Birth Control

People have often wondered (and asked me) why I choose not to use hormonal birth control. I was on the pill for 6 months after I got married. I stopped taking it because of some side effects it was causing. While I was off of it, I started doing some research about the pill and how it prevents you from getting pregnant.

First - it inhibits ovulation
Next - it thickens your cervical mucus so the sperm cannot reach the egg
Lastly - it alters the uterine wall, keeping the fertilized egg (a.k.a. the baby) from attaching. If the baby doesn't attach it will get flushed out during your normal menses cycle.

This news horrified me. I wondered if I'd ever been pregnant and not known. That knowledge was enough to keep me off hormonal birth control for the rest of my life. Not to mention the fact that it just doesn't seem right to inject my body with hormones to keep it from doing what it's designed to do. I don't know if there is medical evidence to back this up, but it just doesn't seem right to intentionally keep my body from ovulating.

There are millions of women who rely on the pill (or other hormonal birth control) to keep them from getting pregnant. I'm not going to go all Duggar crazy and say every woman should have as many babies as possible. But, I do think it's important to know what you're putting into your body and why. I am far from perfect in this area, but this is one thing I have learned.

Random factoid: Somewhat ironically, today is the date (in 2008) that we conceived Cooper!