Posted on March 5th, 2008

Before I get into Today’s Topic, I want to put some closure to some subjects I addressed earlier. First off, my NST went great this morning. Baby was, once again, happy and reactive. She never fails to amaze me. Or maybe I’m just used to how stubborn and uncooperative Liam was during his NSTs. AND, I got a reprieve on the internal exam! Woo hoo! I don’t think I’ll be as lucky next week, unfortunately. Secondly, Holly came through her little operation with flying colors. I picked up Harry after school and we went and got her. She’s pretty sore and is moving like an old lady, but none the worse for wear, I figure. And hey, no more dogs in heat!

Okay, now on to the Topic at Hand. It is: Birth Control. Now wait. Before you run away, let me just say… well, there really isn’t much I can say that will make you interested in this subject. Except that perhaps I need your advice, experience, input, etc. Maybe that will convince you to stick around and see what I have to say. Maybe? I hope?

So, I STILL don’t know what I should do about birth control after this baby is born. It just seems like there is no “perfect” solution. And see, I have no problem with permanence. Which is probably why most women object to getting their “tubes tied”. Permanence is fine. I know we are done having children. This phase of our lives is about to be put behind us once and for all. The nice thing about a tubal ligation is that I can get it done right when the baby is born. Nothing more to worry about. Done deal. Taken care of. What worries me about getting a tubal ligation is the risk of ectopic pregnancy. I need to do some more research on it, see how likely it is to happen. I just need to know more about the whole thing, period. What can I expect from a tubal? Side effects? Pain? How does it effect periods? So on, and so forth.

The other option, which I was considering just as heavily, was the Mirena IUC. Basically, it’s a hormone-laden IUD. Same difference. It lasts for 5 years and has some hormones in it to suppress pregnancy. I asked my doctor for more information about it today and she handed me a pamphlet. Sadly, the pamphlet has probably only made me more likely to chose another avenue. It’s very effective, that’s true. BUT (there’s always a “but”, isn’t there?), it’s not placed until th 6 weeks postpartum visit. Which, you know, normally no big deal but it would be nice to have it taken care of right off the bat. Also, it has to be replaced every five years. DO NOT DIG THAT. I want something I can do and forget about it. Five years is a lot of time, true. But maintenance isn’t a strong suit of mine. Also, I’m not real crazy about it’s method of preventing pregnancy. Reminds me of when I used to take the Pill and I got skeevish about the fact that it wasn’t necessarily preventing pregnancy so much as preventing a pregnancy from “taking hold”. Morally, emotionally, for me that is kind of a deal-breaker.

I suppose a “tubal” doesn’t prevent pregnancy either. But… I think it’s probably a lot more effective at preventing pregnancy. And we arrive back at the whole ectopic pregnancy thing again. I guess what I want is a tubal that doesn’t increase my chances of an ectopic pregnancy. I guess there’s nothing like that out there, is there? What are my other options, though? DO I have other options?

So I made a nifty little poll. If you could take the poll and/or leave me a comment with your ideas, thoughts, suggestions, etc I would SO TOTALLY appreciate it. Because I’m still at a loss here and I need to be making some choices here pretty darned soon.

[poll=4]

Tags: birth control, c-section, iuc, iud, mirena, sterilization, tubal ligation, tubes tied
Filed under Pregnant? |

Tags: birth control, c-section, iuc, iud, mirena, sterilization, tubal ligation, tubes tied