2 Totally different questions...(pcos ladies come in)

amd1982

Hi ladies - well we just got an eviction date of January 10th, so now obviously my mind is whirling since I know there's one last week before the little ones arrive.

My first question is regarding birth control. I'm sure this has been asked a lot, but I'm curious to know what ladies with PCOS have done. I swore I wouldn't go back on birth control again, but unfortunately my skin has been absolutely a nightmare this last trimester. My MFM said it's partially due to hormones and partially due to PCOS. Since we don't want children immediately after having our twins, and the fact that BC helped my skin immensely while I was on it, I'm considering going back on. I was on the NuvaRing before, but there is a large copay with my current insurance so I need other options. Any recommendations for a good BCP that hasn't caused you to blow up? I hate thinking of being on it again and having a hard time losing baby weight...

Second question is regarding the RNP - I have a vibrating/soothing seat by Fisher price (snugabunny) and the matching swing. I also have a pack n play as well, with another one coming once we need it. however i have TONS of gift cards to BRU. I've heard/seen a lot of great things about the RNP....do you think I should get one for our upstairs even though we have a bassinet for them to share (before they go into separate cribs) or does that seem like overkill? Normally I would just say "I'll wait until after they're born" but I know my time will be limited to order/pick it up. Any thoughts? I'm trying to eliminate bringing items up and down the stairs since I'll be having a c section.
Thanks! Sorry so long....

Rachel Goldstein

Well I was going to recommend the NuvaRing since that's what worked for me but I completely understand the high copay part. I think we have to pay $50/mo for mine. I'm not sure when I'll go back on BC. I have a decent window to make up my mind after my boys are here, since no sex for 6w postop. DH is talking about getting snipped and so far my skin hasn't been (too) terrible. Mostly just my back (yuck).

Did you gain weight on NuvaRing? I actually lost some which was a nice perk. I did notice that when I'd switch rings sometimes I would get a yeast infection, but I tend to get them cyclically anyway.

Sorry I don't have more to offer you.

As for the RNP I'd say think most about where you'll spend the majority of your time with your twins. If it's upstairs keep everything upstairs, if it's downstairs keep everything down stairs. We don't have stairs but my friend did after her csection and she actually slept downstairs for the first two weeks post op and kept the baby with her in the living room because it was safer/easier for her. 

gault530

I can only speak to your first question.  I was on low-estrol prior to getting pregnant and loved it. I didn't have any side effects and didnt' gain any weight, in fact when I stopped it, I gained a little.  It's a low hormone birth control.

GL on the 10th!! 

tyresec

I was on Nuvaring too, so I am also of no help.  However, I was able to control a lot of my PCOS symptoms with metformin.  Now that I am off of it, I see the facial hair coming back, acne, skin spots...all the symptoms that metformin kept at bay.  Before I got pregnant, I used metformin and BC (instead of just using it to help us get pregnant).

AmyJoy728

I broke out a lot during pregnancy, but have been good since. We just use condoms, so I can't help with BC.

I would wait to see if you need a RNP. We didn't. We just used a pnp shared until 4mo in our room and one in the living room, a vibrating chair and a swing.

macchiatto

The only pill I tried was Ortho Tri Lo but it had multiple side effects I wasn't happy with so I went on the Nuva Ring and now I use FAM for BC. I was reasonably happy with the NuvaRing but didn't really consider trying other pills since i had so many side effects even on a low-dose pill.

Do you only have one of the vibrating/soothing seats? I would definitely want two bouncy seats and/or two RnPs. RnPs weren't out yet when my boys were infants but we started out with two totally different bouncy seats. They were at different heights which was a pain when we wanted to use them to bottle feed both babies at once so I'd recommend getting two seats that are at the same height. If I were you I'd probably buy two RnPs and leave the other seat on the other floor. (You might end up wanting another of those two; if we could have had one set of bouncy seats per floor would've been a happy girl. It got VERY old carrying two babies and two bouncy seats up and down the stairs all day, even with a swing upstairs and a PnP downstairs as well.)