So I Guess I Shouldn't Worry About That

I started on the suppression phase a week ago.  This means hormonal birth control.  My RE asked if I'd ever used a birth control patch.  While generally a very kind and conservative person, my first reaction was to laugh in his face.  Abstinent until marriage, I've spent at least two thirds of my married life pregnant or trying to become so.  My experience with birth control methods isn't exactly broad.  I told my RE I didn't care -- whatever he recommended would be fine with me.  So he prescribed the patch.

I applied the patch a little over a week ago.  The first day I felt it with every move I made, kept checking it was in place, that I wasn't creasing it when I sat or moved.  After awhile, I realized I couldn't do this endlessly.  However, I then became obsessed with checking if the edges were coming off every time my stomach was exposed, wondering if they were off far enough that I should change the patch early, wondering if everything was going to be thrown off by this silly method of birth control.

I consider myself "tough" and able to handle just about anything.  The nausea didn't phase me, and I decided I would stick it out a week and reevaluate then.  After a week of obsessive patch-checking, it was finally time to change the patch.  Easy as ripping off a band-aid?  Not quite.  I stared to peel it off and it was stuck.  Ouch!  Hair-pulling, skin-reddening stuck.  Even if I wanted to pull it off quick to get it over with, it wouldn't have been possible with adhesive that strong.  

After much hair pulling, I finally got it off and hopped in the shower, hoping to wash off that annoying black ring of lint and adhesive.  It didn't wash off.  I had read in the patient literature that baby oil would take it off. Unfortunately, I didn't have any baby oil in the house, so I went for the rubbing alcohol instead and got most of it off.  I reapplied the new patch to go through it all again next Wednesday.  

Guess I don't have to worry about that pesky patch coming off any more.