holy jebus.

I concur with Jean and Lisa B. All you have to do is say the word whenever you need serious pain relief! You have enough fans so the odds are pretty good for scoring. Ahem. I didn’t mean for that to sound so druggie. But I just turned 39 and now have an arsenal in my medicine cabinet. I’m not proud of this.
I hope you had a great afternoon!

Re back pain. Whenever mine acts up I haul out these miracle balls. The exercises are quite effective and relaxing.

Both. Nap and shop. Shop then nap actually.

Another “Yay!” here for the IUD. I didn’t have the Mirena, but the one I did have worked great. Agree with others above that they probably had to leave your strings long in order to give your body time to get back to normal. (Or at least closer to it.) Once you get the strings trimmed you should have no problems. Those things work like a charm. Enjoy your day of me time, no matter how you spend it.

They cut the strings of my IUD too short, so now whenever The Boy and I “have deep relations”, he says it pokes him.

That said, I’m not going back to have a new one inserted; because I have not had children, insertion hurts like a son of a bitch, and all they suggest for me is ibuprofen. Which, yes Sundry, they can shove in their dose-holes.

I can’t use hormonal birth control for medical reasons, so I have the copper IUD and I love love it, although I don’t exactly trust it. I think it’s like 98% effective, but after more than a decade on the pill, it still seems too good to be true. And while I trust that the string is there, I’ve never felt or seen it.

And it’s instantly reversible! So if I ever recover from the trauma of having my first baby, I can easily decide to have a second.

I second what Erin said above, that the strings do soften after a few days or so and then kind of curl up round the cervix. I did have to go back to my local family planning nurse to have my strings trimmed after the first time I had my IUD inserted but after that, no problems at all. That was until I had my second one inserted 3 months post a vaginal birth… it only stayed put another 6 months (with not much sex to be honest! What? I had a new baby to take care of!) and then it dislodged during sex. Now that was a bugger. Anyway, it turns out having a baby did more than change my life, it changed my uterus too so now I am not such a good candidate for another IUD. I am gutted, its a fabulous form of contraceptive and being back on condoms is like being a teenager all over again!

i chickened out on my scheduled iud insertion appointment. i googled my way into a real freak-out about it. pshaw. me stoopid.
i wish i had one, but don’t know if i can ever do it. i had heard about the strings and their tendency to poke your partner’s one member boy band. poke poke. ouch.
hope it all works out, oh brave one.
also- alone time? COOL. hope you had fun!

oh, and commenter sarah the italian up yonder? hilarious! so funny.

Holy crap, am I ever glad my mom found this particular blog and told me about it. I’m going in tomorrow to get my Mirena put in and now I can drive my gp crazy with all sorts of annoying questions about string trimming, breaking out and boy bit poking. Evidently it shouldn’t hurt too much because I’m breastfeeding and it makes your cervix stretchier? And I thought this form of bc was only for people who had already had at least one baby??

IUD stuff = Yikes! & Monday morning OB call ASAP. Love the floppy uterus comment. Ha!

As for today… I can never rest well with a husband taking care of an infant ALL WRONG within my range of hearing. So I say, make Daddy take small children AWAY for a few hours, pull up a lounge chair in your backyard to enjoy your wonderful weather and sleep in the sun like a cozy cat.

Seriously, you have to ask? NAP! Nothing out by yourself with two children under the age of teenagers is fun!

This post has all the elements of exactly why I love you and keep obsessively reading you Sundry. You said all the things I thought about daily when I had an infant and toddler – I just didn’t have anybody in my life who could understand! Thank God for all your incredible readers and commenters.

I had to laugh at all the comments that sounded exactly like what I thought you should do too – shop then take a nap anywhere but at home! Hope you had a great time and regained a tiny bit of sanity in that insane world you’re living in right now.

Come on over and visit my blog sometime and say hi. I’m not above shamelessly plugging myself and my giant readership of 2.

a trip to a bookstore, where you can get something to drink or nibble on…..relax in comfy chair…..perhaps read a book….or just zen out and people watch

I suggest a nap in a nice, close, fresh-clean-sheeted bed at a hotel. It does cost a a few bucks, but you deserve it! Then there is no chance that you will get disturbed or hear cries that you feel you must check out. Top that nap off with room service and a nice, long, hot, undisturbed bath, and then head back home refreshed.

Once they’re trimmed, the IUD is awesome. Totally unnoticable, and you really aren’t going to get pregnant again unless you want to. I’ve never had a baby, and while having it put in wasn’t a pleasant experience, it’s worth not having to deal with all that other preventative crap.

I hope they had a reason for not trimming at the time. It sounds like that’s an exception to the norm.

Enjoy your relaxation time! Hopefully time off will be a regular thing, so you don’t have to cram in every fun thing you want to do into these few hours.

Shoes first, OUT of the house. Not online. Then take a nap. That’s my personal choice.

No comment on the IUD thing. My doc mentioned something about my previous ectopic pregnancy and an IUD might cause a repeat performance so…. I’ll opt for bc for now. Although I’d love a method of birth control that enhanced the libido and made you instantly lose ten pounds. I’d pay big bucks for that stuff!!!

I went to the mall yesterday, for some Me time, and the whole time I was walking around thinking “I wish I was napping.” What did you wind up doing?

Thank goodness they can trim those things. I’ve never heard of an IUD “side effect” like that.

And the visual imagery now stuck in my head: priceless. Thankyousomuch.

