In December I made the personal decision to say goodbye to my birth control. I decided to stop taking it because of the amount of years I had been on birth control and also the many different types I had used.
Birth Control Journey
Generic Birth Control
I had been on many hormonal birth control products throughout my life. My journey started with the normal generic birth control pill that I started to take when I was 15. The reason I started birth control was to help with my acne.
Ocella
A few years later I decided to switch to the Ocella birth control pills instead. Ocella is the generic version of birth control pill for Yasmin. I choose to take Ocella instead of the generic pills because you could continuously take the pills for three months. That would allow you to only get four periods a year. I felt that having my period four times a year was a win because I disliked getting my period every month (like most women).
Nexplanon
The next birth control of choice was the Nexplanon. I chose this birth control because many of my friends were using it and talked about how great it was. WYou also don’t have to remember to take it daily because it’s implanted into your upper arm instead of having being a pill. It is implanted for up to three years. With the Nexplanon some people have no periods as well. I was lucky enough to be one of those people who no longer got their period. Similar to many women, I enjoyed not having to worry about my period. BUT when I was nearing my third year with the Nexplanon I started getting my great aunt Flo again. It wasn’t a normal period though, it was heavy and would sometimes last weeks (I was not excited about this). So I made the choice to have it removed early. They did it right at my clinic and I didn’t feel a thing (numbed you before putting it in and removing it).
Depo Shot
From the Nexplanon I decided to try the Depo-Provera (sometimes called the Depo shot), which is contraceptive injection. Just like the Nexplanon you did not have to remember to take the pill at the same time everyday. But instead you had to go into the doctors office to get the shot every three months in your buttocks. With the Depo shot I felt that it was causing me to gain weight. I didn’t like that so I stopped getting the injections.
Mirena
The last birth control I had been on was the Mirena (hormonal intrauterine device or IUD). The Mirena is implanted for up to five years in your uterus (may be longer now?). It was implanted at the doctors office and it was painful (I got hot flashes, painful cramps). I also made the terrible mistake to go to work after (it was very difficult to wait tables with the pain). In December 2020 I decided to have the Mirena removed early. When I went to have my IUD removed the doctor could not find the strings and struggled to remove it. She sent me to gynecology where luckily they were able to find it with an ultrasound and remove it. It was painful when they removed it because they used what looked like a small bottle cleaning brush to go into my uterus, they twisted it and pulled it out.
Goodbye birth control!
Why Did I Choose to Say Goodbye to Birth Control
I had been on birth control for over half of my life, I decided that my body needed a break, and I started thinking about motherhood. While my significant other, Jim, was not thrilled by my decision, he did support me. At that point we had been together for over two years. We were both mature adults (in our 30s), so we had many discussions about what this meant for our relationship many times. Both before and after I removed the IUD.
At the time, Jim was not sure if he was ready to have a child and was nervous about getting me pregnant. Where as I felt I was ready to have a child. I tried to be considerate of Jim and his feelings, so we came to the conclusion to use other forms of protection.
We also had a house fire in the fall and were unable to live in our home as it needed to be gutted completely. The house was deemed uninhabitable. Which obviously caused concern about getting pregnant as we weren’t living at our house, the stress of rebuilding and making decisions.
