#TeamNoBabies – My Experience with Mirena

 

**Warning: If you don’t want to read anything about my uterus please skip this post.  Keep on reading if you’re interested, but know that you’ve been warned so don’t let things get weird between us!**

 

I’ve seen bloggers share their pregnancies, their desires to have a family, their IVF journeys, etc.  I’ve seen numerous pictures of sonograms, gender reveal parties and baby room décor but I’ve never seen anyone talk about what’s essentially the opposite of all of that.  Birth control.  There, I said it.  I’m not sure if that’s “taboo” in the world of lifestyle blogging, I’ve definitely never seen it mentioned by anyone other mothers who’ve had to take it for a bit during their IVF process but I want to talk about it today.  The sonogram photo in the graphic above is mine, and you can make it as big as you want but you won’t see any babies in there.  In fact, there shouldn’t be any children in there for at least 5 years after the procedure I had last Fall.

 

Have y’all see the Mirena and Skyla commercials that have been popping up more and more on TV?  I feel like they started airing last summer, right around the time when I decided I was ready to change my birth control.  I won’t lie, I hadn’t even heard of Skyla before then so when it came time for my annual well woman exam I asked my doctor about it.  I knew I wanted something more long-term, something I didn’t have to worry about taking daily (just in case I missed a day because we all know I don’t want biological children), and we came to the decision that a Mirena implant was the best thing for me.  Birth control is supposed to be covered by all insurance companies, but not all forms of it and definitely not all brands are covered. In fact a lot of insurance companies see IUDs as a procedure for the simple fact that it needs to be placed in your uterus, and there was concern that my company’s insurance wouldn’t cover the entire cost.  My doctor was pretty sure that they would and we got my preliminary testing and blood work done.  When we got the estimate back and saw that I wouldn’t have to come out of pocket for anything I immediately made the appointment to have it implanted.

 

I can’t lie, I was pretty freaked out for a bit.  I knew that the procedure could range from mildly uncomfortable to painful and that there was a chance of more discomfort while my body got used to the device.  I heard stories from both sides of the fence from friends and online.  Great stories from people who got it in and didn’t experience any pain, and eventually stopped having a period all together.  But I also heard horror stories from women who experienced so much pain during implantation and bled for 2 months after it was inserted.  I’ll be honest and say that my experience was a mixture of both.  I feel like I have the best gynecologist in the world.  He’s great at what he does, has awesome bedside manners and makes me feel very comfortable whether we’re just talking or whether he’s…well you know, working.  He prescribed me medicine to help me dilate before the I got my implant in and tried to keep me calm as he was actually doing it. That part was mildly uncomfortable and I cramped for a few days afterwards, but overall it was pretty painless.  What came next was what shocked me.  I was part of the small percentage of women who spot for up to 90 days after implantation.  It was never much, but it was annoying as all get out and I started freaking out when it lasted longer than 2 weeks.  I called my doctor’s office and spoke to my favorite nurse and she assured me that it was normal and that it would probably happen a little while longer, but there was a really good chance that that would be the end of my bleeding and spotting as long as I had the IUD in.  Apparently that’s a popular side effect of having an IUD, and that’s a side effect I don’t at all. *praise hand emoji*

 

If all goes according to plan I’ll leave my Mirena in for the full 5 years.  It’s supposed to be over 99% effective at preventing pregnancies, and while I still use other forms of contraception it’s nice knowing that I have my implant in case something happens.  Now I have a question for y’all.  My doctor said that these are pretty popular amongst ladies my age, and I know that a lot of y’all probably won’t feel comfortable sharing info like this but I was wondering if any of you have and experience with an IUD.  You don’t have to comment on this post but if you want to share your story with me I encourage you to email me.