Saturday, April 20, 2013
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Progesterone Only Pills, Mini Pills, POPs
I learned an interesting and startling fact when I went to the GYN to have an IUD placed. When she inquired about past birth control methods I mentioned that originally I was on the weekly patch, up until my insurance no longer covered it and they put me on pills. Not regular pills though, the progesterone only pill (aka mini pill, aka POP, aka low dose hormone pills). She seemed a little confused by the swap and asked why they would put me on the mini pill over regular ones. To that I had no answer; it was simply what they had chosen, without my consent, and were pretty unwilling to work with me about.
She then asked since I was only getting the IUD due to breastfeeding, why I didn't want to go back to the mini pill -- since I was already familiar with its usage and placing an IUD is considerably invasive. This answer did not surprise her nearly as much as it had surprised every other doctor I'd talked to about it: because after four years of zealot-like religious use I got pregnant on the mini pill. Her reply was instead, "Oh, yeah... that is not uncommon." Wait. What? It isn't uncommon for women who use their mini pills by-the-book everyday to get pregnant regardless?
She explained to me that despite the instructions your health care provider gives you for the mini pill being practically identical to those given to you for the regular pill, how you should actually take them is quite different. Both brochures will instruct you to take your pill at the same time every day. What the mini pill instructions do not warn you about is that there is essentially a two hour long window after you have taken your pill that you may still conceive! So, if one day you take your pill then get frisky right afterwards, you run a considerable risk of getting pregnant despite your strict pill use.
No where within the pill's included patient literature is this mentioned. My primary care physician, who prescribed them, never explained this to me either. According to my stand-in GYN this is normal, most physicians don't seem to know about this very key difference and therefor don't warn anyone about it. If you do some research, the information is there, but why would you? You think you've been given all the relevant information. According to my GYN, while the mini pill claims an effectiveness similar to the regular pill, it actually has a similar fail rate to condoms.
That's a pretty huge difference. She says it isn't brought up much because most people have very vanilla at-night-only sex and take their pill in the morning. So the average person's risk is pretty minimal. However, if you lead a more adventurous sex life, or you know, don't plan your sex around the sun's position in the sky your risk is higher.
So, my friends, from me to you: remember to close that window before getting it on after your progesterone only pills!
She then asked since I was only getting the IUD due to breastfeeding, why I didn't want to go back to the mini pill -- since I was already familiar with its usage and placing an IUD is considerably invasive. This answer did not surprise her nearly as much as it had surprised every other doctor I'd talked to about it: because after four years of zealot-like religious use I got pregnant on the mini pill. Her reply was instead, "Oh, yeah... that is not uncommon." Wait. What? It isn't uncommon for women who use their mini pills by-the-book everyday to get pregnant regardless?
She explained to me that despite the instructions your health care provider gives you for the mini pill being practically identical to those given to you for the regular pill, how you should actually take them is quite different. Both brochures will instruct you to take your pill at the same time every day. What the mini pill instructions do not warn you about is that there is essentially a two hour long window after you have taken your pill that you may still conceive! So, if one day you take your pill then get frisky right afterwards, you run a considerable risk of getting pregnant despite your strict pill use.
No where within the pill's included patient literature is this mentioned. My primary care physician, who prescribed them, never explained this to me either. According to my stand-in GYN this is normal, most physicians don't seem to know about this very key difference and therefor don't warn anyone about it. If you do some research, the information is there, but why would you? You think you've been given all the relevant information. According to my GYN, while the mini pill claims an effectiveness similar to the regular pill, it actually has a similar fail rate to condoms.
That's a pretty huge difference. She says it isn't brought up much because most people have very vanilla at-night-only sex and take their pill in the morning. So the average person's risk is pretty minimal. However, if you lead a more adventurous sex life, or you know, don't plan your sex around the sun's position in the sky your risk is higher.
So, my friends, from me to you: remember to close that window before getting it on after your progesterone only pills!
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Starting A Long Day
Today's another one of those days where I know it's just going to be much too long. I love our son and the time we spend together is the most precious thing in the world. That said, sleep is also pretty precious and it is in short supply this morning.
To start us off, I got to bed late (well after 11:00). Jude woke up in his crib at 4:00, so I decided to go in and try rocking him back to sleep rather than bringing him into bed with us. As a person with narcolepsy, anything less than ten hours makes life exceptionally difficult. Time slept basically equates to half the time slept; four hours is effectively two hours, six hours is effectively three hours, and so on. After an hour of him falling asleep, me putting him down, and him waking right back up again; I decided I may as well change his diaper and try again.
