the nice thing about the mirena vs. paragard is that you have little/ no bleeding with mirena, but more bleeding with the copper iud.

lol. . . "i just don't care that he gets poked a little"

my hubby can feel the string, but it doesn't bother him enough to stop having sex!

Another happy Mirena customer. Inserted 3 weeks before starting med school, to be removed summer after intern year. No worries. No periods. No stress. Apparently (according to my obgyn lectures) there is a slightly increased risk of expulsion of Mirena with nulliparous women, and it's still not recommended for women with multiple partners, d/t their increased risk of STI's in general that can progress into PID d/t the foreign body in the uterus. Anyway, though, I highly recommend it to anyone who's busy... I can hardly remember to take my other meds while on call, can't imagine having to remember a pill or bring tampons

i'm just a hormone phobe...
also the disadv from paragard is pretty minimal for me personally.
so i'm very happy with paragard.

I have had both the Mirena and paragard. Also have used OCP. Of all of them, I LOVED the Mirena for convenience and lack of periods. Paragard was convenient but periods were bad. OCP is just plain inconvenient and I'm always worried that I didn't take it early/late enough & if I forget, panic.

Thanks for these posts my hubs and I are starting to figure out what birth control to use now that my newbie is 5 months old. I used to be on the pill but had bad migraines with them. I also used the shot once (the one that lasts three months with little to no periods). BAD, BAD, BAD side effect... I had a period for 99 straight days instead of having little to no period at all. These postings really help those of us trying to figure out where to go from having babies to wanting some time off.

Vasectomy!!!

We are actually doing natural family planning with condoms during the 'dangerous' times. Has worked well for us for 6 years-all kids were planned (#1 was a conscious decision at the last minute not to be safe!) But we also don't care if we have another pregnancy. Not sure yet if we will actively try, but if it were to happen that would be ok. I used OCP's and had side effects to various ones, and the sponge in the past before it was pulled and brought back. Have thought about Nuva Ring but don't want the systemic hormone. DH says he will get fixed, but balks when I press him on it....he wants me to get an IUD, I say i have had enough done down there-it is his turn!

Husband got snipped, best thing we ever did. It is so great to NOT worry about getting pregnant. And no rubber barrier between us (I am latex allergic to boot so that was a REALLY bad experience), no pill side effects, hassles, etc. We had problems with just about every form of contraception we tried so landed up using the good ol' fashioned withdrawal method for years, which is how we landed up starting our family in the first place...

Docmomof3-men are wimps!

We used natural family planning (+condoms) for 4 years and it worked very well--for avoiding conception and planning it. We got pregnant the first try both times.

Now that residency is looming....an IUD sounds awfully convenient. Does anyone's partner NOT feel the strings? I'd rather use paragard (I'm a hormone-phobe, too), but the horror stories of the awful periods are freaking me out (I get bad cramps + bleeding to begin with).

Sorry if TMI! I'm blushing!

Husband doesn't feel strings here!
Don't do Paragard if you have bad periods to begin with. Mirena rocks!