What I didn't know about hormonal birth control.......

When my husband and I first got married, we decided that I would take birth control pills. We knew other Christian couples who did this, and to be perfectly honest, we didn't really even question whether or not it was wrong. As far as we knew, birth control pills stopped ovulation, so there was no chance of getting pregnant. I admit that I didn't read the fine print on the birth control label, and I don't even remember praying about this decision. I noticed that I didn't feel very well while taking the pills. I think my body didn't respond very well to the hormones in the pills, and I often felt irritable and had symptoms of PMS almost all month long. About 9-10 months after we were married, I began to have some very serious abdominal pain that caused me to have to see an urgent care doctor. I had switched birth control brands a short time before that, and although I have no proof, I suspect the abdominal pain was linked to the birth control pills. The doctor could not find anything conclusive, and the pain subsided. One day at work, a friend of mine brought up the subject of birth control pills. She told me she had learned that there could be evidence that birth control pills had a failsafe built into them - if the pills failed to prevent ovulation, and sperm makes it past the thickened cervical mucus and fertilizes an egg, then the pills could cause the lining of the uterus to thin and become hostile for a fertilized egg to implant. I was SHOCKED, because I had never heard that before. I had rather mixed emotions - first shock, then horror, then denial, then horror again. Since I was not feeling well from taking the pills anyway, and because I was worried there was even a CHANCE that what my friend had told me was true, we decided to go off the pills almost immediately.

We made a decision not to go back on pills ever again, or any type of hormonal birth control. But I didn't really want to know the truth. I didn't really want to know if what my friend had said was true. I just decided that I wouldn't use that kind of birth control. Many years later, I did start doing some research, and I have been led to believe that there is a fail-safe built into hormonal birth control (pills and IUDs, and I believe it is possible in shots and the patch as well). I have heard of people getting pregnant while on pills or with an IUD in place, but I still believe these forms of birth control are designed to prevent implantation. It may not always prevent implantation, but I tend to think that is the exception rather than the rule. I believe that human life begins when an egg is fertilized by a sperm, even if it hasn't implanted yet. I know there would be many that disagree with me, but it is my personal belief that that is when life starts. Because I believe this way, I do not want to do anything to destroy (or cause rejection of implantation) the fertilized egg. My heart breaks that I did not know this information when I first got married, because if I did, I never would have used the pills.

The Bible is clear on how God feels about children - they are a gift and a blessing from God. The Bible doesn't say how many or how few children we are to have. I believe that the number of children you have is not an indication in and of itself of how spiritual you are. There are many examples in the Bible of believers who were barren (at least for a time), or who had one child. Take Hannah for example. She was barren for awhile before God blessed her with Samuel (and later other children as well). The Bible does not state that Hannah was living in disobedience or being punished with barrenness. Also consider Sarah, the wife of Abraham. She only had one child, Isaac. The Bible does not indicate that Sarah was judged on how much she loved God based on the number of children she had. I don't think it is a sign that you love God if you have 12 children. I don't think it is a sign that you are unspiritual if you have no children, or "just" 1 or 2. God allows some people to get pregnant very easily and have many children, and for others, He allows infertility, making it impossible, or near impossible to conceive. One of my greatest pet peeves is how some people make other people feel about the area of children. There are some that look down on couples with either no children, or 1 or 2 children and treat those couples as if something is wrong with them spiritually. But on the other hand, just as offensive is that some people look down on families with many children, and constantly make remarks about how crazy they are for having so many children.

However, as with any area of our lives, I think it is important for Christians to examine their hearts to see if they are seeking God's will in the matter of birth control. Am I surrendered to the Lord about what He wants for my life? Am I trusting Him in the area of fertility, to let Him choose the number of children I have? (Now, please do not misunderstand. I don't believe it is right for couples to have children that they honestly cannot provide and care for. But sometimes people take that too far, and say that they cannot afford kids AND the latest car, the most exotic vactions, the biggest house, etc. You know what I mean?) There have been times in our marriage where another child would have been very difficult to have because of some health problems I was having. While my heart longed for more children, we felt it best to wait until my health improved. There were other times where we were in between insurance companies, and needed to wait several months to get accepted and set up with the new company before having a child. There were other times where we worked to get our finances in order to be able to provide for another child. We decided on non-hormonal birth control during those times (when I say non-hormonal birth control, I am speaking about birth control that does not destroy or prevent implantation of a fertilized egg). I know there are those who disagree even with non-hormonal birth control, and I respect their conviction about this. We have asked the Lord for guidance about this, and continue to seek His will in this matter.


In conclusion, I want to share some links for further reading on this subject. What are your thoughts on this topic?
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3

The story of my daughter's heart

(For safety reasons, I will refer to my daughter using the initial of her first name.) About three years ago, when we were expecting our daughter S, I went in for a routine appointment at my doctor's office. I was about 35 weeks along, and had had no complications with the pregnancy. The nurse came in to check my baby's heartbeat, and it took her a little while to try to find it. The nurse was able to find a heartbeat, but it didn't sound right to her, and she went to get my doctor. I was more than a little shaken. Still, I told myself to be calm and prayed that everything was alright. My doctor listened and the heartbeat was all over the place. I had no idea what was wrong, or what it meant. My doctor told me that I needed to do a non-stress test so they could monitor the baby's heartbeat.

