This is your warning... THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS ENTIRELY TOO MUCH INFORMATION... If you are male, you may not want to continue.
Now that you all have been warned, the only thing I can say is "I told you so!".
Last chance to stop...
Alrighty then. From the time I was diagnosed with a very serious bleeding disorder in my early 20's, I have used Depo Provera injections for birth control. For me, periods were out of control and the pill just made them continuous. For those of you who don't know, the Depo eliminates your cycle all together. It is very controversial and I know several people that do not like it at all. For me, after being on the pill and having to take 2 packs of pills a month (2 a day) just to stop the continual bleeding I had my first year of marriage, it was worth the risk. I had no side effects from the depo (other than weight gain, which can happen on the pill too) and getting the shot every three months seemed easy enough.
When I went off the shot in October of 2003, I switched to the pill for one month and then went off everything. Withing 7, that's seven, days of being off of the pill, I was pregnant with L. WOW! After Lwas born I went back on the Depo.
In August of 2006, we decided it might be time to start trying again. L had just turned two and we would like for her to have a sibling before she is ten. I guess I thought it would be just as easy as the last time. This time, however, my cycle wouldn't come back. I cursed the Depo constantly and couldn't wait to start so that my body would be "normal" again. The worst part was since I hadn't had a "last period" there was no way to tell when I might be fertile or if I had missed my period. I became obsessed with the idea that I could be pregnant at any point and not know it. This isn't a huge deal, but especially with our Tae Kwon Do class, I wanted some peace of mind knowing I wasn't going to hurt my baby if there indeed was one. The only solution I could come up with was to A) use other protection or make G sleep on the couch until I had my first cycle or B)take a pregnancy test once a week to check. I ordered a bunch of dip sticks online at a bulk rate and did the weekly test. Even though we were "just going to see what happened" and weren't "completely sure we wanted a second child", every negative test hurt me worse then the last one. I guess I do want a second child and BAD. After waiting for 8 months, I finally got so fed up I called the doctor for an appointment. I scheduled my annual exam for a Friday in April. I think I was kind of hoping I would go in and find out that I was already pregnant and that is why I hadn't started.
Now, remember I hadn't had a cycle in years and should have had one starting last year. So I wake up Friday morning to, you guessed it, spotting. If I have learned one thing in this life, it is that God has a great sense of humor. So I went on to my appointment and everything checked out fine. The doctor did confirm that I would be starting soon and gave me a pack of pills to take if my period lasted longer than a week (common when coming off of Depo). I hated the idea of taking a drug to counter act another drug, but the next week was our week in Florida with the in-laws, so I brought it along just in case.
As much as I wanted to be pregnant already, I am so glad I wasn't. My brother and sister in law were in the middle of going through a miscarriage. God's timing is ALWAYS so much better than mine. Although I know they would have tried to be supportive of us, it would have been very tough, I'm sure.
So I had my first cycle in over 2 years and was ready to go back on the Depo the next day. I forgot how much the curse of Eve stinks! Everything about it was normal though. It lasted exactly 7 days and had the same pattern as I remembered from when I was younger and stopped, perfectly, on it's own. I was so relieved to finally be back to normal and be able to really try again. So without going into to much detail, as luck would have it, I should have been fertile the week we were at Disneyworld. Needless to say, since we were traveling with family, I didn't think there was much of a chance anything would happen.
All of that being said, I didn't start when I should have this month. In fact, I haven't started at all. I am not sure why not. It is common for you to not have a cycle when going off of the Depo or to have an extended cycle (even lasting a few months), but I have never heard of someone having a totally normal cycle one month and then it disappearing the next. I still have not had a positive pregnancy test, but I know with L, I didn't show until late. It is seriously going to drive me nuts! I have never been more ready to have a visit from Aunt Flo. It is one of those situations that I can handle just fine either way, I just want to know one way or the other. As G says, "You'll know in nine months!". For now, I curse Depo, but I am sure once I have another child I will probably be back on it.
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