first time posting-have some questions!

[jaypea]

I am not pregnant YET, but do plan on trying in the spring and have some pre-pregnancy questions that hopefully can get answered. I visited my doctor (ob-gyn) this past week for a regular check-up and told her that I want to start trying to get pregnant in the spring (May-). I also told her that I have been on the pill for 11 years straight and would like to get off of it soon so my body has time to get back to "normal" (whatever that is). My sister is a doctor (not an ob-gyn) and told me that my body should have a good 6 months off of the pill, but the ob-gyn told me that 3 months would be fine. So, my first question is, if anyone here has been on the pill as long as I have, when did you stop taking it? Did you experience anything weird (over emotional, weight gain, cramps, excessive bleeding?)

I also asked the doctor to suggest some alternative methods of birth control that were not long-term like the pill. She said condoms would be best-I did tell her that my husband HATES them (plus I usally get yeast infections from them-or I did 11 years ago). Any suggestions??? She said there is a femal condom, but she didn't recommend it.

One more thing, she said to start making sure that I take a daily multi-vitamin with at least 400-1000 mcg of folic acid, but didn't mention anything about pre-natal vitamins. Should I be taking pre-natal vitamins, and if so, when?

One plus side is that she did send me to the lab (it's a university hospital) for bloodwork to see if I still have a resistance to German Measles, and if not, I will have to get another booster (I thought that was great)!!!

Before I sign off of my novel, I want to share a few things about myself because I will hopefully (in late spring or a little later) become a regular poster. I am 27, a 1st grade teacher, currently going to grad. school for a degree in spec. ed. , am married (to a teacher, have 2 kitties, live in PA, and am a HUGE Cathe fan!!!!!!!!!!

[tryin2bfit]

Hi Jaypea! Good for you for thinking about this in advance. I'm sure it's a very easy process for many people, but not all.

I can tell you my experience with the pill. I was also on it for about 8 years before going off and trying to get pregnant. I thought it would be SO easy, but my body did not cooperate at all. My cycles were so irregular and almost non-existent that I ended up taking fertility pills to regulate things. Two years after going off the pill I had my first beautiful daughter (she is now 9). This was a very frustrating (and probably unusual) experience as many of my friends were also trying to conceive at the same time and, although it may have taken awhile for them to get their cycles regular, they all had babies before me.

Anyway, after my daughter was born, my cycles were long (45 days) but regular and I had no trouble conceiving my next 2 children. I took my temperature every morning and charted ovulation that way.

After my third, I again went on the pill for a few years but went off as I wanted to give my body a chance to be "normal" before I approached perimenopause (I was 36 when I went off it a year ago). Again, I tracked my cycles by taking my temperature and looking for signs of ovulation, but had cycles anywhere from 27 to 45 days. We were careful most of the time but I am now 23 weeks pregnant with our fourth child! We are thrilled, but it did take us by surprise :-).

My sister-in-law (she is your age) went off the pill in March of this year and is experiencing the same frustrations with long/irregular cycles and is hoping desperately to get pregnant soon.

I don't want to scare you, this was just my experience. I know of many people who got regular cycles right away and could go off the pill and get pregnant immediately. Everyone is different.

And yes, it's a very good idea to start taking the multi with folic acid even now. I would take the prenatal multi as you know it's got everything you need; then continue with it when you get pregnant.

Sorry for the book! Best of luck!
Sandi

[shellnc]

I was on the pill for 8 years. We got pregnant the first month we tried. I decided not to wait. I have three friends who got pregnant the very first month off the pill as well and have beautiful children now. Unfortunately, I miscarried. And, then I had to wait three cycles to try again. My cycles were pretty long 35-45 days. Fortunately, I got pregnant again the first month we tried, but I didn't get a positive pregnancy test until day 45 - very long month. At that point I was four weeks pregnant, and not the 6 weeks that most people would calculate based on the last menstrual period. I'm 29 weeks now! Please note that I had very irregular cycles prior to getting on the pill, so this could have been a contributor to my long cycles when I got off the pill.

