The deal with MTHFR (for me at least) was “Hooray! We have a REASON!” It was a neat little package with a pill to fix everything. It was a best-case scenario in a morbid kind of way.
To recap: My MTHFR is the easiest to deal with. It is a blood clotting disorder that isn’t really a big deal when you are not pregnant. It is a big deal in the placenta. I was able to control it with one baby aspirin and some extra folic acid each day.
Now I’m dealing with the other side of discovering this problem. Every single birth control ad you see has a disclaimer about not taking the pill if you have a blood clotting disorder. Part of me wants to say that I took birth control for 10 years and never had a problem… but most of me is pretty risk-adverse. And the doctors are the same way.
My options are now limited to an IUD or the mini-pill (the same one given to breastfeeding mothers). I was on the mini-pill off and on while breastfeeding. It didn’t work out well for me – I had a 28 day period (like light bleeding for 4 weeks) and then started getting a 7 day period every 14 days. I was taking it at the right time and being careful and all that. M and I decided that the point of BC is to be able to have sex whenever you want… the mini-pill was kind of missing the point on that one.
I had a long talk with my doctor about the IUD. I had a few options. She was mildly concerned about the crazy cycles, so I’d either have to have a ton of tests to make sure that the pill was the problem or wait several months to see if I would go back to normal without the pill. We decided that the IUD was not right for me because of our plans to start trying for a second baby in a year or whatever. The IUD isn’t really a short term BC method.
So that leaves me out here… in the scary place of just condoms. We’re very good about it. The idea of two kids in infant daycare will scare anyone into perfect condom use!
W is getting older and the idea of another baby is floating around. I’m not at the point where I’m craving another baby yet. I’m still just amazed that I have W. I can’t even imagine loving someone else the way I love him. M has also said that he’s not ready to split his attention between two kids. So we’re still talking about it and deciding. I’m grateful that we have that option.
To recap: My MTHFR is the easiest to deal with. It is a blood clotting disorder that isn’t really a big deal when you are not pregnant. It is a big deal in the placenta. I was able to control it with one baby aspirin and some extra folic acid each day.
Now I’m dealing with the other side of discovering this problem. Every single birth control ad you see has a disclaimer about not taking the pill if you have a blood clotting disorder. Part of me wants to say that I took birth control for 10 years and never had a problem… but most of me is pretty risk-adverse. And the doctors are the same way.
My options are now limited to an IUD or the mini-pill (the same one given to breastfeeding mothers). I was on the mini-pill off and on while breastfeeding. It didn’t work out well for me – I had a 28 day period (like light bleeding for 4 weeks) and then started getting a 7 day period every 14 days. I was taking it at the right time and being careful and all that. M and I decided that the point of BC is to be able to have sex whenever you want… the mini-pill was kind of missing the point on that one.
I had a long talk with my doctor about the IUD. I had a few options. She was mildly concerned about the crazy cycles, so I’d either have to have a ton of tests to make sure that the pill was the problem or wait several months to see if I would go back to normal without the pill. We decided that the IUD was not right for me because of our plans to start trying for a second baby in a year or whatever. The IUD isn’t really a short term BC method.
So that leaves me out here… in the scary place of just condoms. We’re very good about it. The idea of two kids in infant daycare will scare anyone into perfect condom use!
W is getting older and the idea of another baby is floating around. I’m not at the point where I’m craving another baby yet. I’m still just amazed that I have W. I can’t even imagine loving someone else the way I love him. M has also said that he’s not ready to split his attention between two kids. So we’re still talking about it and deciding. I’m grateful that we have that option.
