Any Catholics?

hunnyluvsjorge

I don't typically talk religion with anyone because of the controversy I know it can bring and I'm not about the drama life. But my TTC choices have been governed by my faith and I was hoping to see if anyone else out there that can relate? Basically the church doesn't agree with ivf. I'm a cradle catholic but this is one of those topics I didn't educate myself on. However having done the research I understand its stance and I believe it's been put on my heart to follow the church. This in no way means I'm against those of you who are proceeding with ivf. My bro and sil are going through it themselves and they are also catholic. I just get tired of people asking me why I don't just do ivf. It's not in my heart to do so. Anymore that it's not for some to adopt. I'd love to adopt but it's something I will consider more at a later time. I hope I don't get flamed.

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RazzyRN

NariaDreaming said:

murrt said:

@PeanutRN legit question here - wouldn't a Semen Analysis be considered against the Catholic Church too?

cradle catholic here. Yep. A SA would be against the church unless they used a "catholic condom" to collect the specimen.

I vehemently disagree with the stance of the church, and I'm pursuing IVF

What is a catholic condom ?

theholmanherd

While I don't understand your comparison of adoption and IVF, and I'm not Catholic, I am a devout Christian so I will try to answer you. PPs are right about certain aspects of the IF testing and treatments being technically against the Catholic rules. We, like PP, would not donate our embryos anymore than we would give a child up for adoption, so we have struggled with IVF a little, too.

I think this is up to the individual. You have to pray individually and with your husband to seek what Jesus would have you do. If you decide to go through with or not go through with any treatments or tests, that needs to be between you, your husband, and God. Keep praying!

l0v3

RazzyRN said:

NariaDreaming said:

murrt said:

@PeanutRN legit question here - wouldn't a Semen Analysis be considered against the Catholic Church too?

cradle catholic here. Yep. A SA would be against the church unless they used a "catholic condom" to collect the specimen.

I vehemently disagree with the stance of the church, and I'm pursuing IVF

What is a catholic condom ?

I'm curious too.

lisa89760

My H and I are both Catholic - like Catholic school for 12 years... and I do struggle with IVF.  I didn't have a problem with IUI, faith wise.  I think it is a tough decision but I also refuse to cut off the possibility of options.  I will, at the very least, become educated in IVF and how that can fit in to my beliefs.  

I totally understand the struggle though.  Though, I've broken enough Catholic rules in my life

BunnyBerry

Is a Catholic condom a name for the sterile collection condom that can be used to collect an SA sample during intercourse if masturbation is not acceptable by someone's beliefs? Because that is an option on our office's SA paperwork.

As a Christian (non-Catholic), seeking God's will is the most important part of our IF journey. Before I knew anything about IVF, I assumed it would be wrong for us, because I thought that destroying embryos was unavoidable. Now that I've learned more about it, I feel comfortable as that being our next option after IUI, but if it gets to that point we would still spend time in prayer and follow our consciences and the way the holy spirit is leading.

Like @alaskadee23, we would want to ensure that no embryos were destroyed (and we would insist on keeping embryos of any quality alive), and we wouldn't want to fertilize more eggs than we could plan on transferring or freezing for future transfers (so we're comfortable with fertilizing more than one, but not 15, for example). We'll have to talk with our office to see if we could still do their deal of one price for up to 2 IVFs and all transfers to get pregnant, because we would limit the number of eggs they could fertilize.

There's always the issue that we cannot control what happens after freezing embryos - what if I die or lose the ability to carry children? This has taken a lot of prayer, but so far I believe that our purpose is to create life and not destroy it. We would not destroy any unused embryos; we would put them up for adoption into a Christian family if we had no other choice.

Just hoping we don't have to go to IVF, or if we do that we are able to have success with fewer fertilized eggs. 

Another ethical issue for us with IVF is the cost. We both feel comfortable with the costs of one cycle or that deal of up to two cycles, but we've never considered spending beyond that. That would take a lot of prayer to know if more cycles were the way God would want us to use our money. Of course, now I'm kind of kicking myself for the nice kitchen we put into our new house (it had almost literally no kitchen, and we thought it was a good investment) because that's the price of at least a couple IVF cycles! Oh well, we are enjoying it now.

TLooney17

I am not Catholic, but I am a Christian. We have struggled with the decision to move to ivf mostly because of the possibility of leftover embryos. We will not donate or destroy embryos. I have prayed a lot about this issue, and I feel like even in ivf God is in control. If God wants me to conceive through ivf than I will, if that is not His plan than we won't be successful. Also, God is ultimately in control of the number of children that we have. If we end up with 3 embryos, than we will do 3 transfers and we may have 3 children. My former pastors daughter conceived twin boys through ivf, so I know that ivf is not something our church is against. More importantly I have prayed about the issue myself and feel at peace with it.

amus112904

I am Catholic too and I'm not sure if I could go through it. I'm not at that point yet to have to make a decision yet. I can see your point of what the church says. I feel when I get to that point , I'll discuss it with my dh and we can pray about it together. I feel that you shouldn't worry what others think . You should do what you and your dh feel God wants you to do.

hunnyluvsjorge

Where to even begin ...

The easy answer is a catholic condom is the sterile condom that allows for semen collection during intercourse. I believe there are also holes therefore giving the possibility of sperm fertilizing the egg independent of the iui.

I definitely have not been a perfect catholic and I feel as if my "cafeteria days" are over. The change I've experienced in my faith has a lot to do with our newest pope. His love and compassion for everyone is so admirable. I even follow him on Twitter. Haha I definitely understand how many of you feel and have felt the exact same way from time to time. In the end I don't see myself choosing ivf and I'm comfortable with that choice. I mostly put this out there because it is a struggle knowing I'm basically eliminating the possibility of getting preggo should iui not work out. But I'm relying on my faith that God's plan is best. The ability to "give it to God" has made my choice that much easier.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and especially your prayers. I will pray for each of you as well.