As I was sitting at my desk filling out my pre-op appointment forms for my meeting with the anaesthesiologist tomorrow, I was thinking about questions I wanted to ask him or her, and the ideal of permanent sterilization popped into my head (sounds so icky and clinical...yuck!). I'm very sure that two is company and three's a crowd when it comes to kids. Two, for me, is the perfect number. The family can take trips and everyone has a buddy. When we go on rides at Disney World, no one has to fight over who gets who...kids together, parents together. When we go to the mall and the kids run away (it's inevitable, right?), I can grab one and my husband can grab the other. It's the perfect family dynamic, no?If I'm SO sure that two is the magic number then what options do we have to ensure that this number stays put? While most Catholics would be shocked and awed to consider any approach other than the withdrawal method (luckily I was baptized Presbyterian) there must be other ways to keep any future babies at bay. The most obvious of answers is classic birth control (either condoms or pill form). I think that I was on the pill for more than half my life and I'm SO over the migraines and the mood swings that come along with it. What about condoms? Do I really need to say more? So what options are left?
I think the most obvious is Vasectomy. Now, to me, the 
vasectomy sounds like a fantastic idea. I did have to go through almost 20 months of pregnancy altogether, so 48 hours of pain sounds like a cake-walk. The procedure is simple enough. Dude goes into the clinic, the doctor freezes his sack, essentially goes in, makes two snips, and stitches the hole closed. DONE AND DONE. Then the dude sits on a bag of peas for 2 days and can't lift anything heavy. Easy peasy. Unfortunately, upon further investigation, it can be a little more serious than that. Note that I said CAN...Sexual difficulties can occur in patients who've had the procedure done. Normally the difficulties are completely psychological, however. There have also been some studies that have linked prostate cancer to vasectomies. There was, however, a MAJOR study performed involving over 2,000 men that clearly concluded that there was no association between the two. Lastly, vasectomies have a tendency to be more common because they're thought to be easily reversible. This is NOT the case, as I've noticed in my research. Apparently only 50% of vasectomy reversals are successful.
vasectomy sounds like a fantastic idea. I did have to go through almost 20 months of pregnancy altogether, so 48 hours of pain sounds like a cake-walk. The procedure is simple enough. Dude goes into the clinic, the doctor freezes his sack, essentially goes in, makes two snips, and stitches the hole closed. DONE AND DONE. Then the dude sits on a bag of peas for 2 days and can't lift anything heavy. Easy peasy. Unfortunately, upon further investigation, it can be a little more serious than that. Note that I said CAN...Sexual difficulties can occur in patients who've had the procedure done. Normally the difficulties are completely psychological, however. There have also been some studies that have linked prostate cancer to vasectomies. There was, however, a MAJOR study performed involving over 2,000 men that clearly concluded that there was no association between the two. Lastly, vasectomies have a tendency to be more common because they're thought to be easily reversible. This is NOT the case, as I've noticed in my research. Apparently only 50% of vasectomy reversals are successful.Now, the other option, and most practical for my 
situation (as I'm already going to be cut open) is tubal ligation. The procedure is much more complicated than the vasectomy, but again, because I will already be agape, the intricacies of surgery have already been dealt with. Adding this procedure to the c-section essentially adds a mere couple of minutes to the entire surgical time. There are also proven benefits for women who have had their tubes tied. Apparently, the procedure decreases the risk of ovarian cancer up to 1/3 and also blocking the tubes can keep other unwanted bacteria out, diminishing pelvic inflammatory disease. One setback, however, is a common side-effect called Post Tubal-Ligation Syndrome, involving painful and irregular periods. This syndrome has never been studied extensively and most physicians don't think it even exists. Lastly, the reversal success rate of tubal ligation is slightly higher than that of a vasectomy. It runs from about 60%-80%.
situation (as I'm already going to be cut open) is tubal ligation. The procedure is much more complicated than the vasectomy, but again, because I will already be agape, the intricacies of surgery have already been dealt with. Adding this procedure to the c-section essentially adds a mere couple of minutes to the entire surgical time. There are also proven benefits for women who have had their tubes tied. Apparently, the procedure decreases the risk of ovarian cancer up to 1/3 and also blocking the tubes can keep other unwanted bacteria out, diminishing pelvic inflammatory disease. One setback, however, is a common side-effect called Post Tubal-Ligation Syndrome, involving painful and irregular periods. This syndrome has never been studied extensively and most physicians don't think it even exists. Lastly, the reversal success rate of tubal ligation is slightly higher than that of a vasectomy. It runs from about 60%-80%.So, it seems that if my husband and I are sure that two kids are enough, getting my tubes tied would appear to be the most logical way to go. The issue then becomes the snappy decision that would need to be made. The decision to have the tubal ligation procedure would have to be made even before my second baby was born. That's pretty immediate. And, God forbid, if anything were to happen to either child (knock on wood that nothing would ever happen), I may feel a huge amount of regret in our hasty decision. The choice to have a vasectomy can be made months, even years after the fact, without feeling hurried or rushed. It's definitely something that we, as a family, will need to discuss in depth over the next four weeks. But the more I think about it, the more complicated the decision seems to be.
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