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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

anticonception question

33 replies

milupa · 01/02/2004 01:56

There isn't a dedicated thread to anticonception so I will ask here.
After this baby ( due in August ) i am going to have my tubes tied. Is this done on NHS and is it healthy? i have heard that you can have it clipped in one place or clipped in both places and cut in between to make absolutly sure that you won't become pregnant again. Is this true?

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zebra · 01/02/2004 02:38

Yes you can have it done on NHS, not sure about the clipping locations. But Some previous threads on this, 1 , 2 ...
May I add a question that didn't seem to be addressed before? I KNOW I never want to be pregnant again, every form of birth control I try disagrees with me & I'd be dismayed to be accidentally pregnant... but... I'm very scared about the idea of removing my fertility forever. If my children all died, for instance, (morbid, I know), I might change my mind about having another baby. I just wondered if anybody else felt the same and how you resolved it? Also, how "reversible" is getting sterilised? Someone told me it's easier to reverse than a vasectomy.

I really can't decide which would be worse, not having the option of a another child if I wanted, or having another child!

twiglett · 01/02/2004 08:54

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hmb · 01/02/2004 10:03

Twiglett, I wouldn't encourage anyone to have anyone sterilised if they were not 100% sure as the reversal is not easy and there are very high failure rates of reversal.

Milupa. A couple of points. It can be done on the NHS and it is healthy (tho all medical procedures have an small eliment of risk).

No form or contraception is 100% except not having sex, or having a hysterectomy

Tubes can be clipped, clipped and cut, or, as happened to me, removed. The procedure is minor, you will be a bit sore, I had mine done when they delivered my ds by c-section.

But you should only have it done if you are 100% sure that you never want to have a child again, under any circumstances. What Zebra says is right, you have to be sure that even if the worst happened you wouldn't want to get pregnant again. I have 2 loved and wanted and planned children. But if, God forbid, anything happened to them I wouldn't want to be pregnant again, as I feel that I am too old (not making any comment about anyone else here) and I had too hard a time during my last pregnancy.

vict17 · 01/02/2004 15:24

Hi! Sorry to butt in but just a word of warning about vasectomies. Yes it is a more simple procedure than female sterilisation, but it's a common misconception that it only takes 2 days to recover from. A friend of mine has just had one and he had to have 2 weeks off work, he could hardly walk and his wife had to bath him! he had three wounds all about an inch long that had to be stitched up!!! He had to sleep downstairs as he couldn't walk up the stairs very easily to get to bed!

twiglett · 01/02/2004 16:21

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vict17 · 01/02/2004 16:28

Hi Twiglett - ooh maybe you're right! I didn't want to ask him too many questions as he was in so much pain Perhaps he had complications after all - poor thing!

lou33 · 01/02/2004 18:12

I was sterilised in Dec 2001, about 10 months after having my 4th. The tubes were clipped, nit cut. Hoenstly I have to say it was the best thing I have done, I feel really liberated by it. I was a bit fed up at the time, as dh refused to have a vasectomy, and I felt as I had done the childbirth he should do the snip, but I am really pleased I did . It took about 3 days to recover from, and there were no complications.

For me, I know that if something happened to all of my children tomorrow, I still wouldn't want another baby. It wouldn't be the children I lost, and could never replace them.

Coddy · 01/02/2004 18:17

Friend of mIne is a urology consultant and he would not have a a vasectomy as he doesnt think that enough research has been done into the long term consequences

150percent · 01/02/2004 18:26

Zebra,
AFAIK sterilisation is "reversible" in that IVF is still possible. As someone who has only conceived through IVF I feel fairly happy going down the route of sterilisation as it should prevent unwanted pregnancies, yet I could still attempt to conceive (at some cost though!) if circs changed.

No idea as to how easy it would be to repair or unclip the tubes though. Nor what your chances of conception would be if you tried to.

Obviously my circs are different in having been through IVF before:- I imagine others would have to think long and hard before going down that road.

lou33 · 01/02/2004 18:30

Coddy, that was one of the reasons dh cited.

Coddy · 01/02/2004 18:31

sorry to side with him!

lou33 · 01/02/2004 18:33

That's ok, Let you off THIS time . No more second chances though!

beetroot · 01/02/2004 18:34

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Coddy · 01/02/2004 18:36

he want s more babies really beety

JJ · 01/02/2004 18:41

I thought sterilisation was higher risk, being a more major surgery and all. What are the long term complications of it? Sorry if I missed that here. Have they been studied?

My husband had the clip .. it was easy peasy. Well, that's my viewpoint. He was in pain for a few days.

We both like it.

hmb · 01/02/2004 18:48

A valid reason not to be sterilised I suppose. I had it don't because I was the one who was 100% that I didn't want any more children. If I'd wanted more dh would have gone along with my wishes. And not wanting any more also has to mean, in any other relationship. I knew that was the case for me.

Sterilisation can cause a lot of heart ache when couples split up and get into a new relationship. They may then want a child with the new partner, that partner may be desparate for a child. So the question has to be do you want another child? And if the answer is maybe, don't get sterilised.

That said I was very glad to have it done and have no regrets at all.

beetroot · 01/02/2004 19:00

This reply has been deleted

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vict17 · 01/02/2004 19:09

Are both vasectomies and female sterilisation 100 per cent accurate or is there a chance you can still become pregnant? Does anyone know?

JJ · 01/02/2004 19:17

I agree with hmb. We're both 100% sure about wanting no more kids. If my husband died, I'd get sterlised in a heartbeat, just so the option was no longer there.

If it's both of you going in on this, then have him done. If it's you that doesn't want anymore kids, then do it yourself.

hmb · 01/02/2004 19:19

Neither are 100%, and there are DNA tested cases that prove this. There are only 2 100% forms of contraception, not having sex and having a hysterectomy!

vict17 · 01/02/2004 19:22

So for those whose dp's/dh's have had vasectomies do you still use condoms? Sorry to ask such a personal question but there doesn't seem much point having it done if you still have to use something!

lou33 · 01/02/2004 20:33

I think it's something like 1 in 500 sterilisations fail, and 1 in 2000 vasectomies (that's what I was quoted by my consultant at the time). The failure with sterilisation is most likely to occur within the first 5 years I believe.

hmb · 01/02/2004 20:35

If you wanted to be as sure as possible then I suppose that youcould use a condom, but both types of sterilisation are better than the oral contraceptive and most people use that on it's own

susanmt · 03/02/2004 01:31

It's easier to reverse female sterilisation than a vasectomy (according to my obstetrician who tried to persuade me I wanted it for that reason) - but as we are 110% sure that we want no more children, nor, if we lost all 3, that we would ever want me to be pregnant again, my dh had a vasectomy in early Nov last year and is waiting to hear if his first sample was clear (you need 2 clear samples to be given the 'all clear'.
Before this I had a mirena coil which has a lower failure rate than female sterilisation (as long as the bl**dy thing stays in - mine fell out and I got pg again, and though dd2 is gorgeous, I didn't plan it that way and its taken a bit of getting used to.
Vasectomy is more reliable (according to my dh, who is a doc), and he says its only right the man should go through with it given that women have to give birth, plus it is abdominal surgery for a woman which carries it's own risks.

twiglett · 03/02/2004 09:43

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