Taking Oral Contraceptive Pills Helped Me to Be More Financially Prepared When Starting My Family

This article is brought to you by Bayer Malaysia 

Having children was something that my husband and I always wanted. But we knew that it wasn’t the wisest choice to jump into parenthood immediately after we got hitched as we had used up a chunk of our savings on our wedding ceremony. So, we wanted to rebuild our funds first because welcoming a child isn’t cheap.

We had done some research and knew that delivery charges at a private hospital could cost upwards of RM7,000 and we wanted to be prepared for that. We were also aware that many friends our age who had undergone fertility treatments had spent thousands of ringgit to get pregnant, so we knew that was a possibility as well.

And aside from saving up for a family, we also wanted to enjoy our time together as a married couple before we began welcoming any children into our lives.

Not enough information about contraceptives and family planning 

It was then that I realised just how little I knew about family planning and on the existing contraceptives that were available out there. No one I knew spoke about it or taught me about the different contraceptives available, and where or how to buy them. And back then, there wasn’t a lot of local research online about the matter that I could refer to.

The only two contraceptives I knew about were condoms and birth control pills, which were introduced to me in movies.

But as luck would have it, one of my friends mentioned that I could buy oral contraceptive pills at pharmacies. However, buying these contraceptives posed another issue altogether.

While I knew that taking contraceptive pills wasn’t something to be ashamed about, I still felt an irrational embarrassment when it came to talking about it. Hence, I made sure I visited the pharmacy on a weekday evening so there would be less people.

When I got there, the pharmacist asked me a lot of questions about my health, including my age, if I was a smoker, whether I was pregnant at the moment, or if I had high blood pressure and diabetes.

However, as I was determined to get out of the pharmacy as soon as I could, I quickly grabbed and bought the first oral contraceptive pill the pharmacist recommended.

The cost and effects of contraceptives

My first box of contraceptives cost me around RM50 for 28 tablets, which is equivalent to a months’ supply. Taking the Pill was easy – I had to take one pill at the same time every day for 28 days.

Although some common side effects of taking the Pill include spotting, nausea, breast tenderness and headaches, I was lucky that I didn’t experience any of these. On the contrary, I loved being on the Pill as my periods were ‘timed’. As someone who has had irregular periods all my life, there were no more unpleasant surprises, and I could schedule my outings and holidays with ease.

I also noticed that I had less acne and bloating, which I read could be because I was taking 24-4 oral contraceptive pills.

After being on the Pill for one and a half years, my husband and I were finally ready to try for children. I stopped taking contraception and after a year, we welcomed a healthy baby into our lives.   

Being better prepared for a family financially

Although my husband and I had to fend of eager (and slightly kaypoh) relatives who kept asking us whether we are going to welcome a new family member soon, delaying having children was the right decision for us.

And in the one year that I was on contraceptives, we actively worked to save up towards starting a family and managed to stash away RM20,000. This covered our delivery costs at the hospital and provided us with a comfortable buffer for any unplanned medical fees we might have faced such as an emergency caesarean. Thankfully, my pregnancy and delivery went smoothly, and we had extra money on hand when the baby was born.

We used the extra money to pay for a confinement lady to come to our home and cook for me and give me a postnatal massage. These were things we didn’t think we needed prior to giving birth.

Ultimately, the active choice that we made to be both financially and mentally ready before welcoming a child into our family through family planning helped us immensely as we felt capable of handling whatever came our way.

Content sponsored by Bayer Malaysia

Contraceptives such as oral contraceptive pills are a reliable form of family planning. It allows couples to plan and be better prepared financially and emotionally before welcoming a child into their lives.

Bayer is a recognised leader in the area of women’s healthcare, with a long-standing commitment to delivering science for a better life by advancing a portfolio of innovative treatments. Bayer offers a wide range of effective short- and long-acting birth control methods as well as therapies for menopause management and gynaecological diseases.

Bayer is also focusing on innovative options to address the unmet medical needs of women worldwide. Additionally, Bayer intends to provide 100 million women in low-and-middle income countries by 2030 with access to family planning by funding multi-stakeholder aid programs and by ensuring the supply of affordable modern contraceptives. This is part of the comprehensive sustainability measures and commitments from 2020 onwards and in line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

If you have any questions about women reproductive health such as oral contraceptive pills, endometriosis, or heavy menstrual bleeding, ask @AskMayaNow or speak to a healthcare provider from @AlproPharmacy via their WhatsApp.
 
CF APPROVAL NO: PP-YAZ-MY-0731-1(05/23)