Naturally growing up as most females are, contraceptives is a solid way to prevent pregnancy, as well as controlling some wonky periods as a teenager or young adult. I started them as a teen mostly because i wanted to know when a period was coming. I was tired of the surprise while in class and needing to get changed or wearing a pad constantly. It just helped as I got older and sexually active to prevent pregnancy too. Which I did not want to be a teen mom to the losers I was interested in before.
One of the reasons why I decided to go back on the pill was it was easy. I always took it before bed. I had a week of sugar pills. And that was it. Simple. No extra appointments except once a year to get the prescription renewed. The pill was small which also helped a lot because nobody wants to take horse pills daily. I also am on these hormonal pills which some people like to argue that they aren’t super fantastic but whatever. Pick your method I guess. I also had only ever been on the pill as a teenager to adulthood so I felt like this was an easy choice. I had been with my husband for a while while on the pill and we never had any accidental children. It seemed to be a method that I did know properly how to use.
Now, why won’t I go on an IUD? To be blunt, they freak me out. A lot of people talk about the fact they hurt when they are placed. Another reason is there have been truly horror stories where people have had babies while on the IUD and it becomes part of their baby? Whether they give birth to the IUD also or the IUD is impaled in the baby. Remember, they have to be places a certain way to be fully effective. And while any birth control has some margin for error this is not one that I wanted to risk. Another thing that is recently gaining in some popularity is an implant. I wont lie though, I really have no knowledge other than the fact its suggested in my baby groups but the idea of implanting something into my body freaks me out. It makes me feel like some experiment and I just cant get over that being a form of birth control. These futuristic methods of contraception while being effective do have their level of errors. And unlike a pill, that error would mostly rely on me and failing to take it at the same time daily. These failures could be something that is beyond my control and something that would realistically be up to chance. A chance that I really didn’t want to take.
The birth control shot also low key freaks me out. There is just something that is majorly unnatural that I just cant get behind. The fact that a shot a handful of times a year shutting down your period for the duration of it makes me uneasy. I feel like that would be where pregnancy happens. And let’s be clear, I am no longer having anymore children. This is it for me. So I don’t want to do something where there is any window of opportunity to have a baby be born. We had our children and I don’t want anymore. There is also some breakthrough bleeding that can happen on the shot and sometimes it really messes with people who take them. Knock on wood as someone who has had pretty regular periods between all of our kids I didn’t want to do something that was going to change the predictability of my cycles.
Then you have the patch. this had been around since I was a teenager similar to the pills however I believe you change the patch one a week. which isn’t as bad as remembering daily but I also cant get over the fact you have a freaking square patch stuck to your body for a week. I cant help but feel by the end of the week it can’t be as sticky as it was or that there are some flaws to that too. Plus debating on where to put it so that your clothing choices don’t showcase where you have put it. Not that there is anything wrong with it being seen but I really don’t want to showcase it either. Plus by the end of the week what if you have been super sweaty or something and the patch looks all grungy.
I think when it come sot birth control though, it really is a personal decision. Some people choose one method and they interact with them negatively and they need to choose another. For me I didn’t really notice a difference while on the pill though my husband would disagree I think. There is also the method of getting your tubes tied which is a totally different subject that I will touch base on a later blog. But that was also offered since out last baby was another c-section which I declined. It kind of made me a bit panicky because it was a permanent thing to have done. Plus having gone through 2 c-sections I felt like it was time for the Husband to take one for the team (Which he did!) and this was just not something that I wanted to do.
Regardless of your reasoning though for wanting to take a method of baby prevention, the choice truly is yours. Whether that be because of cost, or time frame, or just ease of taking it. For me the ease of taking a pill daily, something I did through teenage and early adulthood, and not after children seemed second nature. It was something I knew I could pick up easily. It wasn’t a major change to my system and I knew that it was something I didn’t really want messing with my body. Having been on it for over 10 years and now going back after being off, it just made sense to go back to what I knew.
Stacey J. Girard 