Here's the deal. I'm 24, my wife is 28, we've been married for just short of 4 years, and we don't want any kids. I'm 98% sure my mind will not change, she's probably around 93% sure.
We're extremely cautious about avoiding an 'accident', to the point that we take additional precautions in addition to her oral contraceptive. This by nature somewhat diminishes the pleasure of our.... relations. My cousin, who has 3 kids, got a vasectomy after the last kid and they have really enjoyed it, which got me again thinking about possibly doing it.
So, tell me what you think about it . I haven't really discussed it much with my wife yet, I want to get some opinions and experiences first.
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24 is still pretty young and you both may have a change of heart down the road. I would wait if I were you. The things we are often dead sure about at a certain age, often change as we get older. You could however, always adopt at some point, but that has it's own set of issues, expense and a lengthly waiting time. But it is an option.
I had the procedure done just a couple of years ago and it wasn't too bad. I stayed home a few days (like 4 or 5 I think - lay in a lot of ice packs -you will need them) and had pain meds. I had swelling for a few days and some pain (the worst was the first night and the next day) and a bit of bruising, but I have had far worse pain and I did walk like a combo of the old guy in the Laugh In Show who used to shuffle along and say "Want a Walnetto?"and John Wayne for a while. I also had a low grade temp the first night and part of the next day, no big deal. I wear briefs anyways and that helped to keep my boys snug and not dangling around and pulling on anything. For the next week back at work I avoided heavy lifting and over doing it and was careful not to climb too many stairs.
It went well and was a good decision and now my wife doesn't have to bother with contraception or worry about the long term side effects of them. (she is younger than I am) I can also happily report that all the equipment works just fine. You are supposed to wait a certain time period to make sure you are healed up and to go and get your counts checked, but we were bad (it was not my fault- I blame her) and experimented a few days earlier than we were supposed to and I was fine. I also waited a few weeks before I got back to serious workouts too, but after 10 days I did some easy laps in my pool.
My brother had it done many years ago and was fine and I have had several friends get snipped and none of them had any issues. Like any surgery though, even a simple one, you need to pick the best doctor with the most experience and still...something can go wrong, but the odds of that are small. It does/can happen though.
The worst thing (besides the swelling) was trying to wash off that sticky damn betadine crap that they slather all over you. It was everywhere. My wife helped with that in the shower though, the next day. (another perk)
The other perk was getting all kinds of sympathy from my wife and sister and being waited on hand and foot while I was home. They even made me pot roast! I milked it as long as possible. lol
