Saturday, November 24, 2012

Mirena Diaries #2

It's now been 4 days since I got the Mirena IUD. I feel fine. Little to no spotting, no more cramping. The antibiotics I'm on have made me a little nauseated, but only because I'm not supposed to eat with them.

So my uterus is great, but now I have a super fun, head full of snot, scratchy throat, phlegmy cough, let-me-stay-in-bed-all-day cold. Waahhhh!

The OB said to wait 4 days before any sort of .... extracurricular downstairs activity. That'd be today. But I'm pretty sure I'd fall asleep before it was over. Dang.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Mirena Diaries #1

I've tried various birth control pills. The first one I ever took was OrthoTriCyclen. It turned me into a super bitch. I was so moody and weird. So then I tried OrthoTriCyclen Lo (the "Lo" meaning lower hormone levels). I didn't have a boyfriend long enough to give that one a solid chance.

Several years passed and then I got married and had Jack. After I gave birth, I was on a progestin-only pill called Micronor. Progestin-only was important because it has less effect on breast milk production. But it also has a high failure rate. And I started it while I was still bleeding from childbirth and it made it so I didn't STOP bleeding for 90 full days. And I think I only stopped bleeding because I had a meltdown and threw the pills out the window.

Then I started one called Sprintec. It has 3 weeks of active pills that are all the same hormone-releasing type of pill, so there's no weird changes or fluctuations of levels during the month. I stayed on that one for more than a year. I loved it. Except that the main reason birth control pills fail is human error. You basically have to take the things at the same time every day. Like, if you're off by more than 3 hours, it can effect the ability of the pill to prevent pregnancy.

So I decided to be done with pills. I had a Mirena implanted yesterday. The theory being that with no chance  of human error, it will have a better success rate than the pills. I'm going to blog about my experience with Mirena for my own memory's sake, so I can relay to my doctor what all has happened, and so maybe someone else trying to make a decision will stumble upon this blog.

I went in at 1:00pm yesterday, November 20, 2012 to have the thing put in. After all the prerequisite paperwork and counseling, we got down to business. With a speculum displaying my internal organs, the doctor first swabbed my cervix with betadine to sterilize the area. Then he shot some numbing spray up there there stung like ice. Then he says, "okay, you'll feel a little pinch". OHMYGODOWWWWWHATTHEHELL! I don't know if he gave me an actual shot of some kind of numbing medication, or if that was my cervix dilating, but it hurt like hell.

"Now you'll feel some cramping". Before he even got the sentence out, I wanted to curl up and die. This was like, "high school level, I need to stay home and try not to puke", period cramping. It was awful. The nurse that was helping the doc saw my discomfort and tried talking to me about Thanksgiving. I was like, "yeah yeah, I'm making green bean casserole OOOOWWWW WAAHHHH!" I appreciated the effort, but it was not working.

So then he got the device up into my uterus, which I couldn't feel. Then it took him a few minutes to get the strings in the right place and to have everything sitting where it was supposed to, meanwhile I feel like I'm about to poop from all the cramping.

It took a total of about 10-15 minutes before he was doing something to stop the cramping. He got my cervix to clamp back up and the cramping started to dissipate. So I got all cleaned up and put my clothes back on and he sent me on my way with a prescription for some "just in case" antibiotics.

I had some mild cramping for the rest of the day, but I popped a bunch of ibuprofen, so it wasn't terrible. This morning, I woke up with cramping again, but it feels like first-day-of-a-period cramping. So, while not totally comfortable, it's manageable. I'll take some more ibuprofen throughout today, and it should be fine.

I went to the appointment yesterday 4 days into my period (because IUDs are more easily inserted during menses apparently). And I'm still spotting but it's not bad. Hopefully that will subside in a few days and I'll feel normal again.

Basically, after braving the grocery store on the day before Thanksgiving (because I'm an idiot), I plan to come home and lay on the couch with a heating pad and Netflix.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Mo'Bama 2012!

It's November 7, 2012. I woke up at 2am after tossing and turning for what seemed like an eternity, and checked my phone to find out that Barack Obama will be our President for another 4 years. I have been absolutely worried to my core for the last several months about this election. It was so close.

The other guy stood behind basically abolishing women's reproductive rights. And a constitutional ban on gay marriage. And cutting Medicaid for the underprivileged and Medicare for the elderly. And raising taxes on the middle class instead of the elite. Unfortunately, these issues are more or less what kept the nation's attention for the last year (as opposed to say, foreign policy and the national deficit), but they're also what has kept my attention.

There was a Romney Rally here in my town a few weeks ago and some 10,000 people showed up for it. I was not one of them. Republicans were in my ear about how "this is such a monumental moment for our town", and "even if you don't support him, this is history in the making", and "what a thing for our kids to get to see!" Here's the thing... I have less than zero respect for Mitt Romney. This is a man who flip-flopped on the issues regularly and routinely, probably with the sole intention of only saying the opposite of Mr Obama.  He never laid out a plan for his potential Presidency, even when asked directly, he would avoid the question. He was riding the wave of 49% of the country being anti-Obama, not pro-Romney.

I wish I was a more intelligent person and could adequately and more eloquently relay my relief. And I wish I could do it somewhere like Facebook with the intention of having a civilized conversation with fellow left-leaners. But there's so much Republican butthurt flowing right now, I'd lose more familial relationships than I already have this election season.

I'm so grateful to be a part of this amazing country. We have so many freedoms not felt elsewhere in the world. Yesterday, I took advantage of my freedom as a free-thinking woman and cast my vote for a man who will work for 4 more years to ensure that my family is taken care of and that my rights as a woman are not set back 60 years. Thank you, Mr. Obama and congratulations.