Essure creeps me out. I don’t really like the idea of a device in my body forever–and the rate of either expulsion or complication is high. Not for me.

I had Essure done 5 years ago after my second child was born and I have not had any complications that I know of. My periods are a little heavier and last a little longer than before, but I don’t think that is related to the procedure because the more likely causes are 1)getting off the pill after being on it fir years, 2)age (41) and 3)heavier periods run in the family. Otherwise it has been great not taking a pill and not worrying about something unplanned happening.

“Essure is less effective than an IUD”

I’m not sure where you are getting that information from. According to my doctor and my research it is MORE effective. I had ParaGard in for 5 years as well between by kids and I actually got pregnant and miscarried. All procedure have pros, cons and exceptions. Nothing is 100%, of course.

after two beautiful boys, we decided we were done too – I was going to do Essure but due to some insurance changes, my husband volunteered for a vasectomy before the year was over 2 years ago – cost us $100 and was easy peasy. No regrets….no complications – nada – vasectomies are very effective if you follow the rules and use BC until you get the go ahead from the doc – he has to test 2 sperm samples over a period of months… :)

I really don’t like any permanent from of birth control (including Vasectomies). You just never know if you will one day regret it. Like you said Roni, you thought you were done after having one child then, 6 years later, you decided you wanted another one. What will happen 6 years from now if you do decide you want another child? (Maybe try one more time for a girl?) Then what? You won’t be able to have children no matter how much you might really want another one. (To me just the thought of not being able to have children is mortifying.) If you wanted a longer term birth control that you don’t have to remember to take, why not try something like Mirena, it last for 5 years (or less if you decide to take it out and try to have children sooner). And you can put it in again if you still don’t want children. That way if you do ever change your mind you can still have children. I don’t think that having what childbearing years you have left should be thrown away, just in case you do change your mind. And, like you said, menopause might be right around the corner for you. If, by the time you reach menopause, you still have the same decision not to have children, then that might be the time to consider a permanent birth control.

@Nicole – I wish my husband would be more onboard. :( I agree I think it’s a great option.

Roni
I agree with Cass. We’re not saying this to change your mind but just putting our 2 cents in. I have a 3 and 2 year old boys. When I had the two year old I thought I was definitely done because it was so hard. They grow up so quickly. THey are what makes me most happy. I wouldn’t want not to have that option in the future because we women change our minds so much……

Roni, I had this done 2 years ago and I love it! Just like you I know I am done. I had contractions for the last 8 weeks with my first and for 18 weeks with my second. I wanted to make sure that there was no way I was getting pregnant again because I wouldn’t be able take it. I love my kids more than anything, but my husband and I decided that should either of us get that feeling like we needed a 3rd we will adopt. There are just too many kids out there already that need loving homes.

I always wanted 4 kids until I was pregnant with #2 and it almost killed both of us. Pregnancy #1 was difficult, #2 was even more so. I spent more time in the hospital than some of the employees there! My husband said it was only fair to have a vasectomy after watching me go through two hard pregnancies and labor and delivery twice. He had the vasectomy when our youngest was 6 months old. We decided together that 2 biological children are plenty. If we every decide we want more (unlikely now that our kids are 10 and 13 and we are in our 40′s) that we will adopt. Neither one of us has ever gotten to that point; we’re happy with the way things are now. We can give our kids the things they want and the life they deserve. If we had another child, that would change. Not that we couldn’t love another child, because we could and would. But, no more for us even if the vasectomy failed… I had a hysterectomy in June after a failed uterine ablation and horrible periods since I was 12, My quality of life is so much better now. There’s never any fear of getting pregnant again…

I was super excited to get the Essure procedure done and didn’t think too much about it when my doctor asked me that if he couldn’t get the implants in (because of whatever complications during the procedure) could he just do a tubal? Sure! was my answer. Wrong answer. It turned out that he couldn’t find the tubes well enough to put the implants in, so he just went ahead and did a tubal– which they wound up charging me over $23,000 for. Thank goodness for double insurance!

Oh, and it wasn’t an “in the office for 10 minutes procedure.” I had to go to a surgery center, get put completely under and it took several hours. I also had a bad reaction to the anesthesia so I was out for several days past when I had planned to be out.

If I had to do it all over again, I’d probably just get an IUD.