Works for Me

Long-time readers of my blog are probably wondering what happened to all of my disgusting posts about poop and various other topics that were certainly TMI. My body has actually been pretty normal for the last six months or so. However, since I'm desperately trying to come with something interesting to say each day for an entire month, it's time to have a little bit of overshare.

Actually I don't think that this topic is really all that gross, just a little personal. A few months before we got married I started taking birth control pills. At the time they were one of the most fabulous things that had ever happened in my life. Suddenly I wasn't debilitated by excessive bleeding or by massive craziness for half the month. My life felt great. They worked well until I decided to get pregnant with S-Boogie. My relationship with contraception since then has been rocky; I guess your hormones really do change as you age and after you have children. But I'm still thankful to have some contraception options.

When we moved this summer we spent a few months without insurance. I was unable to renew my prescription, and I decided to just try and see how things went without it. Surprisingly, I feel great. It's the complete opposite of my initial experience, and I actually feel much more sane without the pill. I think it was a good thing for me at the time, but it's not the right one now. I also wanted to put in a little plug for the Fertility Awareness Method. If you haven't read up on how to read your body's fertility signals, you really should. The method works based on the premise that you are only fertile for a few days a month, so if you are keeping track it is fairly easy to avoid pregnancy or to get pregnant (it actually helped us conceive our kids quickly each time). Of course it is not as reliable as other methods, but it's a good one for us right now in our lives. I'm good at sticking with a routine and keeping track of things, we're at a point in our lives when we're OK with having a surprise baby (probably won't happen), and we have been married long enough that things just aren't as spontaneous anymore. If you're a newlywed and really don't want to have a baby, this is not the method for you. So, um, that's all I wanted to say about that. No, I will not show you my personal chart. But for some reason I think it's fun to track my cycle each month. I'm weird like that.

Comments

"overshare"

That is my favorite made up word of the year.
Earth Sign Mama said…
Um...let me just say this...the only "safe" day for me was a day without sex...(3 babies in 3 years)
Emma said…
You are so fun!
This would never work for me. I've never had a normal cycle. I'm talking months at a time without a cycle.
Kristi said…
I, too, am grateful for many options in the birth control department. I switched to non-hormonal birth control and am amazed at how much happier and able to cope with things I am. It's nice to have my own hormones back. :)
Zillah said…
when i went off the pill, i was amazed by how much better i felt, since i had no real idea that i was feeling bad (my powers of description are obviously failing me). even though my iud has hormones, they're so low that the difference is almost like night and day.

3 cheers for fam. if i weren't so paranoid about a surprise pregnancy, i'd seriously consider it.

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