Birth Control Pill Question

[goldberry]

You would think I would know this info!  DH and I were married 13 years before we had DD, who was planned.  I was on BC, but pretty much whenever I missed ONE pill, we used alternative protection until my next cycle. We were very strict.  It worked for us!  Now I'm trying to gather some info for DD, getting married next summer, so she fully understands how the pill works.  

I was kind of surprised to find out (and again, you think I would have known this) that your best chance for getting pregnant is to have sex in the two days PRIOR to ovulation.  But then does that mean what I think it means for missing pills?  Say you miss two pills.  You have sex both of those two days, before you realize you missed them.  The third day you take the pills AND start using protection. But if you ovulate on that third day because you missed two pills, you could get pregnant from the unprotected sex you had PREVIOUSLY.  Is that correct? So even if you use protection after missing the pills, you could still get pregnant from the sperm still remaining.  

Also, second question.  Whenever I missed a pill, we used protection for the rest of my cycle.  I'm reading online to use extra protection for seven days.  Any solid reasoning for the seven day mark?

[umsami]

I was taught, that if you miss a pill, you take it as soon as you remember even if that means you take two that day.  If you miss more than two in a row, then you're kind of screwed until you've taken seven in a row.  

Seven was a magical number, because I think by that time the cervical mucus is thicker? No idea.

Honestly, if she doesn't plan to have kids for awhile, I'd look into long-acting birth control like an IUD or Implant.  Far less user error.  They now have smaller IUDs for women who haven't had prior pregnancies.  Implants are basically pain-free to insert (they numb your arm), and last three years.   

[rebbyribs]

Yes, one could get pregnant from missing a pill a day or two after sex because sperm can live for 5 days (although most don't survive that long).  I would guess the 7 days is just a little added margin and maybe a little easier to remember because it is one full week.

 

[Hilltopmom]

I highly recommend a copy of Taking Charge of your Fertility ?

[HS Mom in NC]

There are cases of sperm surviving a full week and there are cases of women releasing 2 eggs up to 24 hours apart from each other.

I highly recommend 2 methods used together at all times. No exceptions.  Failure rates of correctly used contraception are higher than most people understand and human error is common.

[ktgrok]

Yup. That’s how I got ds19. 

[Chelli]

That's how I got pregnant with my oldest.

Missed two pills, took them as soon as I realized it, but we still welcomed a bouncing baby girl nine months later

[Frances]

2 hours ago, Homeschool Mom in AZ said:

There are cases of sperm surviving a full week and there are cases of women releasing 2 eggs up to 24 hours apart from each other.

I highly recommend 2 methods used together at all times. No exceptions.  Failure rates of correctly used contraception are higher than most people understand and human error is common.

As a statistician, I completely agree. The only time I’ve relied on only one method was when I was actually fine with getting pregnant, I just wasn’t planning it on purpose.

[JumpyTheFrog]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/09/14/sunday-review/unplanned-pregnancies.html

The best birth control chart I’ve seen. Seeing the five and ten year failure rates is much more useful than one year rates.

Typical use of the pill results in 25% of women getting pregnant within 3 years, 38% in five years, and 61% in ten years. People who really want to avoid pregnancy should combine it with something else or use a more foolproof method.

I find it interesting that hormonal implants were more reliable than tubal ligations or vasectomies. I wonder if people who get these procedures should be checked every few years to make sure they didn’t reverse themselves somehow.

[BusyMom5]

Second the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility.  I'd also direct her to Planned Parenthood website.  Dispite how anyone feels about the organization,  they do have great info.  

[ktgrok]

Just a warning about Taking Charge of Your Fertility...she says in there that there is a dry day rule...that without fertile mucus the sperm can't survive so the evening of the 2nd dry day you are safe. 

My younger son is proof otherwise ?

 

And yes, sperm can live many days. At least one of my pregnancies was conceived 4 full days before ovulation. 

