Do you remember when you began menstruating again?
Yes, not for a while, it was certainly after six months that I had a period and, so yes, no I didn't see anything for a while which is another bonus [laughs] definitely because I have bad periods so, I wasn't in any rush to get those back again, so, yes.
Did you know you were cycling again? Did you have any idea?
No I've never been very in tune, I've never really known when I was ovulating or anything like that so no it was just when it happened it was a bit of a shock actually, it was coming back from our first holiday, we'd just crossed the Channel [laughs] on the train and yes, and I realised that I was having a period, so yes that was a bit of a shock, but that was the first time.
Anything else?
There was something came into my head as well I'm just trying to think what it was. I suppose there was this issue about whether you could become pregnant again while you were breastfeeding and we've been of the opinion that we, we wanted to, we were not going to use any contraception again, we wanted to have another baby, though, you know, as we weren't bothered how close behind Michael the next baby might come, and we certainly wouldn't have trusted breastfeeding to be a contraceptive in itself even in the early months when he was just breastfeeding all the time. We were warned beforehand and, you know, we were asked, you know, right around the time of birth, one of the first questions that we were asked by the midwife and health visitor, what would be your choice of contraception. So I think that was responsible, to be asking those questions, but for us it wasn't an issue at that time but yeah there are a lot of conflicting messages that go about that even if you a colleague of my husband's at work has had a hidden pregnancy for four months very, she's expecting, she was very well on with her pregnancy by the time that anybody knew about it and she hadn't had a period at all and was breastfeeding, you know, her little one, quite happily so it certainly can happen, we've got a close experience of personal friends who've had it happen so it's not a protection that we had thought it would be.
There was actually one other thing that I was thinking of, the fact that I am pregnant again and it's been interesting as far as breastfeeding's concerned because I've had conflicting advice from, two people with backgrounds in, in health as well and, you know, what, concerns that, and I think both concerns are justified. One that, perhaps if you're breastfeeding it can promote contractions, you know, so that, one was worried about because I had a bit of a rocky start to the pregnancy, whether it might encourage a miscarriage if there was any chance of it happening at all. But then another one saying to me, “Well actually maybe you've got the bigger risk is that actually your milk might dry up because the other hormones are just going to flood your body because of the pregnancy”. So, neither of which, thankfully, seem to have, you know, come to pass but the end result was well, we're so close to him being twelve months old, he's not on many feeds a day now, let's just push on through, and certainly my midwife said that in her experience, the women that have become pregnant again while they were breastfeeding have generally carried on, so I think again if you become pregnant again then don't let that immediately make you panic and sort of think, 'Right I'm going to have to get the baby off'. I mean in my case it will be nice once Michael reaches twelve months. It gives me a good six months before the next baby arrives. |
