Back on birth control?

penelope4612

Hi all,

I know most of you are likely trying to conceive, but I have noticed a few people are currently awaiting a doctor's clearance to start trying again, so I hope this question is ok.

For those of you who are or were benched for a significant period of time, did you go back on birth control?  Or did you just use condoms or other methods to prevent?  I unfortunately had an ectopic pregnancy and had a methotrexate shot.  We're not totally in the clear yet as we are still waiting for the HCG to come down.  But my doctor wants us to wait 3 months to start TTC again regardless due to the methotrexate.  So that puts us on hold until the end of December.  We are not sure if we will start TTC in December because of some work stuff on my end that may or may not make it difficult to be out for 3 months next fall, so our wait may be longer than 3 months.  

I know that everyone's situation is different, and I plan to discuss this further with my doctor, but I am curious if others thought about going back on birth control for a few months, and what the pros and cons were for them.

Thanks!

ceclarlinetlo

I'm benched while waiting for surgery - and depending on when the surgery finally gets scheduled and how long the recovery time, and when DH stops traveling, it will probably be about 6 months before we get to ttc on purpose again.

I am opting for tracking my cycle to know when I have fertile cm and using condoms. The only reason I would go back on the pill is if my Dr. suggests it to make scheduling the surgery easier (has to be done early in cycle while lining is thin - but I have irregular cycles). DH is traveling a lot anyway so the likely hood of him being home when I'm fertile seems low. I've been off the pill since January of 2013 and didn't get pregnant until We purposefully started trying this time last year so I feel confidant we can avoid pregnancy (ugh - it still kills me just to say that) until I get my septum removed.

crob5685

I was only benched for a short period of time. DH and I have been each others only partners and have never used codoms so that felt weird and I didn't want to go back on BC for just one cycle, so we went with the good old pull out method haha!

Sarafuss

We were told to prevent for 3 months and my MFM advised against starting hormonal birth control (at least in my case).  It takes time for your body to regulate after stopping hormonal birth control and I didn't want an additional setback.  We just used condoms when I saw fertile CM or knew it was near my fertile window.

penelope4612

Sarafuss said:

We were told to prevent for 3 months and my MFM advised against starting hormonal birth control (at least in my case).  It takes time for your body to regulate after stopping hormonal birth control and I didn't want an additional setback.  We just used condoms when I saw fertile CM or knew it was near my fertile window.

Yeah that's what I was concerned about.  We stopped my birth control 3 months before TTC because of concerns that the withdrawal from the BC may mess up my cycles for a while, so we were preventing by temping + condoms when fertile, and then got pregnant with an ectopic on the first cycle trying.  I think my DH is tired of condoms (honestly we both are, I have long, irregular cycles so waiting for O takes forever) and so he expressed an interest in me going back on BC.  Right now I'm still having intermittent pain and my emotions are all over the place so I couldn't be less interested in sex, even if we were allowed to have it (not supposed to until HCG hits zero). So I actually don't feel strongly about it one way or another, but don't want to regret making that decision 3 months from now if we start TTC again.