Planning for the future *some TMI*

So today... I got an IUD placed. I have... it's been a... hmm... let me start from the beginning. ;)

I was on the pill for about 7 years and went off the month after hubby and I got married. Once I realized how much better I felt without the random, extra hormones I was hooked on never going back. But unfortunately my cycles were so screwy I never knew when my period was going to show up (which reminded me why I went on the pill in the first place!) I finally bought a book on how to track your cycles and fertility signs and started that. Well.. I got pregnant after the second cycle. Kind of an oops, but a very welcome one. Seems there's such a thing as a "triphasic chart" ... that's for another day, lol. Anyway, it has been such a roller coaster this past year, ups, downs all arounds with my emotions and such. I love love LOVE love Abi. But it is really hard for me to do the wife/mother/student thing. I know other women have done it and made it work, I'm just saying it's really hard for me. So while hubby and I have been using condoms, they're not the most reliable birth control (especially when you don't use them.. oops) And right now I'm getting ready to start clinicals and I just cannot fathom going through all that pregnant. Not to mention we want to move into a house soon and I need to graduate and find a job. So needless to say it's not the best time to be having another baby. So I opted to get the Paraguard, a copper IUD that has no hormones. My Dr. today kept asking me if I was suuuuurrrrrrrreeeeee that I want to wait a minimum of 2 years or more before having another baby. I explained everything to her and she said "so if it wasn't for all that?" "We'd be trying right now if we were both working and I wasn't in school." Yup. Two years isn't a long time, but I figure it will give me enough time to graduate and find work... for us to settle into a larger place and to have at least a little time without diapers. The only major issue I've realized is that two years places me dangerously close to too close to 35... At 35 your risk of downs skyrockets and I am not willing to risk it so I want to be done having kids by then. Not to mention it's considered "advanced maternal age" and is high risk with most Dr.'s... plus the incidence of twins increases a lot after 35. Twins would be fun.. when I was 25 and had more energy.. but not when I'm 35 and lost all my energy at 30. I kid you not. I have zero energy and it sucks! lol.

I was pretty nervous before my Dr. came in to put in my IUD. But I love my Dr. and she always talks me through every procedure and is very reassuring. It went much better than I could have hoped, I only had a little cramping and it didn't hurt nearly as bad as what I thought it would. I do feel kind of strange, knowing there's this "foreign" object in me. LOL. But so far so good! And it's nice to know I no longer have to worry about losing the spontaneity and having to fish for a condom in my bedside table. I actually can't wait for Wednesday to get an ultrasound done (we've been studying female pelvis this semester) no one in my program has an IUD so we haven't had the opportunity to see what they look like in real life. I haven't told anyone, so I think it will end up surprising whoever scans me. HA!