Am I selfish for wanting a vasectomy??

[Andara Bledin]

Isn't this what happened to Jack Nicholson? His mom was his "sister" and he didn't even know for years on end.

He had no idea until a reporter for Time doing a story on him told him when he was 37. By that point, both his mother and grandmother had passed, so it's not like he had anyone else to let him know.

[HYHYBT]

Dad's got a cousin/uncle like that.

[Kaylyn]

I was adopted by my grandparents as well. Though I knew from a fairly early age...

[fireheart17]

That may be true in our "modern world" but I am an "ooooppppppssssss" baby. back in the late 1950's/early 1960's "birth control" was "pulling out" or NOT doing anything during "the fertial" time of the month or using the Catholic roulette method. Vasectomeys were not really being offered at the time

Question: what the hell is the "Catholic roulette" method?

Also, I know condoms existed back then, were they not as common as they are now or....??? (90's kid here)

Also re the vasectomy route, Cosmo did an article about young guys (my age) who'd gone and had a vasectomy just so they could have sex without needing to wear condoms. I do have to wonder how many times they've wound up "accidentally" fathering a child. (They also went into detail about the post-care: according to them, the first few ejaculations will be bloody and it takes up to 15 ejaculations to clear the sperm.)

[Kheldarson]

Question: what the hell is the "Catholic roulette" method?

Rhythm method. Which is a bit of a roulette since it presumes all women have the same rhythm.

The current method is much more thorough.

[SongsOfDragons]

Both me and my housemate have an instance of the mother/'sister' thing in our family trees. When there's a 25-year gap between eldest and youngest, and a decade between youngest and 2nd youngest... Our instances were both in the early 1900s, and where Housemate's was only inferred ('sent to the aunt's') mine was only told her true parentage at her 'sister's' funeral... >.<

[Cia]

My grandmother's best friend found out her sister was her mother when she was in her 40s. The revelation did not go well for grandma's friend, her sister/mother and her mother/grandmother.

As long as your wife is on board ignore the "what ifs" and have the vasectomy.

[fireheart17]

Rhythm method. Which is a bit of a roulette since it presumes all women have the same rhythm.

The current method is much more thorough.

Is that the method of tracking your fertility cycle so you're basically screwing on the days you aren't ovulating?

[Kheldarson]

Is that the method of tracking your fertility cycle so you're basically screwing on the days you aren't ovulating?

Or screwing on the days you are. Whichever you're going for.

[siead_lietrathua]

ugh. calendar method. toted as foolproof by people that probably think they can also beat the house at a casino every time >.<

because, no matter how well you track, biology can always toss in a curve-ball.

[Kheldarson]

ugh. calendar method. toted as foolproof by people that probably think they can also beat the house at a casino every time >.<

because, no matter how well you track, biology can always toss in a curve-ball.

No more foolproof than using a condom properly. You take a risk when you have sex. Period. Because biology can always toss in a curve ball.

[Tama]

Life, uh, finds a way.

[s_stabeler]

No more foolproof than using a condom properly. You take a risk when you have sex. Period. Because biology can always toss in a curve ball.

to be fair, using a condom properly is significantly less risky than the rhythm method- the risk with condoms is pretty much entirely of the condom breaking. ( which is also why it depends on which condom you use) and IIRC, when used properly, they are 98% effective. The rhythm method is something like 70% effective. (on average, not doing anything at all has about the same chance, if I remember the statistics correctly.

[Kheldarson]

to be fair, using a condom properly is significantly less risky than the rhythm method- the risk with condoms is pretty much entirely of the condom breaking. ( which is also why it depends on which condom you use) and IIRC, when used properly, they are 98% effective. The rhythm method is something like 70% effective. (on average, not doing anything at all has about the same chance, if I remember the statistics correctly.

The rhythm method, yes, is only 70% effective because it does not take into account a woman's personal cycle. It is no longer taught or encouraged.

What's used today is Natural Family Planning which relies on basal body temperature, cervical mucus, and cervical height. You chart your personal cycle to determine the best days to have sex. If you have sex in your non-fertile period following the fertile period only, it is also 98% effective.

[s_stabeler]

The rhythm method, yes, is only 70% effective because it does not take into account a woman's personal cycle. It is no longer taught or encouraged.

What's used today is Natural Family Planning which relies on basal body temperature, cervical mucus, and cervical height. You chart your personal cycle to determine the best days to have sex. If you have sex in your non-fertile period following the fertile period only, it is also 98% effective.

could I ask where you got that information from? It's true enough that if you can accurately predict the non-fertile days, it should be just as effective. I just didn't think the non-fertile times could be predicted particularly accurately.