Whole Mission is excited to launch lactation education and support! Our new lactation class will prepare you to confidently breastfeed your baby. The class is unique in its focus on breastfeeding education and support through a Catholic context. Not only does the class include information about the benefits of breastfeeding to mom and baby, and tips about how to get started with your breastfeeding journey -- it also frames this information in the context of the Theology of th

My husband, Justin, and I were married in May 2017. Just five months into marriage, I was found to have a 13 cm teratoma mass attached to my ovary. This mass was causing torsion and blood supply loss to my fertility organs, which required that an emergency surgery be performed. The mass was removed: along with 2/3 of my ovary. After this diagnosis and treatment, every physician told us I would need to be on birth control for life, or I would need to get pregnant right away to

With the approaching holidays during a pandemic in the middle of flu season after a contentious election, this seems like a great time to chat about a few of the expected signs of stress, and how stress impacts your use of fertility awareness! First: what do we consider stress? Stress can be anything that your body perceives as a threat. This could be mental or emotional stress like planning, shopping, organizing, coordinating with in-laws, shifting to online school and kids

There are many environmental factors that can affect sperm count.  The alarming revelation that sperm count has decreased by 50% in the last 50 years has brought much attention to the subject.  Some attribute the decline to diet, and an increase in obesity.  But with such a stark decline in a relatively short period of time, many turn with alarm towards harmful environmental factors.  In this section we will talk about some environmental factors that have been studied and the

Many studies have been done concerning healthy/unhealthy choices and lifestyle factors, and their effect on sperm count. In this section we will review some of these factors. In general, most things that are considered “unhealthy” have a negative effect on sperm count. While healthy choices and a healthy lifestyle have a positive effect on sperm count and quality. Heat Firstly, men, have you ever wondered why you are made the way you are? Sperm are produced in the testicles,

A Lot of emphasis is placed on female fertility, but what about the guys?   Did you know that in the last 50 years male sperm count has dropped by about 50%? This is a really frightening report if these trends continue!  For couples struggling with infertility, up to 50% of the time the cause for infertility is fully or partially related to an issue with the man.  While there are many different health factors that can contribute to male infertility, in this series, we will fo

This post contains affiliate links Have you been looking into the Marquette Method for a while, only to find out that the testing supplies that help make the method so effective are nowhere to be found? As it turns out, the test sticks and monitors are being produced at a normal pace, but there are challenges down the supply chain as retailers prioritize which items they are selling. Unfortunately, since fertility awareness methods for pregnancy prevention have only recently

Fertility awareness is gaining traction in the mainstream. It’s clear that women want more than the side effects of the pill and the medical interventions of surgical sterilization and IUD placement. Fertility awareness places the power in the hands of the women, and it’s AWESOME. This means we’re seeing more and more input from the greater community to help advance knowledge in this important field. I recently flipped through a few secular books that included some informatio

We have recently contracted with three instructors-in-training as they complete the practicum requirements for becoming fully-fledged Marquette Method instructors! If you register for the discounted class option, you will have the opportunity to learn NFP with one of these fabulous women, while you also help them build their skills, and give them practice teaching, to become experts in fertility awareness education. Our three new instructors are Lisa Gesterling from Colorado,

I pulled into the parking lot of the elementary school and reluctantly rolled down my window. I smiled and hollered four spots over to the other caregivers waiting to pick up their younglings, “Hi! I’m new here and not really sure how pickup works, am I in the right place?” The mom in the further car replied, “This should be, what grade are you picking up?” Me, with a smile, and in a joyful and enthusiastic voice: “first, third and fifth!” I had no idea that the words I utter

(Post contains affiliate links) Couples who are using NFP to avoid pregnancy are familiar with the idea that you need to find selfless ways of showing affection for each other during times of fertility. This might mean the husband doubles-down on how often he washes the dishes, or the wife might offer to work on a project with her husband (without complaining!). You need to find what works for you as a couple, but I will offer one fun idea: board games! My husband and I have

Theoretical knowledge of natural family planning (NFP) is great. You might have a general idea of how it works: you observe symptoms, chart them appropriately, find your days of fertility, change your behaviors to avoid or achieve pregnancy. Bam. Done. (If this is totally new to you, here is a great explanation summary of fertility awareness based methods.) You might even know which observations you will chart: maybe it’s urinary hormones with the fertility monitor, cervical

I am afraid of flying. Despite the fact that flying in a plane is statistically safer than me driving my car, I am terrified of getting in that plane and going anywhere. It’s not because it’s dangerous, or even because the plane goes really (really) high. It’s because I’m not in control. Many of us are afraid. We all want control. If someone else is in control, that’s terrifying. And how absolutely horrifying to think we are not in control of our own fertility. We have reason

Have you ever had one of those recurring dreams where it’s the end of the semester, you realize you have a history class that you never attended, all of the assignments are due that day, you haven’t read a single textbook, you don’t even know the teacher’s name, the clock keeps ticking down, you’re running late, and you can’t find your shoes? Taking a class can be overwhelming no matter how long it’s been since high school, and learning a new method of natural family planning

During the past few months the words, “It’s not about you” have been echoed through the Vitale house. It is our latest mantra which has really steeped our spiritual life. These few words are a frequent reminder that what we do is not about us but the other. I see them as a new way of repeating John the Baptist’s words, “He must increase, I must decrease.” Whole Mission is not about the Vitales. It is about the other. It is about being generous with what we have been given and

When I was growing up, my family had a phrase we would say pretty frequently: “You’re going to do what you want anyway!” It was a sassy phrase, often iterated by my mother in a half-hearted attempt to encourage us to not-do-a-thing that we were definitely going to do. That’s a bit of the sentiment I felt when my husband came home from Mass one morning earlier this year and suggested we start a service focused primarily around natural family planning (NFP) classes. A few month