“When I was 42 I went to my regular gynae visit and he asked me, “what are you doing about contraception?” I said, “at the moment, not much.” I had been with my partner for 8 years and we were used to not using anything. However, my gynae at the time insisted that now that I’m 42 I should be careful if I was sure I didn’t want children. He persuaded me to have a Mirena inserted. I discussed this with my partner and we did the research, checked out the side effects, and together decided it was a good idea since I really didn’t want to risk finding myself pregnant at 42. All went well, and I was very happy with my Mirena – I had no noticeable side effects.
The rest is a bit of a blur. I’m not sure of time frames, but after a few months I remember that I started to feel sick like I had bad heartburn; I was always hungry and feeling very bloated. I suspected that I could be pregnant. Since I already had grown children, I knew what the feelings were, but I kept saying, “how could it be?” I looked online and it said that one could get pregnant with the Mirena and that I had to be careful because it was common to have ectopic pregnancies with the Mirena.
I got worried, so I bought a pregnancy test and – total shock – yes, it said I was pregnant. I just couldn’t believe it, so I booked an urgent appointment with my gynae. Thankfully, I managed to get an appointment right away. It was clear on the ultrasound that I was 10 weeks pregnant. Total shock, I had spent 8 years not using contraception and then I got pregnant when I thought I was protected and 42 years old! I had had a mammogram, anti-biotics, and kept on drinking, because the last thing on my mind was that I was pregnant. I had the Mirena; it was almost 100% fool proof. I didn’t want to risk my health and I didn’t want a baby at 42.
We decided to go to Marie Stopes. My partner helped me, he was amazing. He said he would be there whatever I chose. He loves kids and was ready to have the baby, but I didn’t want to risk losing what I had. I could not take the risk of having a child at 42. I didn’t want more children; that was precisely why I had the Mirena inserted. We went to London, to Marie Stopes. It was painless, eventless and I never regretted it. The people at Marie Stopes, were very used to having women from Malta and they actually give Maltese and Irish women ‘special’ treatment.”