Family Planning Plus

Yes, if you had sexual intercourse just before or during the week of and week after your missed pills, pregnancy is very possible. The pill works by releasing a steady dose of hormones into your system. These hormone levels are very similar to those produced by the body when it is pregnant. Since your body thinks it’s pregnant, you stop ovulating (releasing an egg every month). As long as you keep taking your pills, you don’t ovulate. However, when you miss a pill by 24 hours or more, the hormone levels change and the contraceptive effect of the pill may stop working. This makes it much more likely that you will ovulate. The more pills you miss, the more likely it is for you to ovulate (regardless of your menstrual cycle timing). Having missed seven pills in a row, ovulation was extremely likely to have occurred.

Just because you ovulated though does not mean that the egg was fertilized and that it successfully implanted in the uterus. The bleeding you experienced may simply be a side effect of missing so many pills. However, it could also be implantation bleeding. Wait a few weeks and take a pregnancy test. Repeat the test every two weeks until you have a normal period or receive a positive pregnancy test.

You might want to consider changing to a different method of birth control that you don’t have to remember to use so often. Depo-Provera injections provide continual protection for three months at a time. You just have to remember to get your shot every three months. Implanon is an implant that is inserted under the skin of your upper arm and works for three years. The Mirena IUD is inserted into the uterus and works for five years. For more information about your birth control options, or to schedule a pregnancy test, contact one of our offices for an appointment.