I walked down the hallway to another room where they hooked me up to the non-stress test machine. I think I was hooked up to it for about 20 minutes. The baby's heartbeat was still all over the place, and so my doctor came back in the room and told me she was sending me to Labor and Delivery at the hospital for additional monitoring. She assured me that the baby was not in immediate danger, but that we needed to find out the cause for the irregular heartbeat.

I called my husband, who was at work, and asked him to take me to the hospital since I wanted him to be with me just in case something was very wrong. I sat in a hospital room for the next several hours listening to the irregular heartbeat of my baby girl. I watched the paper printout from the monitor as the black recording line jumped all over the paper. Finally, the hospital was convinced the baby was not in danger, so I was released with instructions to follow up with a perinatologist.

I made an appointment to see the perinatologist, and again went through more monitoring and a bio-physical profile ultrasound. My husband was again able to go with me, and I am so thankful for that. That first appointment was scary for me, since I had never had complications before, and now I was labeled "high risk." The perinatologist wanted me to follow up with a pediatric cardiologist. The next day, I went to see the pediatric cardiologist. They had a high-tech imaging system that enabled them to look into the baby's chest and examine her tiny heart. I laid on the sonogram table for over an hour while they looked at the screen and talked softly among themselves. That was unnerving, because sometimes I would think that their tone indicated a major problem. But at the conclusion, the pediatric cardiologist relieved my fears by informing me that the baby's heart was not damaged in any way from the irregular heartbeat. They couldn't say for sure what had caused it, and they could not say for sure what the outcome would be.

They gave me several scenarios of a possible outcome. Best case scenario was that often times the baby's heart would correct itself as soon as birth occured. However, sometimes medication would be necessary to regulate the heart. Worst case scenario was that the baby would need a pacemaker after birth. It was determined that a regular birth would be too stressful on the baby's heart, and therefore, I would have to have a c-section. I had been suspecting this from the first time I met with the perinatologist. I'm thankful that I had a chance to sort of wrap my mind around it. I had been terrified of having to have a c-section when I was pregnant with my first child, but thankfully, it was easier to accept that I would need one this time. I know the Lord was really helping me during this time.

I continued to see the perinatologist for weekly bio-phyical profiles to make sure the baby was not in any distress. The date of the c-section was set for two days after Christmas. This was about two weeks and two days before my actual due date. The doctor did not want to risk me going into labor. On the day of the c-section, my husband and I arrived at the hospital around 5:00 a.m. The section was scheduled to start at 7:00 a.m., so I was in a prep room until it was time. I was extremely nervous, especially since they had me once again hooked up to the non-stress test machine. The baby's heart was extremely erratic that morning, and that really made me nervous. She may have been stressed because I was so nervous.

Things started happening very quickly around 7:00 a.m. I was taken to the O.R. (well, not exactly taken - I had to walk there myself, in my hospital gown clutched tightly around me - because we all know how "modest" those are - and my ugly, brown, hospital-issued socks complete with no-slip treads on the bottom so I wouldn't fall........all while I was dragging my I.V. line next to me.....yes, people were staring......no, I have no idea why the hospital didn't GET ME A WHEELCHAIR for crying out loud!) Anyway, I will spare you the details of the prep that goes on in the O.R. But let's just say my blood pressure was going up and the nurses kept asking me if I was okay. I told them I was fine, I was just TERRIFIED. They seemed to accept that and just kept prepping. Pretty soon my husband was allowed to come in, covered head to toe in scrubs and a face mask. I could barely talk to him, I was just so nervous. I also was starting to feel the effects of the spinal, and most of my body was going numb as it spread. I didn't know what it was really supposed to feel like, and I began to wonder if I was dying since it was rather hard to breathe. I'm pretty sure it was just that I was scared, and probably taking shallow breaths so that's why I was out of breath.

I didn't even know the doctor had started the section until he was almost ready to take the baby out. I had been worried that I would be able to feel the knife, and when I realized that I couldn't, I finally started to relax a little. Let me back up and say that the doctors had prepared me what might happen to the baby once she was out. They told me that section babies are often blue and cannot cry or breathe very well right away. They were unsure of what her heart would do - would it correct itself, or would she be wisked away and need medical intervention? I tried to prepare myself for not being able to see her right away, and kept praying that she would be fine.

Within minutes of the doctor starting the section, they told me they were almost to take her out. I heard her cry right away, and they held her up over the sheet curtain for me to see her. She looked perfect! She was pink, and she was breathing on her own and screaming her little lungs out. Her Apgar scores were I think an 8 or a 9 out of 10, so she really was doing very well. They cleaned her up and did all the stuff that they do, and checked her heart. It was beating normally! She did not need medication or intervention of any kind.

So many friends and family members had prayed for S's heart to be healed. What an answer to prayer, and what a miracle God performed! Every year on her birthday, I am reminded of what a special gift from God she is. She is a perfectly healthy, happy, normal little girl with a big personality, and all the glory and praise goes to my heavenly Father, the Great Physician.