I have a tendency to worry over things that really don't need to be worried over.
Yesterday I read an article that it can take up to a year to start ovulating again after being on birth control. Especially if you've been on BC for an extended period of time.
I've been on BC for 12 years now, and by the time we're ready to have kids, it'll be 15. I have endometriosis, and the periods I had before BC were dreadful in every possible definition. My longest streak was a 3 month long period that left me almost anemic, exhausted and wondering how I could ever have a sex life in the future if things went on the way they did.
I quit smoking, changed my diet and exercise habits and have never felt better. This year, I had the first normal period of my life-a mere 6 days.
I know that my endometriosis is going to make it that much harder for Coach and I to conceive. And now the BC looks like it will too. Here's the quandry though: Do I wait until I'm 27, 28, and stop taking the BC in the hopes that I'll start ovulating a year later (when I'm ready)? Or do I wait until we are 100% ready and then just....wait?
All this, and having kids still freaks me out. The job I'm in right now is not even remotely conducive to having babies (no paid maternity leave, no maternity coverage on our health insurance, a boss that purposefully hires people without kids, etc), and I want more time with just Coach and I. I want to weather a few more storms (insurance against the havoc babies can wreck on a relationship!) and sock away some seriously good times (like taking our belated honeymoon!) before we start down the path of parenthood. But I wonder, in the back of my head, if us taking this time now is going to cause us fertility heartaches in the future.
I just hope I feel ready some day. I'm scared I won't. And I'm scared about ovulating now. Awesome.
And we're visiting the grandchild-ravenous in-laws this weekend!
Do you worry about things way off in the future? Or do you worry about ovulating? I know I do!
I definitely worry about having fertility problems. I've only been on BC for a total of four years and not consecutive, so I'm less concerned about side affects of that; however, people have fertility problems all the time that aren't related to BC. My younger sister had no problem getting pregnant after being on BC for ten years, but my good friend went off her BC a year ago and still hasn't had a period (she was on BC for 16 years). She's now 33 and getting really scared/anxious about the whole thing. Plus, fights about fertility can rival fights about parenting because they both cause lots of stress. I'm in the same boat as you - afraid to wait but afraid to try...I sometimes really wish I could see the future!
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't have endometriosis I was put on BC young because of my horrible periods that lasted for months (and kept me home from school). Even now, being on BC for 8 years, my period has never been regulated and its on 2 weeks and off 2 weeks. I'm going to be asking my GYN next week if we can look into an IUD because I'm so over constantly bleeding. They've checked me for anemia so many times now I don't remember.
ReplyDeleteI've thought the same thing as you have so many times I can't even count. My husband and I are on the same page, though. We'll probably give ourselves about 2 years to get pregnant and if we can't - we're more than excited to adopt (but still practice baby making - just in case).
I just can't make my body do something it won't - and I'm not going to put myself through daily shots and blood tests if it gets that far.