I’m going to let me daughter take the pill. It’s not for the reason you may think. Here’s why.
I was eleven going on twelve. It was a beautiful summer day, and my neighborhood best friends wanted me to come outside and play. But I couldn’t get myself off the couch. I had what felt like a stomachache, but different, and worse. I was actually having my first menstrual cramps. At that age we only learned about periods in Sex Ed class, and were too embarrassed to talk to each other about them.
I remember being scared my friends would think I didn’t like them anymore when I flaked out because of my cramps. Usually one day per period was so painful that I would call one of my parents in tears to come pick me up from school. If I did make it through the school day, I spent it worried that my heavy flow would leak through my pants {sometimes it did}. I never knew when my period was coming, either. It could come twice in one month, or perhaps skip a month.
After a couple of years of seeing me suffer through my periods, my Mom made a suggestion. She said that my older cousin got bad cramps, too. She started taking birth control pills, and they helped her a lot. My initial reaction was shock: the pill? I wasn’t interested in sex, like, at all. But my Mom wasn’t endorsing it, either. She simply wanted to help ease my pain. Willing to try anything, I got a prescription from my family physician.
The pill definitely helped lighten and shorten my periods. My cycles went from seven days long to five, and came exactly every 28 days. Some of the friends I was making in middle and high school also suffered from cramps. “Are you on the pill?” I would ask them. They, too, reacted with shock. “I want to ask my Mom but I’m scared to!” they would say. “Can I say that your Mom lets you take it?” I was a little scared what their Moms would think about me, but I wanted them to have the same relief that I had found.
Over the years my menstrual pains have almost completely gone away. “I wonder if this is what it’s like for most women”, I recently thought to myself. Then I started wondering if my daughter will inherit my cramps. If she complains about them, I will definitely recommend the pill to her. I want her to be able to focus on her school work – maybe her grades won’t suffer during puberty like mine did.
I know that not all Moms will agree with my decision, for religious reasons or otherwise. Hormonal birth control has been known to increase the risk of depression in some women, so pay careful attention to your child’s mood if they take it. We all make the best decisions for our children with the information that we have available. That’s why I’m sharing my perspective – in case anyone thought the pill was only a contraceptive.
Can you relate? Or, are you a mom who has faced this decision with your child?