Right as I'm about to close up his nice new dry diaper, he pees. Since the diaper is yet to be closed, he pees on himself. The surprise of suddenly being wet and the following outfit change wakes him up completely. There's now no hope of rocking him back to sleep and putting him in his crib.
I decide to try bringing him to bed with us, where he can nurse on his own time and pass back out, but he wants no part in this and just sort of nurses, rolls over, and starts complaining. I try switching sides, because sometimes it's that simple, but this doesn't placate him either. With no options left, I take him out into the living room to start the day.
There is still a very minute hope of a little sleep if I plop him in his swing and lay on the sofa where he can see my face. We've both managed to fall asleep and get a good nap this way in the past. It's to no avail today though. He screams at me in protest the instant I put him down. No amount of gentle convincing can convince him to stay there.
In fact, I soon come to find he'll not let me put him down anywhere. Effectively making me unable to even make myself breakfast and I eat instant oatmeal every day. All he wants to do this morning is be carried around. Not even a warm up to that today. Oh boy.
He must be going through some developmental stages or something. Perhaps creeping, or sitting himself up! Hopefully he hasn't begun teething already, or isn't coming down with something.
To start us off, I got to bed late (well after 11:00). Jude woke up in his crib at 4:00, so I decided to go in and try rocking him back to sleep rather than bringing him into bed with us. As a person with narcolepsy, anything less than ten hours makes life exceptionally difficult. Time slept basically equates to half the time slept; four hours is effectively two hours, six hours is effectively three hours, and so on. After an hour of him falling asleep, me putting him down, and him waking right back up again; I decided I may as well change his diaper and try again.
Right as I'm about to close up his nice new dry diaper, he pees. Since the diaper is yet to be closed, he pees on himself. The surprise of suddenly being wet and the following outfit change wakes him up completely. There's now no hope of rocking him back to sleep and putting him in his crib.
I decide to try bringing him to bed with us, where he can nurse on his own time and pass back out, but he wants no part in this and just sort of nurses, rolls over, and starts complaining. I try switching sides, because sometimes it's that simple, but this doesn't placate him either. With no options left, I take him out into the living room to start the day.
There is still a very minute hope of a little sleep if I plop him in his swing and lay on the sofa where he can see my face. We've both managed to fall asleep and get a good nap this way in the past. It's to no avail today though. He screams at me in protest the instant I put him down. No amount of gentle convincing can convince him to stay there.
In fact, I soon come to find he'll not let me put him down anywhere. Effectively making me unable to even make myself breakfast and I eat instant oatmeal every day. All he wants to do this morning is be carried around. Not even a warm up to that today. Oh boy.
He must be going through some developmental stages or something. Perhaps creeping, or sitting himself up! Hopefully he hasn't begun teething already, or isn't coming down with something.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
An Unexpected Nap
Something kind of amazing happened this morning.
Jude insisted we get up after his 5:00AM diaper change. That's not the amazing thing, trust me. There's nothing amazing about being awake before the Sun. I don't care what sort of hippie you are. Groggily I took him out into the living room and plopped him into his swing with his Galaxy Frog that my good friend Lena bought for him when he was just a newborn. With stars cast all over the ceiling he was entertained enough for me to go grab some juice.
He was still entertained by the time I came back so I thought, "You know what? I'm just going to lay on the sofa where he can see my face from his swing and rest my eyes..." An HOUR later I woke up and found that he had fallen asleep in his swing all on his own. So I rolled over and got another 30 minutes, until Intruder woke him up yelling at me to feed her.
Jude hasn't fallen asleep on his own when fully awake before. It was a very nice surprise. Normally he needs a little rocking and/or nursing to push him over into Dreamland, though he has fallen asleep while very sleepy on his own before; those times are few and far between and typically at night. So this is just me having a little celebration. Huzzah!
Jude insisted we get up after his 5:00AM diaper change. That's not the amazing thing, trust me. There's nothing amazing about being awake before the Sun. I don't care what sort of hippie you are. Groggily I took him out into the living room and plopped him into his swing with his Galaxy Frog that my good friend Lena bought for him when he was just a newborn. With stars cast all over the ceiling he was entertained enough for me to go grab some juice.
He was still entertained by the time I came back so I thought, "You know what? I'm just going to lay on the sofa where he can see my face from his swing and rest my eyes..." An HOUR later I woke up and found that he had fallen asleep in his swing all on his own. So I rolled over and got another 30 minutes, until Intruder woke him up yelling at me to feed her.
Jude hasn't fallen asleep on his own when fully awake before. It was a very nice surprise. Normally he needs a little rocking and/or nursing to push him over into Dreamland, though he has fallen asleep while very sleepy on his own before; those times are few and far between and typically at night. So this is just me having a little celebration. Huzzah!
Monday, March 11, 2013
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