Ugh..cant decide whether to be on birth control or not

[abbysmom0203]

my husband and i have been using the withdrawal method for the last 6 or so months with a few times a month where it is completely unprotected. we are totally okay with me getting pregnant and truthfully, i kinda want another baby. BUT... ever since i had my dd (7 months old) my cycle has been insane! i get really bad ovulation cramping and back pain and pretty bad pms symptoms. i get very tired, sick to my stomach (sometimes) and irritable among other things. i talked to my ob yesterday and she prescribed me the mini pill since i possibly have a clotting disorder. the things that bothers me about the mini pill are that it can make me so that i dont have a period at all and that it thins out my lining so no egg and sperm can implant. to me thats going against nature. so i have this dilemma in my head about whether to start the pill and help my symptoms that i get every month (and have pretty much no possibility of getting preg) or not starting it and have to go through everything throughout the month. has anyone taken the mini pill? what are your experiences??? i just need some feedback. TIA

[Katie T]

I have ever taken the mini pill so am no help there but wanted  to point you to an area that you may get more feed back from. There is an area on the main boards called Fertility and in that section is a section called family planning. There is a lot of people in that area that will respond I am sure.

Welcome to Mothering!! : )

[Mummoth]

I was on the mini pill for a while and it made me feel gross, like I was PMSing all the time. Always minor cramping, but never really bad, headaches, grumpiness, etc. It killed my drive. Since you're concerned about the egg meeting the sperm and then having nowhere to go, maybe you could continue using withdrawal. It would at least reduce the risk of that happening.

[cappuccinosmom]

A natural and non-bc alternative to try might be Vitex (chasteberry/agnus castus).

It doesn't work for everyone (just like the pill doesn't work for everyone, our bodies are just different).  But it was hugely helpful for me and some others that I know.  I had a molar pregnancy with a d&c a year ago, and following that was having insanely difficult menstrual cycles.  PMS made me *crazy* (like, I want to find a hole, crawl into it, and hide from the world for a week kind of crazy) and I was having hemorrhagic periods.  The nutty bleeding stopped the first month after I started taking Vitex daily, and the emotional stuff leveled out over a period of 2-3 months.  I will definitely be going back on it after this baby is born.

The only downside was that it made me really...er...regular.  For the first two months I had to plan to be near a bathroom in the morning because it really cleared my intestines out.

[Imakcerka]

I used the mini pill the second time around, and the only thing that bothered me was my milk supply.  It quadrupled.  I ran out of freezer space at work at home and at my Daycare providers house.  I felt like a faucet with a broken handle.  I do think it was the best BC I had ever used.  I don't use them anymore though none of them actually.  I don't like the way they make me feel nor do I appreciate what they do to my body.