Is IUD a right choice for birth control?

I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE. I kept thinking of my 2 year young daughter, who would take care of her? Could my husband shoulder both the major responsibilities of parenting and earning? Could he survive the trauma?

I was searching for jobs in tech industry, applying to almost 40 job postings per week. My daily schedule did not have any room for slacking. I was starting my day at 5 AM with job applications, followed by a 1:30 hour break where I would make breakfast, pack lunch for my daughter, care for myself. I would go back to preparing for technical interviews, practicing DS&A, white-boarding, you name it. A major blunder that I was committing was not tracking my periods. I could NEVER have imagined it to have such a major impact.

I got the IUD inserted in March 2019, couple of months after delivering my daughter. My reasons of choice were

1. it was most effective,
2. wouldn’t cause any hormonal imbalances,
3. totally reversible

But these benefits came with one caveat, I was having light spotting almost a week before the actual period and some during ovulation. Well, I thought, no pain, no gain, right?

In the month of November 2020, I started menstruating from the 13th, it started as light spotting which was normal for me since the IUD insertion. I did not give it much thought. I went on to having a heavier cycle the next week. That still wasn’t totally abnormal for me. And then I stopped bleeding altogether on Saturday, Nov. 21st. I was happy that another episode was coming to an end.

But the next Monday, I started menstruating again. This did not sit well with me and I booked an appointment with my OB/GYN soon after waking up with the intention of getting the IUD removed as I believed that was the cause of my irregular bleeding. So, I got the IUD removed during the visit and my Dr. advised me to monitor the period for another week and come back if it doesn’t stop. Just when I was leaving the office, the Dr. asked me ‘Did you take the pregnancy test yet?’. I thought to myself, ‘What? A pregnancy test? But I had the IUD. Isn’t it supposed to prevent exactly that? Moreover, I was definitely menstruating’. And I reply with a surprised no. I was instructed to leave behind a urine sample saying that a pregnancy was rare but totally possible and if I did not receive a call back from the office, all was well.

15 minutes later, I was waiting for my OB/GYN to perform an ultrasound because I WAS PREGNANT and it could be

1. a normal intra-uterine pregnancy, highly unlikely in my case
2. a miscarriage, most likely given the amount of bleeding
3. an ectopic pregnancy where the fertilized egg can’t find its way back to the Uterus, also a possibility

Through a series of hCG hormone blood tests and ultrasounds, it was determined that I had a definite ectopic pregnancy in the left fallopian tube. I was immediately rushed to the emergency department for a surgery as the growing fetus could cause the tube to rupture anytime. I was walking around with a time-bomb inside me.

As of today, 4th Dec 2020, it has been 6 days since the surgery. I am feeling better each day, trying to stay sane by not thinking of all the things that could have gone wrong.

Everyday I think, surely, the IUD prevented pregnancy for almost 2 years but at what cost? Would it have been so bad had I conceived outside my “schedule”?