Best wishes to you!

shellnc

[Stebby]

I was on the pill for a very long time -- 18 years -- before going off it. It took my body 8 months to get back to "normal"; during that time, I had very light, very irregular periods, and my doctor told me I shouldn't try to get pregnant yet because I didn't have the endometrium to support a pregnancy. My cycles did sort themselves out and once we started trying, it only took 4 months to work (I was 40 years old). My daughter was born on August 14 and is 5 1/2 weeks old.

The only side effect I noticed from going off the pill was that my weight immediately dropped about 3 pounds. No moodiness or anything like that.

Check with your doctor, but I don't think you should go on prenatal vitamins until you are pregnant. They have about 3 times the iron of normal multivitamins and that's too much for a non-pregnant person. I took Centrum Protegra for about a year before I got pregnant; it is a good all round multi and has the required amount of folic acid.

[jaypea]

Wow! Thanks for the great and helpful replies!!! I now know what can happen when I go off of the pill. Now, I just might stick to my original plan to get off when my prescription runs out (2 more packs) and use another method of b.c. till late spring (when we want to start trying). My doctor told me it was o.k. to get off 3 months before. Thanks again! If I have anymore questions, I will be sure to post them.

[bridge]

I too was on the pill for a looong time and got pregnant with my three kids immediately after going off (condoms did not work for the first two). I am now 30 weeks with my third. I too have been thinking about birth control after this one is born and a friend suggested an I.U.D. She had one put in at her 6 week check up and it has worked very well for her, no troubles. Maybe that would be something that would work for you, as there is no hormones being put into your body and it would allow your body to get back to 'normal'. She said having it put in was no big deal at all.

[FoolofaTook]

Hi Jaypea,
I'm obviously really fortunate to be able to say that I had a much smoother experience going off the pill. Here's what happened for me:

I'd heard about the waiting three months thing so I asked several different healthcare professionals if there's actually a health related reason for that or if it's just the current standard advice. I found out that the only reason to wait that long is for a woman to settle back into a regular cycle so she can have a better idea as to when she'll be the most fertile.

I decided to wait just one month (used condoms during that month, boy was my dh glad when that was over!) and started trying after that. The first month off the pill, I was about a week late. After that, my body settled into a perfect little 28 day cycle every month, go figure! I'd been on the pill (with just a short break about seven years ago) for about a dozen years or so. What's weird about that is when I was a teenager, my cycle never did get particularly regular, had to take pills when I was 12 just to try to get my body under control because I was bleeding for like a month straight, and then I might go just a couple of weeks or a few months before starting again, who knew what my body was thinking?!

When I went off the pill, I didn't have any adverse reactions but there were definitely some differences, basically just more intense typical symptoms of menstruation. My premenstrual symptoms were stronger, sore lower back, abdominal cramps, moodiness increased, stuff like that. My flow got a bit heavier but didn't last as long as when I was on the pill. My body was just getting into the swing of doing it's thing without being "told" what to do when. I'm still amazed at how regular I got.

Anyway, I went off the pill in March, started trying in May and got pregnant in July. Reasonably quick as we understand, guess we were just feeling fertile! They say to allow a whole year for a positive and not to worry about fertility problems until after actively trying for that long.

I am glad we waited one month before starting but there's really no need to wait three months or longer. I wouldn't really recommend trying to conceive before you've had at least one regular period though, just seems sensible to let your body get a taste of being "natural" before throwing a life changing event at it. Oh yeah, do finish the pack instead of stopping in the middle of it, but it sounds like that's what you're planning to do anyway.

By the way, go ahead and start taking prenatal vitamins a month or two before trying to conceive. A multi with lots of folic acid is a great idea to begin with but all the healthcare people and pregnancy advice books and websites recommend taking prenatal vits before you start trying.

Good luck and please keep us posted!

ps. Don't forget to check out babycenter.com.