Some Food for Thought...

PREFACE: This is about Birth Control. So if that bothers you read no further.

{I am blogging this because I found some things out that I feel many women may not know! And they bothered me. Also- Please understand that I do not in any way judge you for your chosen method of family planning.  This is just what I found and my decisions based on my beliefs about creation/life.  I wanted to share what I found just in case there were other women out there who would possibly be making different decisions if they knew. Knowledge is power.}


Hey! Lately I have been thinking about birth control options for after the baby, as i'm sure many of you can relate to! Especially if you have had difficult pregnancies and/or been up all night with new babies. At any rate, I have never been very... keen on the idea of the pill because I had had so many friends warm me about their negative affects on them. And I just wasn't really excited to have something manipulate my hormones chemically.  At any rate, when we were engaged Danny and I discussed our options and I agreed to "try" the pill.  When he came to propose we saw a Doctor together and I started a pill- I don't remember what it was.  Sure enough it made me crazy.  I was having irrational thoughts, migraines almost daily,  being ornery, emotional, and depressed.  Finally on the day I started wondering if I had a brain tumor (irrational thoughts lol) I called Danny and asked him how i'd been the past two weeks. His response? "Honestly you've been really mean." This broke my heart and we decided it wasn't at all worth it.  When we got married we just used contraceptives for the first couple of months (not very religiously) and didn't really bother after that because we were so excited to start our family......

Fast forward to today.  I have started looking into options again, maybe an IUD? From what I understand they still use hormones but because they're inside the amount that ends up in your blood stream is much less than the pill, that may work! After looking around a bit I was interested in finding out about two- Mirena and the Nuva Ring. So last night, when I couldn't sleep I read up on them.  I first found out that Mirena does three things to prevent Pregancy: A- may stop ovulation B- Increases cervical mucous to prevent sperm from entering/ reaching an egg and C- messes with the uterine lining so a FERTILIZED EGG cannot attach.  So.... those fertilized eggs still happen? How often? Eh, they don't know. But, you're not pregnant so everyone is happy.  So for me, being pro life and believing that the life has begun unfolding once sperm and egg meet.... this was out.  I looked at Nuva Ring- same thing.  Then the more I looked, the more I found that both are considered abortifacients.  Because they prevent a fertilized egg from attaching.  As i continued to research I found out that ALL birth control pills work basically that same way! I had NO idea!!!!  Most of them do the same thing, they are in fact no better than a morning after pill! Both IUD's and oral birth control, overall, even if it is their third line of defense prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterine wall.  I read that a number of years ago people weren't even sure how they worked.  Now, with scientific improvements they KNOW but don't TELL because 1/2 of the population is pro life and would NOT be taking them if they knew this was happening! The companies that sell them would lose a lot of money.

Discovering this kind of horrified me.  I know all of you pro-life women would never consider taking a morning after pill.  Neither would I .... and now I will not be taking or using any oral birth control or IUD.  Basically... anything that manipulates hormones.  There is just not enough evidence to back up that an egg isn't released or fertilized.  This is my decision based on what I discovered, your choices are your own, I just thought maybe, like me, most women didn't even know this.  Go ahead and research for yourself.

UPDATE (October 2013)

So I went to see my OBG today, been having cramping randomly during the month, week before period, week after... so I went and he suggest I be put on BC.  I said well.... from what i've researched and understand... it doesn't prevent a fertilized egg from happening just from implanting...? Right? First he rolled his eyes and said "You know, that happens all the time naturally with un protected sex right?" I said yeah! But "naturally!" I didn't do something to get rid of it. He said true, but its supposed to stop ovulation, and increase cervical mucous. I said yes, and also if those two fail it changes the uterus lining to prevent an egg from attaching right? He said yeah, thats possible. Dunno. *Shrug.* Then he explained that mainly DUI's are the worst for that.  The pill a possible second worst (he said they haven't been able to prove it doesn't) and then lastly the shot is the only one that is MOST likely to actually prevent an egg from being released at all. He said that the shot basically shuts everything down. That it was still "possible" that it could happen but the least likely form of hormonal bc (not a barrier) to actually prevent fertilization was the shot. But that it also alters the lining of the uterus, so if one slips through it can't attach either. I'm not sure what to do with this information.  I'm not comfortable with injecting synthetic hormones and chemicals but, i'm glad that I had a professional KIND OF "clear" things up a little. In the end I think it comes down to the holy ghost and being prayerful about what ya choose to do or not do.  I've been reading a lot about the methods of tracking and just using barriers during ovulation.  The more I read the more its clear that its not a very good way to prevent things. That nobody's body is spot on and that it can even differ from month to month! And that there are only a couple of days that you CAN'T conceive- at all. Anyway- if I have offending any of ya ever on this topic I apologize.  I hope the doc is right about the shot,  I don't plan on using it at this point still but with my heart condition down the road if pregnancy were to threaten my life i'd have to be more cautious, glad to know that at least one kind is more "sure" to prevent an egg from being released than others.

Update: I've asked  a few more doctors and learned basically the same thing. I've noticed though sites I visit are less and less clear about how it actually works and what the risks are. And that the info "changes." A lot of methods of BC are evolving or newer to the market. Thus, more research is being done and more side effects are popping up. Personally that makes me nervous :)