Stiletto Diaries™

My Mirena IUD Experience

Posted on October 5th, 2009 in Does All Her Own Stunts, Mating And Relating, Polyamory

As promised, an entire blog post devoted to vaginas!  Ok, just my vagina.  And less about my vagina and more about my uterus.  Hooray!

The evening before the appointment (Wednesday night) as ordered, I got out the Misoprostol.  Two little pills, shaped like hexagons, to be ‘inserted vaginally’ which is what I did, while wondering if I was getting them close enough to my cervix.

I had been feeling crampy already, thanks to my period, which had arrived two days prior, so I don’t know if the meds really contributed to that, but they seemed to do what they were supposed to.  The cramping wasn’t enough to keep me awake that night, which is good because I didn’t get a ton of sleep.

Aiden arrived here after work (which was the middle of the night) and by the time I talked to him and tucked him into bed it was almost 3:30am.  I got up at around 7am, and after I got kids off to school I crawled back into bed with him, and we spent the morning sleeping in and then took our time getting up and showered and dressed.

Not long before my appointment we arrived at Nia’s house, where I took the muscle relaxant I had been given, and then we ran a quick errand for her before we got to the clinic.  I was early, which was just as well, since I ended up being able to go in for my appointment 15 minutes ahead of time.  While Aiden and I were sitting in the waiting room the wooziness totally hit me and I felt like I’d just downed six shots of tequila.  Excellent!

The nurse came and got me and off I went to the table with the stirrups and the spotlight on my crotch.  She had me strip off from the waist down, handed me a paper sheet thing, and ordered me to scoot my butt to the very bottom edge of the table, where she was waiting with latex gloves and a cold metal speculum.  Thank goodness for feeling partially stoned!

There was the normal discomfort of having ones vagina unnaturally stretched open, and then she cleaned the area in order to avoid pushing bacteria up into my uterus.  That just felt cold, and weird, but not uncomfortable.

Next she pinched part of my cervix in a clamp.  That was kind of uncomfortable, but as the cervix really doesn’t have any nerve endings in it, the sensation was more like random pressure.  Or that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when something really terrible is about to happen.  It’s difficult to describe.

Following that, she needed to measure the depth of my uterus, which is done using a metal rod called a uterine sound.  That part was also mildly uncomfortable.  Not really painful, just uncomfortable.

When that was done she got the IUD prepared and then there was more odd discomfort and then it was pretty much over.  The removal of the clamp was odd-feeling, and then she had to snip the threads, and there was some pinching sensations involved in that and then the removal of the speculum.  She told me that I was free to get up and get dressed as soon as I felt comfortable doing so.

I was still somewhat light headed, but overall I felt fine.  Certainly there was some abdominal discomfort, similar to rather bad menstrual cramps, but it wasn’t unbearable.  I got dressed, she went over the rules following the procedure:

- Don’t put anything in your vagina for 48 hours afterwards

- Use condoms for 20 days following (these instructions are apparently unique to the clinic I went to, but I’m going to trust them and not take any chances)

- Take it easy for a day or two

- Make sure to check for the IUD threads after every period (although I discovered today that it’s pretty much impossible for me to touch my own cervix, although maybe I just need to get a little more creative about the position I’m in when I attempt it)

- They recommend avoiding tampons (which works fine for me, as I’m all about the DivaCup and will never use anything else ever again)

She also gave me a Hep B shot, and then sent me on my way.  Aiden and Nia were waiting for me, and Nia drove us home.

I took some Advil when we got to the house, and I was having some lower back pain which was probably the worst part of it all.  It wasn’t super painful, just a dull ache.  My vagina was also sore for most of the rest of the day, I think just due to all of the instruments being poked around and that part about being held open, LOL.

After the kids had been picked up from school Aiden suggested we get take out for dinner so that I wouldn’t have to cook anything.  We ordered pizza and he rubbed my back for a while which was excellent and did help with the discomfort.

When Jack got in from work he ate and then took Nia home, who was super awesome and helped watch the kids even though she was kind of feeling like ass herself.  After the rugrats were in bed Jack tackled some work projects on his laptop and I curled up on the couch with Aiden to watch TV before bed.

The cramps did not return, even after the Advil had worn off.  My lower back remained kind of sore for the rest of the evening and the next day, but over the weekend I felt fine.  All in all it was a simple procedure, and my period finished normally, right on schedule, and there hasn’t been any spotting thus far.

On Sunday Aiden and I had sex twice and it wasn’t uncomfortable either time.  Jack and I had sex this morning, and that was fine too.  My interest in sex certainly hasn’t been diminished as I’ve already wanked twice today, and contemplated a third round.  I haven’t noticed any change in my mood.  There was a moment on Sunday when I thought perhaps I was being overly sensitive, but I think that was just a combination of circumstances that had nothing to do with the IUD.  I realize that it’s only been four days, and I have no idea how long it might take for the hormones to start screwing with my normal balance, if they ever do, but I feel very optimistic that it’s not going to happen.

I am curious to see how my next period will go, if I even have one.  Most likely if I do it will be lighter than normal and probably not on schedule, but who knows.  Lately they have been coming early, so I wouldn’t say I’m ‘regular’ at the moment anyway.

Even though it’s only been a few days, so far I’ve been really happy with the Mirena.  Having it inserted was much easier and less painful than I imagined, and I haven’t experienced any unpleasant side effects since the day after.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn’t give me any trouble and does what it’s supposed to do for the remainder of it’s stay in my uterus.