 

speaking of dry...anohter reason I'm looking into all this is lately I have a lot of vaginal dryness. I thought it was dehydration postsurgery but I'm plenty hydrated now. Even my Ob commented on it during an exam. It's another side effect of Mirena that I'm wondering if I just am more sensitive to from losing the weight?

Fertility is my super power!! I've even had a total of over 7 years with no cycles due to pregnancy and nursing.

[Soror]

You don't start charting it until day 8? So sex is considered safe until then? 

 

Maybe I'm misunderstanding but that is way less conservative than what I've been using based on my cycles. I tend towards short cycle and it isn't unheard of for me to have fertile mucus by day 10, so not charting until 8 would be risky. The rules I've read are abstinence by day 5 or 6(due to sperm life). I've taken Creighton and CCL classes, I've gotten lazy too but I keep it conservative, I'm curious how conservative it is with Marquette. It is from about day 5 or 6 to 18 or so(again I'm lazy so I don't count exact- I wait until a few days after mucus dries up). My understanding that it is very accurate at telling you that ovulation has occurred but the risk is more on the front end, before ovulation, is that correct?

 

OH, and as I said I took original CCL classes in person, Creighton(mucus only), a refresher CCL course with another couple and then after the last one I bought the new stream-lined CCL book. I've not gotten pregnant unless on purpose but as I said we've aired to the side of conservative when we didn't want to get pregnant, the longest it has taken me to conceive is 3 months, 2 babies were conceived the first month. Now at nearly 3 yrs pp with this last one my cycle seems mostly regular, most of the time.

The people at Marquette have figured out an algorithm that works with the Clear Plan fertility monitor to predict ovulation. Starting on cycle day 8, you pee on a stick first thing in the AM and put it into the Clear Plan monitor. You enter the information into the website and follow the rules and it tells you when you are fertile.

Pros--
Very easy. All I have to do is pee on the stick. No tracking of subjective signs, which was a deal breaker for me. The information is there, I'm not the gatekeeper.
Anonymous online support--users are given a username for their site so no one knows who anyone is. They answer questions on their forum once a day.
Effective!! Like I said, I've used many firms of nfp (stupid baby stickers!) and this one has kept me not pregnant for almost 2 years.
Not subjective--I'm not sitting there trying to figure out mucus quality while my toddler bangs on the bathroom door.

Cons--
Expensive--the monitor and sticks are expensive but cheaper than a baby.
Lots of abstinence--ovulation can vary by many many days. To account for sperm life, abstinence starts pretty early in the cycle and goes several days past the predicted ovulation date. If you are very serious about avoiding, they recommend you wait until ovulation has passed. In this regard, it sucks like any other NFP.
No husband involvement-it is 'our' fertility but only 'I' do anything about it. That totally sucks but that is how nfp works.

That's all I can think of now. Ask any questions!

 

[ktgrok]

I believe she meant for HER she starts testing on day 8. The first 6 cycles you use it you start testing on day 6, then it learns your cycle and you can be more personalized. I think. 

[Guest]

You don't start charting it until day 8? So sex is considered safe until then?

 

Maybe I'm misunderstanding but that is way less conservative than what I've been using based on my cycles. I tend towards short cycle and it isn't unheard of for me to have fertile mucus by day 10, so not charting until 8 would be risky. The rules I've read are abstinence by day 5 or 6(due to sperm life). I've taken Creighton and CCL classes, I've gotten lazy too but I keep it conservative, I'm curious how conservative it is with Marquette. It is from about day 5 or 6 to 18 or so(again I'm lazy so I don't count exact- I wait until a few days after mucus dries up). My understanding that it is very accurate at telling you that ovulation has occurred but the risk is more on the front end, before ovulation, is that correct?

 

OH, and as I said I took original CCL classes in person, Creighton(mucus only), a refresher CCL course with another couple and then after the last one I bought the new stream-lined CCL book. I've not gotten pregnant unless on purpose but as I said we've aired to the side of conservative when we didn't want to get pregnant, the longest it has taken me to conceive is 3 months, 2 babies were conceived the first month. Now at nearly 3 yrs pp with this last one my cycle seems mostly regular, most of the time.

No, abstinence begins on day 5 or 6 and it goes 5 days past when the monitor reads 'peak'. The rules are different during the first 6 months but those are the rules we follow now.

 

I feel like you are defending CCL. I'm glad it works for you. But, and this is the point I always try to make in NFP discussions, it 100% did not work for me!! I could explain my issues with CCL and Creighton if you like. But, bottom line, I had 8 pregnancies in 13 years between the two of them. I've been not pregnant for two years now with Marquette. It is a great option for me and many others.

[Soror]

No, abstinence begins on day 5 or 6 and it goes 5 days past when the monitor reads 'peak'. The rules are different during the first 6 months but those are the rules we follow now.

 

I feel like you are defending CCL. I'm glad it works for you. But, and this is the point I always try to make in NFP discussions, it 100% did not work for me!! I could explain my issues with CCL and Creighton if you like. But, bottom line, I had 8 pregnancies in 13 years between the two of them. I've been not pregnant for two years now with Marquette. It is a great option for me and many others.

No, not defending either one, my thoughts were disjointed, I knew I should have edited. We've had a ton of abstinence so I'm just curious about it. I've looked into it before and wrapping my brain around whether or not it would be a help here to get any less abstinence, Creighton was horrible for me while b'fing, we hardly got to have s*x at all due to constant low level mucus. It sounds like it is the same on the front end before ovulation, so it must be the rules after ovulation that are different making it more effective I guess, which makes me think if anything it might be more strict and not worth it for me perhaps. Anyway, as I said I'm just curious and considering.

[Guest]

No, not defending either one, my thoughts were disjointed, I knew I should have edited. We've had a ton of abstinence so I'm just curious about it. I've looked into it before and wrapping my brain around whether or not it would be a help here to get any less abstinence, Creighton was horrible for me while b'fing, we hardly got to have s*x at all due to constant low level mucus. It sounds like it is the same on the front end before ovulation, so it must be the rules after ovulation that are different making it more effective I guess, which makes me think if anything it might be more strict and not worth it for me perhaps. Anyway, as I said I'm just curious and considering.

Any nfp is going to be abstinence heavy, that is why so few people use it, right? Really, it is all the male's fault with that tricksie sperm life. I didn't pick Marquette based on abstinence. I picked it because I was tired of abstaining and still getting pregnant!! I wanted something with NO subjective signs. So, this works for me.

[JaneEyre]

I ordered a Persona off of Amazon and have used it for 1 month. I did come across an article the other day where they were sued in the UK by women that had become pregnant... Anyways I wish I had bought the Clearblue and used the Marquette Method instead. I may still do that when I have the money. I know they are both made by the same company and are very similar, just marketed for different purposes.