Birth control options for women with family history of blood clots

[1love4ever]

My dad and 2 of his siblings have had blood clotting issues.  One of his siblings even died from a blood clot in the leg that went to his lung at age 32.  My dad and his sister have both been hospitalized due to large blood clots in their legs and had to be on such strong anti-clotting meds that the Dr told them if they even got bruised or cut they could bleed out from it and die.  Their clots still come and go, and the doctors have run SO many tests to try to figure out what clotting disorder they have, and they have not been able to pinpoint it.

The doctors recommended that close family members avoid birth control pills or any hormonal birth control because it can cause clotting.  I am interested in the charting your cycle thing and but I dont know where to start with that.  If anyone else has a similar issue, what birth control options have you found?  I am 33 weeks pregnant right now, and am just wondering what to do after this pregnancy.  What scares me as well is that a woman ovulates before she even gets her first period so I would have no idea when that would be!  Of course I am going to BF but that is not a guarantee that I will not get pregnant.

With DD, I BFed for 16.5 months.  At 4 months I had not gotten my period and my Dr recommended I start taking a progesterone only BC pill, so I did, and after 1 week I got my period.  I dont know whether to attribute my period coming back to taking the pill, or if that was when it was going to come back anyway.

When DD was 1, I got pregnant again, while still BFing, so I know that BFing does not solve my BC issue.

Anyway, thanks in advance!  Any ideas or suggestions are welcome!

[lindberg99]

Get a diaphragm or use condoms. Barrier methods can be very effective.

If you do start charting, you could just use them until after ovulation. It might be hard to chart until your periods return after the baby though.

[APToddlerMama]

If you're "done", your DP could have a vasectomy.  I am also at risk for clotting issues so stopped BC years ago.  DH and I have used withdrawal with 100% success so far (a total of 4 years off the pill and trying to prevent pregnancy).  If used correctly, you only have a 4% risk of pregnancy each year.  I think we're pretty fertile because I got pregnant quickly with DS and the very first try with this baby, so I have a fair amount of confidence in the method.  You could do that until you got your period back, and then start using that along with charting as well.  Taking Charge of Your Fertility will help you with charting. 

[1love4ever]

Thanks!  No, we're not done, and I would never want DH to go the route of vasectomy.

[kwilki8]

My doc's recommendation was the Paragard IUD because it doesn't use hormones.