One day this past month we hit the fifth anniversary of my chucking my last packet of birth control pills and beginning, instead, to pop a daily prenatal vitamin. Eighteen months of trying to conceive, one pregnancy, eighteen months of breastfeeding, another pregnancy (while still nursing), and six more months (and counting) of breastfeeding later, I am still rattling through one giant bottle of the little capsules after another. Five years on prenatals is nothing compared to what long-term infertility veterans go through, but the image of all those purply-pink pills (oh, and the uncoated nasty yellow ones that made me sick) tumbling through my system impresses me just a little.
And I count myself infinitely lucky to have so much to show for it. I tossed those birth control pills knowing there were no guarantees, knowing I sometimes ovulated no more than once a year. I would never have guessed—and barely dared to hope—what a fruitful five years it would be.
2.27.2008
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Hey, I used to ovulate once a year myself! And I have been taking prenatals so long, too. Besides a healthy baby, all I can show for it are my really freakishly strong nails.
ReplyDeleteI threw up almost every prenatal I took while pregnant. I actually asked if there was something like a prenatal suppository, because I was so worried about it, and the doc laughed at me, pointing out that this would put the pill at the wrong end of the digestive system, cough, cough. I was very embarrassed.
ReplyDeleteSo glad for all your bounty.
Dang, how big was that bottle?
ReplyDeleteI have been on prenatals for four years, or at least I was until my kid decided to get sensitive to everything I eat including hypoallergenic vitamins.
Hi Caro! I am returning the visit. I'll be back, too!
ReplyDeleteI, too, was a bit surprised how easily I conceived when, at the age of 34, we decided to toss the pills. I'd read so much about infertility increasing as a woman advances through her thirties that I was surprised when the "system" worked as it was supposed to!