The Conversation. How does one confide in one's parents about recently becoming more sexually explorative?

I'm a pretty straight-edge 19-yr-old second year college student, who's really focused on school. Recently, though, I have met and started dating someone a bit older than myself and who is more sexually liberated. They respect me, but I realize they want more eventually, and gradually I notice are getting me to experiment a bit further and further, which I am okay with for the most part. However, I realize everything has a consequence. Even though we are not having intercourse and I don't think I would like to do so, (since I'm not sure where I stand with such things, I don't want to rush into anything unless I'm completely certain of what I want from life and what my moral stance on sex is), fooling around always leaves the door open for accidents. In order to be responsible and provide a back-up plan for any accidents which may occur, I am considering perusing getting on an oral contraceptive. However, I'm really close with my family, and can't really hide anything from them, nor do I want to. Here then is my dilemma. I've really not told them yet of this person I've started dating (well, as being someone more than a friend to me or how I feel about them)...a fellow intern at a research center I met while on internship for two terms...and the fact that I'm becoming more explorative may surprise and perhaps disappoint them to some degree, though I know they would in the end appreciate my honesty more than anything. I want to talk to them about it, and confide in them, and I want to be safe, but I'm not sure how to approach them about it. My mother would probably be my first choice to talk to about it all...If I want anything lasting or meaningful to amount from any of this, I obviously need to share with people what's going on in my life. I have also considered going to a planned parenthood and setting up a means to get birth control, just to be safe, and then I could always tell my family when I feel ready to. But at the same time, I'm an honest person and not saying anything or hiding something is stupid and would eat away at me. Has anyone had this conversation before? Haha, well a better question would be, what is the best way to approach this conversation? I would appreciate anyone's past experiences haha. :)