Friday, April 1, 2011

When doctors don't agree

Fun little fact- one of my good friends (I'll call her Jane) and her husband are also thinking about TTC later this year! She's not quite the planner I am, and goes back and forth about this year or next, but it has been awesome to have someone in the same boat as me, to share ideas and fears with. Yay for not feeling alone in my craziness!

Not only do we have each other to share nursery ideas, we also get to hear what the other person's doctor is telling them to do when the time comes to try, and right now, our doctors are not on the same page- which kinda freaks me out. We both went in to our OBGYNs in the last few months and asked about what to do to start TTC this year. Don't get me wrong, we're not idiots, we know what to do but we weren't sure when to do things like start taking prenatal vitamins, stop using birth control, etc. We've both been rock stars about preventing pregnancies so far, and wanted to make sure that we would be in the best position possible when it was time to stop preventing. We're overacheivers like that.

I had done some research on BabyCenter (love that place), and felt confident going into my in February appointment that my Dr would tell me to go off my birth control pills, but use an alternative means of prevention until we were ready to TTC. This way, I'd have a chance to start charting and see what my normal, birth control-less, cycle would be like, and I'd have a good idea of when our best baby making time was. After all, this is what Jane's doctor told her to do, and she is planning on going off the pill 3 months before they started TTC (pleaselordletitbethisyearsowecanbepregnantatthesametime).

My doctor did not prescribe this course of action. He prescribed more birth control pills. During my appointment he repeatedly told me you can get pregnant your first month off the pill, and even said that he believes there is an increased fertility that first month because your body is in a bit of shock to finally be able to start ovulating naturally. He also did not want me going off the pill until we were ready for me to stop taking my narcolepsy medication in case we got pregnant on accident.

I left the appointment feeling really letdown. You see, I wanted it to be time to start doing something different. Even if it wasn't actually TTC, going off my pills would feel like another step towards a baby. Has anyone out there gotten pregnant their first month of trying after going off birth control? Has anyone's Dr told them to do as Jane's and go off their pills a few months before?

2 comments:

  1. Hello! Found you from the blog hop! I have two kiddos, 4 and 7. My conceiving days are behind me, but you are in prime worry mode I see! First -- YES! I know LOTS of women who got pregnant in their first month trying to get pregnant. It's not uncommon AT ALL. (I was NOT one of them.) For me, it took 4-6 months with my first, and 7-9 months with the second.

    Second, TAKE A DEEP BREATH! I know you are getting different signals. This is not an exact science here! I'm figuring your doctor is more concerned about the other medications you are taking. No reason to put a fetus under undo stress, so you'll have wean off those meds FIRST. (YUCK). Getting off the pill is the easy part! And really, you don't need to worry too much about charting cycles -- just have fun with your hubby. Much less stress that way. I think a lot of women get themselves all stressed out about getting pregnant "exactly as planned." And then when they DON'T get pregnant in the first 6 months, they assume they are infertile...MORE STRESS. Deep breaths!

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  2. I think everyone's body is different so there's no 'exact' time. I'm a poor example. I have endometriosis so it took me 14 months the first time and only 6 the second. My doctor told me I didn't need to get off them for a bit before trying. He said the same as your doctor.

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