Look at the size of the needle on this thing!

Perhaps I shouldn't blog about something quite so personal (contraception), but what the heck!?

I had an earlier than normal postnatal check-up - 4 weeks rather than 6 weeks - as I wanted to be cleared to drive again. Everything is healing up nicely and I 'passed' all the exercises to prove I could drive safely. Yay! The doctor then decided to give me the 'contraception talk'. Only a doctor would be thinking contraception just a month after birth. The memory of the latter stages of pregnancy and having a baby are contraceptive enough, thanks very much. Mind you I do know someone who got pregnant 5 weeks after having a baby. 5 weeks!! If Mr Earplugs gets any ideas he'll be getting the stick treatment - I'll be beating him off with one. If there is an opportunity for sex then there's an opportunity for sleep and I know which one I'd rather have just now!

The easiest option would be for Mr Earplugs to have the snip, but since he's a lot younger than me he may well want to have more children should I fall under a bus! And really it's me who doesn't want any more children as at nearly 44 I think I'm lucky to have had Nipper and Tiddler. I did consider being sterilised during the c-section but it has a higher failure rate if done then and we really didn't want to be worrying about that. So, after much discussion, we decided that the hormonal implant would be the best option. It's a matchstick sized implant which is put in your upper arm and can stay in place for up to 3 years. Apparantly you need much less hormone than with the oral pill as it's being delivered straight into your blood stream, there are less problems with other drug interactions, and you don't have to worry about whether it's been absorbed if you are sick or have a tummy upset. Best of all you don't have to remember to take it.

I filled the prescription and was a bit confused when the pharmacist gave me a large bag - it's just a small implant, right? Well, the implant is small but I hadn't given much thought as to how it would be put in place. Just look at the applicator and check out that whopping needle (it's the whole section to the left of my thumb!)

The practice nurse was a real sweetie and gave me 3 shots of local anaesthetic in my upper arm, followed by a fourth for good measure. She was chatting to me about local schools (our LEA is one of the worst in the country) to keep my mind occupied but when she came at me with the needle my mind went blank and I must have been talking gibberish! I didn't look (would you have done??!) but I didn't feel a thing. She covered the area with steristrips and bandaged me up. Seems a bit extreme doesn't it?


Well, check out what it looked like when I took the bandage off the following morning:


So much for the bandage minimising any bruising. It's still rather sore now and I think it's going to be quite a few more days before the bruising fades. Thank goodness I only need to have this done once every three years.

I hate to think how they are going to get the implant out though - 'scalpel please nurse' I think!!

Look at the size of the needle on this thing!