Poll: Birth Control
 

In .com,
Amy wrote:

*What sort of birth control are you other nursing moms on?

Mirena. Love it. Had to get it swapped out once, because the strings were
too short, but since then it is great.

--
Hillary Israeli, VMD
Lafayette Hill/PA/USA/Earth
"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it is
too dark to read." --Groucho Marx

Poll: Birth Control
 

In . com,
Amy wrote:

*
*CY wrote:
* Me too - so far I love it, though the insertion of it was VERY painful for
* me and i cramped for a day or two afterwards. Still I like not having to
* think about bc.
*
*Excellent lead-in to my next question...
*
*Those of you with IUDs, how bad did the insertion hurt? Like, on a
*scale of one to ten, ten being labor?

Um - well, what part of labor?? My first Mirena insertion hurt BIGtime. I
had labor-like cramps for a full 36 hours. Like, approaching transition
labor. Seriously. But when they had to replace it, the second one went in
easy - one cramp, and that was it.

--
Hillary Israeli, VMD
Lafayette Hill/PA/USA/Earth
"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it is
too dark to read." --Groucho Marx

Birth Control
 

Circe wrote:
I don't remember exactly how old your baby is, but the AVERAGE time to go
without periods if you're breastfeeding is 8-9 months. Some women get their
periods back much earlier than that and some much later (mine came back at
8mo., 19mo., and 10mo. respectively--I was tandem nursing the second time,
which probably accounts for the exceptionally long amenorrhea),


I'm one with an exceptionally long ammenorea - My periods didn't come
back until three years after I gave birth. Now, I was breastfeeding
the whole time AND I had the mirena, but when my periods finally
decided to come back, I noticed that I started having actual cycles, so
I think I truely was lactational ammenorea, even for that long.

You know what I think caused my periods to come back? At age three, my
daughter started sleeping all night - no more middle of the night feeds
(it had only been once a night, and for comfort for quite awhile).

The nice thing about the Mirena - when my periods *did* come back, they
are very, very light. I only need a panty-liner, and they usually last
for about a day, perhaps two.

Cathy Weeks

Poll: Birth Control
 

Amy wrote:
CY wrote:
Me too - so far I love it, though the insertion of it was VERY painful for
me and i cramped for a day or two afterwards. Still I like not having to
think about bc.

Excellent lead-in to my next question...

Those of you with IUDs, how bad did the insertion hurt? Like, on a
scale of one to ten, ten being labor?

Well, it helps a lot if you can relax. They insert a speculum, then
plumb your uterus (to figure out how far to poke the darned thing in),
then insert the IUD.

The insertion itself was uncomfortable, but no more than that. I could
talk through most of it, with a couple of "ouch ouch ouch". It also
helped that I had a student midwife to talk to, which distracted me.
Then I had mild menstrual-like cramps for a couple of days afterward,
with a bit of spotting. Nothing that ibuprophin couldn't take care of.

For me, it was no more than 2-3. Uncomfortable and that's all, and
nowhere NEAR like labor pains, unless you mean those REALLY early labor
pains that don't hurt much, and you can just talk right through...

Cathy Weeks

Poll: Birth Control
 

I'm using the mini-pill, but since I still haven't had a post-baby period, I
can't say if it's doing anything or not. I haven't noticed any side effects
or reduction in milk supply, but for all I know I've been taking placebos
for almost a year.

--
Donna DeVore Metler
Orff Music Specialist/Kindermusik
Mother to Angel Brian Anthony 1/1/2002, 22 weeks, severe PE/HELLP
And Allison Joy, 11/25/04 (35 weeks, PIH, Pre-term labor)

Poll: Birth Control
 

Amy wrote:

My doc wouldn't give me a diaphragm - he said that he hadn't fitted
anyone for one in 4 years, and that "no one" uses them anymore!

Whattadork. I'm on the diaphragm -- although that's because my doc
wouldn't scrip anything hormonal *at all* for me because of the
preeclampsia, saying the side effects like clotting and such were too
strongly correlated with chronic hypertension for her to feel
comfortable doing so given my family history + preeclampsia (I'm not a
chronic hypertensive.)

--
C, mama to three year old nursling

Poll: Birth Control
 

wrote in message
oups.com...

Amy wrote:

My doc wouldn't give me a diaphragm - he said that he hadn't fitted
anyone for one in 4 years, and that "no one" uses them anymore!

Whattadork. I'm on the diaphragm -- although that's because my doc
wouldn't scrip anything hormonal *at all* for me because of the
preeclampsia, saying the side effects like clotting and such were too
strongly correlated with chronic hypertension for her to feel
comfortable doing so given my family history + preeclampsia (I'm not a
chronic hypertensive.)

My OB won't let me go back on the combi-pill for the same reason, but has
said the progesterone only mini-pill is OK. However, I'm quite allergic to
the spermacide gels/cremes and latex, which precludes most of the OTC
contraceptives.


--
C, mama to three year old nursling

Poll: Birth Control
 

"Amy" wrote in message
oups.com...
You mean, the idea of having something in there all the time? It can't
be to big, right? It's not like you can feel it, is it?

Depends on whether the string are too long, and even for the first couple of
days, you can feel that something's different. At least I could.

Jess

Poll: Birth Control
 

"Amy" wrote in message
ups.com...
But he said my ONLY options were the pill and the shot. I don't even
know if he took my history into consideration - I wonder if he just
defaults to those because they're easier for him.

If you can do the shot, you can do either of the IUDs. One of them is the
*exact* same hormone as the shot and the other one is just straight copper,
IIRC.

Jess

Poll: Birth Control
 

"Amy" wrote in message
ups.com...
Those of you with IUDs, how bad did the insertion hurt? Like, on a
scale of one to ten, ten being labor?

For me, it was really just a crampy pinch, and over so quickly that I
actually asked the midwife when she was going to do it and she said, "It's
already done".

I did have quite a bit of bleeding for a few days afterwards, but some
high-dose ibuprofen (due to its anti-inflammatory effect) took care of that.
It's been worry-free since then.

I'm thinking that an IUD's the way to go.

Not everyone has good experiences with them, but I believe the satisfaction
rate with IUDs is 80-90%, so as long as the IDEA doesn't bother you (it
bothers some people), it's a pretty good bet that you'll be happy with an
IUD.
--
Be well, Barbara