Birth control plans « Back to Group Discussions

[help007]

Who already has plans for postpartum birth control?

I had a copper IUD for a couple of years, but the heavy periods eventually got to me. I don't like hormones, so pill, patches, rings, mirena are all out. We tried the female condom, and neither of us cared for it. We'll probably end up using regular condoms, but I hate the hassle, smell, and latex exposure. Should I consider sponges or a diaphragm? I know nearly nothing about those options.

Whether we have more kids or not will be partly determined by this baby's temperament, so permanent options aren't in the picture now. That said, I could see looking into a vasectomy as soon as a fourth was born!

What do you plan to use?

[MissE]

I will be getting my tubes tied. I do not want more kids. Three is the absolute limit.

[judybean]

We do NFP (when I pay attention ). We have no immediate plans of not having more kids and thus far, my body cooperates well with breastfeeding delaying AF returning (15-18 months is when it returns...). I'm okay with that. We'll evaluate more when the time comes.

[katt]

We use NFP.  It works well for us.  We only have 1 planned child and 2 planned pregnancies.  :)

[MIrandaM]

We use FAM, I chart on fertilityfriend.com whether our goal is to conceive or not to conceive.  I love having quick access to all of my previous months and find the charting strangely satistfying.  We use condoms on 'fertile days' when we're trying not to conceive.  So far just one planned pregnancy out of a couple years of FAM.  And, we got pregnant on our first cycle of trying - that was a shocker since my GYN warned me that we'd have a hard time.  Yay FAM!
 

[Carlin]

I'm another FAM user. So far it's worked really well (2 planned pregnancies and no oopses since I started charting in late 2007) and I love the awareness of my fertility and body that it gives me. With DD, I didn't even have a hint of fertility returning until after 18 months pp, and didn't start having regular cycles again until she was over 2 so I'm hoping the same thing will happen this time.

I'm about 90% certain this will be our last child so we'll probably move to something more permanent eventually, but I don't want to do anything irreversable until we've settled into life as a family of 4 and can make a decision based on that.

[MamanFrancaise]

I'm not sure but I need to figure that out ASAP. I do not want any more children after this one. That is for sure. I was on the shot for 4 years and loved it but I should stay off of that now...

I guess we should really start thinking about it!

[help007]

I used Fertility Awareness when we were without kids, but my period returns quickly since i am unable to fully breastfeed. That first year, I find it impossible to get the 4 hour blocks of sleep needed for a reliable temperature, and even once I did get 4 hour blocks of sleep, I was still so, so tired that I had a difficult time remembering to take my temp as soon as I woke up.

[ameliabedelia]

I used Fertility Awareness when we were without kids, but my period returns quickly since i am unable to fully breastfeed. That first year, I find it impossible to get the 4 hour blocks of sleep needed for a reliable temperature, and even once I did get 4 hour blocks of sleep, I was still so, so tired that I had a difficult time remembering to take my temp as soon as I woke up

 There are other methods, such as Creighton, that don't require taking temps.

In the past, breastfeeding has always kept fertility away for 14-18  months.  After that, we use NFP.   It has always worked fine...no surprises. This is my 4th, and we would like to have at least 1 more after this one.  I have 2  girls, a boy, and u/s tech said this baby is a girl.  My 4-yo boy is already saying "after this baby, our next baby will be a boy."LOL  We're see how thiings go, but my closest spacing is 2 1/2 years and my furthest (with this baby) will be 4 1/2 years.  In the middle I have a 3-year spacing...which we will probably aim for again after this baby.

.
 

[Carlin]

Help, I've found that the 4 hour block really isn't necessary for a good, informative chart. Temps don't tell you much ahead of time anyways, they just confirm ovulation after the fact. I actually found I was OK just to track cm and cp and basically use temperatures as confirmation that I was on track otherwise.

On the other hand, I'll admit that most of my charting was to get knocked up, not prevent it, so if I was adamant about not getting pregnant for awhile I'd be looking for a back up method too!

I have a friend who loves, loves, loves her Mirena IUD. I'm pretty hesitant to use anything with hormones in it myself, as the pill sort of messed a lot of things up for me, but it might be worth looking into.

[Carson]

We are done with two, DHIs already planning his vasectomy for a year from now. But in the interim, well probably use condoms, even though I think they make DTD post partum even worse.

I will say that things were really uncomfortable for an unnecessarily long time after DS and for the sake of our relationship, I'll definitely see someone about a fix if it's still uncomfortable 5 mos out or so. We seriously could say we were using abstinence last time, it was so bad.

[momtoafireteam]

DH is getting the snippety snip snip. I suppose I could get my tubes tied, but I have put my body/ uterus through enough in the last 10 years- between the pregnancies and the c/s's and the infertility treatments- I just want to let it be. Besides, I have a deep deep down dark side thats kind of looking forward to seeing DH suffer for a day or so for our family and reproductive life. *guilty*

[BRC_MacKenzie]

I tried the pill for a few months right before we got married but even though my fiance (now DH) lived in another state and could tell just from phone conversations that would not be an option - basically I turned into a whiney witch :-) That combined with daily migranes forced us to look into other options and reading about hormone stuff, I'm really glad we did.

We've done FAM for 5 years and both our pregnancies were planned. It was trickier to chart after DD was born, partly because of sleep issue when I used to relying more on temperatures than cm but mostly because I wasn't as diligent since I didn't care as much about preventing. My cycles came back at 13 months and we started trying right then but looking at my charts, I can tell I didn't actually ovulate for another couple months and our kids will be 28 months apart which is basically what we wanted. Depending on how much having 2 kids stresses me out, we'll probably just ignore the idea of birth control until we have another kid or two. 

[katt]

OKay, i know that NFP and FAM are different, i'm not sure how.  But, we used the technique in Taking Charge of Your Fertility

[BRC_MacKenzie]

FAM is basically NFP for non-catholics :-) You can use condoms instead of abstaining. So the difference is really more religious/philisophical ideas and motivation rather than the method itself. 

[nilatti]

We're struggling with the same questions right now.  I think we're done after this baby, but I don't want to do anything permanent (DH will probably eventually get a vasectomy) for at least  5 years. We used NFP while trying to get pregnant with #2, but I was mostly just guessing--my cycles are crazy irregular. I wouldn't feel comfortable with using it as a birth control method. I'm kind of thinking about the copper IUD, though I'm nervous about the heavy periods. Definitely nothing hormonal--being on the Pill (even a low-dose one) KILLED my sex drive, which really defeated the purpose. I'm also considering a diaphragm, although, like condoms, it seems like a hassle and a mess.

[activealli]

Just a CLEAR heads up to everyone. I got pregnant 3 months after my son was born and I was BFing full time at the time. He had started sleeping through the night and from what I have read, going longer than 3 hours with out BF can trigger ovulation. I never menstruated and havent since oct 2010. Yes, 2010. We were planning on using NFP once my cycle returned, which of course never did. Found out 8 weeks into the pregnancy that I was pregnant.

[activealli]

Husband is getting  snipped after this one. 2 in 2 years is good enough for me.

Edited by activealli - 7/5/12 at 7:26pm

[Lauren82]

NFP for us. We will be serious about it after this baby because we are at our limit for now. No more whoops moments.
 

[nelson]

DH will get snipped.  I was going to start a a thread about folks having their last babies but haven't quite gotten around to that yet...