Another no-child-havin’ Mirena person here. I’m 35 and a smoker with a family history of things that makes the pill not the best option.

I love that little plastic do-hickey. LOVE. In there in less than a minute (the subsequent string trimming was an additional 30 seconds … don’t fear having that done, it’s easy!), and some spotting for a few weeks. Two years later, non-existent periods and no babies. Thumbs up!

I will say that the first time I had to check that everything was still in place by feeling for the strings, it was … interesting. There were some acrobatics and yoga moves in the shower, but finally I found the stupid things. I will admit to a few moments of panic, as well as some cursing. I’ve never had a guy complain of being poked. I know about 10 people with it, and only one of them had string issues.

Good luck, and also: Team NAP!!

Have them trimmed SHORT. I have the Paragard and it doesn’t bother me in the least, but my dear fiance would like to rip the pointy little mutherfockers right out of my nether regions. I said go for it, I’d love to have a baby. He is less comfortable with that than a few pokes in the tip.

You see, people don’t understand that a plunger needs to be sitting directly next to every toilet in your home at all times. Women think it’s better to hide this device in some back closet, or at least under the sink, but I assure you, in the moment of panic you will need every second you have available to avoid a flood of fresh turds large enough to clog a toilet. I’m not joking, they’re important.

Sorry about the godzilla tampon string thing. I don’t know what an IUD is, and honestly after the girly facts filled day I’ve had so far (thank you very much little ms UTI talker abouter) I don’t even care. But sorry you have some wretched medical device shoved up your baby hole for later painful removal.

If I had a few hours to do whatever I want, I would spend it talking. I’ve got a person I wouldn’t mind talking to for a while. But alas, time does not permit. So I guess I’d take a nap. Or go burn some shit. Or blow something up. Or maybe shoot my gun. Or steal music off the old webz. I don’t know, I don’t have a few hours to spare so why do you tease me?

You’re greatly exaggerating the feel of the iud string. It feels like a soft thin plastic, yes, somewhat like a fishing line but not like some plastic cable massive enough to lasso Godzilla sticking out of you, like you seem to make it out to be. But then again, maybe your parts are more sensitive than average. Have you ever had those occasions where you had something stuck in your mouth or teeth and have it feel ridiculously larger than it actually is? Where a kernel of corn feels like a canonball or a single hair feels like a shipyard rope? *lol* As for me, compare feeling a soft thin plastic string than the diameter of a baby’s head ripping my parts in two and….I don’t know about you, but it’s all TOO EASY a choice for ME. I have Paragard as it’s a hormone-free alternative I only have to think about ONCE (unlike Depo shots, which is what I used before…which are also great, especially if you’ve had PCOS). I’ve been plagued with ovarian cysts before(of which having Mirena risks just such a thing) and I’m LESS than excited about taking the chance of getting MORE CYSTS!

And one more thing…if the strings are “poking” your partner, either they were cut too short, the ends of the strings weren’t tucked in behind the cervix (which you can ask your doctor to do when he/she “installs” the IUD or you can do it yourself) or both. Also note that the strings become more pliant over time. I keep my srings “tucked in” as much as possible…though the drawback to that is reaching in to FIND them when doing a self-check to make sure it’s still in place(the primary purpose of these strings as it seems there are a few here who don’t know what they’re for)…and for those who think IUD’s are removed with one grasp and a “yoink”??? OMG! What a misconception (no pun intended…heh). As a matter of fact, IUD REMOVAL is, on average, quicker and LESS painful than it’s placement. Yes, the strings are involved in it’s removal, but bear in mind the device’s ARMS FOLD UP going OUT JUST THE WAY the way they fold OUT after being placed!

It was a excitement locating your site a short while ago. I got here this day hoping to learn something new. And I was not let down. Your ideas about new methods on this subject matter were topical and a good help to myself. Thank you for creating time to create these things along with sharing your notions.

Oh my goodness! I know all of your pains with the pill. I am cutlenrry on a low dose pill since I’m breastfeeding while we wait for my husband to get snipped in December. I did get pregnant with Rylie on the low dose pill while breastfeeding Sydney. I had never had a period and so I was totally surprised to find out I was pregnant. This also makes me super nervous now. I feel like I’m still going through everything you have mentioned even with the low dose pill. I guess my hormones are so out of wack though that I don’t know what normal is supposed to feel like. I’ve been pregnant or breastfeeding for almost the last 6 years. Maybe it’s my pill causing a lot of the problems though.I used Ortho Tricyclen Lo when I was younger to also help regulate my periods, but I did gain weight and felt absolutely awful. I struggled with everything that you have mentioned. Most of my weight issues come from hormones and it’s awful. Thank you for posting this. It’s something that sooooooo many women go through and don’t realize, or just suffer alone. What had you been using before starting this pill? If you don’t mind me asking. I’m just curious since I’ve had so many of the same problems and my husband keeps putting off his surgery because he’s not sure he wants to be done having babies.

One thing I’d like to say is the fact that car insurance cancelling is a feared experience and if you are doing the appropriate things as a driver you simply won’t get one. A number of people do obtain notice that they have been officially dumped by their insurance company they have to scramble to get further insurance after having a cancellation. Affordable auto insurance rates tend to be hard to get from cancellation. Having the main reasons concerning the auto insurance cancellations can help people prevent sacrificing one of the most critical privileges obtainable. Thanks for the thoughts shared through your blog.

I hate my life but at least this makes it bearable.