Using the Creighton Model System is an investment in your relationship.  It takes love, support, respect, and a sense of unity to both understand your joint fertility and use the system as you intend.

Communication will naturally increase (if you can talk about your mucus, you can talk about anything!), new patterns of sexual interaction will be established (SPICE instruction and the natural effects of periodic abstinence), and a new sense of respect and understanding between you will occur. Once you understand how your joint fertility works, you can decide when genital intimacy should occur to help you reach your goal to achieve or avoid a pregnancy.

You are a team, and I am your support. I will do my best to teach you the correct way of using our system to meet your goals. But, as a couple, you are the ones who will set goals and work together to achieve them.

I have created this document to help you work better as a team. This will help you understand your individual responsibilities, as husband or wife, as well as your joint responsibilities.

You are responsible to make proper and consistent observations of your cervical mucus. We encourage 100% observations, which is a new skill and challenge I know you can meet! It will take practice and work on your part to master. You must understand and register these observations. You will be asked at each follow up how these observations are going.

You must understand the rules of fertility, so you can help your husband properly record your observations.

You are responsible for documenting your wife’s observations on the chart. Learning the recording system and proper documentation are key to properly practicing natural family planning. Each follow-up, we will be reviewing the chart and your documentation to ensure accuracy and consistency.

I would encourage you, once a week, to ask your wife how her observations are going. It is common for women to take time to build the habit of consistently practicing good observations. Your encouragement will be imperative to her success.

You must understand the rules of fertility, so that you can properly interpret the chart you are recording.

You must discuss regularly your intentions to use the system, whether to avoid or achieve pregnancy. Once your intentions are known, you will decide together when genital intimacy should occur in congruence with your intentions.

Each day, you will know whether you are fertile or infertile. Proper charting and observations, combined with your intent to avoid or achieve pregnancy, are important to using the system correctly.

You should both attend follow-ups. At each follow up, I will be asking questions about observations, chart recordings, fertility, instructions for using the system, as well as teaching new concepts regarding natural family planning. There is a lot of new information given in each follow up. Having two people to remember the information increases the chances for successful retention. There are also quizzes at the 4th and 6th follow up where you will both demonstrate your understanding of the system.