WARNING: this post is entirely about girl parts. If you don’t like hearing about vajayjay in a clinical, non-pornish sort of way, you’ll probably want to stop reading now and come back tomorrow. I promise not to mention my hoo-ha at all for at least another week.
As you know, I had an IUD put in three months ago. When I was considering getting one, I asked around about it, and heard as many horror stories as raves. Many of those stories scared me a LOT, so I wanted to add my experience to that.- I already wrote about the installation. You can definitely feel it for 3-4 days afterward, and then you stop being aware of it except for occasionally during sex.
- I had cramps daily for at least a couple months. I had cramps hourly during the 3day. That sucked a lot, but it’s gotten much better since then. I only get them once a week or so, and don’t take ibuprofin all the time.
- It does mess up your period quite a bit. Mine’s pretty irregular now. The cramps are worse, but the bleeding is a lot less. The doctor says your cycle usually goes back to normal after about 6 months, but the cramps are generally improved. I’m a fan of that concept.
- Not having to use condoms every day is seriously the best thing ever.
- Not having to worry about being knocked up is the second-best thing ever.
- A lot of people said that when you first get it put in, the strings are stiff (they soften over time and wrap around the cervix), and their partner could feel them poking. That kind of worried me, but we haven’t had that happen at all. The doctor told me the strings on mine are already curled up, so it won’t be a problem.
- It did get infected last month (during the least convenient time possible, the 3day). The doctor told me it’s really common during the first several weeks, and is unlikely to ever happen again. I had pain and a fever, and that’s why I went to the hospital. They gave me antibiotics that cured it within three days.
- The side-effects of going to the hospital: I learned that the IUD was for sure in the right spot, and I also learned that I had a cyst on my right ovary. They thought maybe that was the reason for the pain and fever, but I kind of doubted it. I wouldn’t have known it was there if they hadn’t done an ultrasound, because it had never caused problems before.
- I had a followup ultrasound on that last night. I don’t have the final result from the radiologist yet, but the nurse doing the scan showed it to me, and said that it looks to have already burst and that everything seems to be normal. Yay!