[maize]

2 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

And yes, sperm can live many days. At least one of my pregnancies was conceived 4 full days before ovulation. 

Yeah we have one like that too. I was tracking ovulation and my husband was away on a business trip. We were trying for a pregnancy but I was quite surprised when I tested positive that month, I knew it was possible but figured the chances were slim.

[wintermom]

Taking anti-biotics can change the effectiveness of the pill as well. So best to use extra protection at these times.

[wintermom]

18 hours ago, umsami said:

Honestly, if she doesn't plan to have kids for awhile, I'd look into long-acting birth control like an IUD or Implant.  Far less user error.  

Sure, less error, but there is still a chance of getting pregnant. I did, and having the IUD inside me unable to be removed ultimately caused a miscarriage. That information needs to be crystal clear BEFORE trying an IUD.

After hearing about and experiencing too many unfortunate results of implants, I would never recommend going this route.

Edited September 4, 2018 by wintermom

[maize]

21 minutes ago, wintermom said:

Sure, less error, but there is still a chance of getting pregnant. I did, and having the IUD inside me unable to be removed ultimately caused a miscarriage. That information needs to be crystal clear BEFORE trying an IUD.

After hearing about and experiencing too many unfortunate results of implants, I would never recommend going this route.

I know many women who have gotten pregnant with an IUD and miscarried. Not an experience I want to go through.

[wintermom]

Just now, maize said:

I know many women who have gotten pregnant with an IUD and miscarried. Not an experience I want to go through.

It's devastating. And the miscarriage can happen relatively late term as well. Mine was 10 weeks. 

But there are other health issues that can result from implants. It's a really good idea to do one's homework and research all the possible issues that women have experienced. 

[umsami]

54 minutes ago, wintermom said:

Sure, less error, but there is still a chance of getting pregnant. I did, and having the IUD inside me unable to be removed ultimately caused a miscarriage. That information needs to be crystal clear BEFORE trying an IUD.

After hearing about and experiencing too many unfortunate results of implants, I would never recommend going this route.

Every time you have sex, and if you are fertile, there is a risk of pregnancy.  No method is 100%, and those two offer the best rates of pregnancy prevention for reversible birth control (and even better than female sterilization).  If you look at the 10 year stats posted above by JumpyTheFrog, you will see that with IUDs and hormonal implants 1 in 100 women will get pregnant with the hormonal Implant over 10 years with typical use and 2 in 10 using a hormone-containing IUD.  Unless your partner is willing to get a vasectomy, it doesn't get better than that....and the vasectomy equals the hormonal implant (2 in 10).    Yes, if you get pregnant while you have an IUD you have a very high chance of miscarriage, because the IUD is not designed to allow a pregnancy to progress...or to occur in the first place.  Be it copper, with the copper ions or the progesterone thickening cervical mucus--the sperm is unlikely to fertilize the egg.  However, in the unlikely occurrence that fertilization does occur, then yes, miscarriage is likely.   I believe it's 40-50%.  Removing the IUD early in pregnancy is usually the best course of action, but yes, that carries the risk of miscarriage as does leaving it in there.  Keeping the IUD during pregnancy is usually considered more risky as it increases the risk of a septic miscarriage. It's a sad situation.  But you are far more likely to face an unwanted pregnancy with nearly every other form of birth control.

 

As for Nexplanon, the risks are here.  They are the same as pretty much any other hormonal birth control; however, you have  a far less likely chance of an unwanted pregnancy which is why most people use birth control.  https://www.webmd.com/sex/birth-control/birth-control-implants-types-safety-side-effects#1  

Edited September 4, 2018 by umsami

[bethben]

My friend tried recently getting an iud removed and now is looking at outpatient surgery because the thing is embedded in her uterus.

[caedmyn]

My 2 month old is a 6 days before baby.  Supposedly sperm live no more than 5 days, but...  I also had a 5 days before miscarriage.  

 

[goldberry]

3 hours ago, wintermom said:

Taking anti-biotics can change the effectiveness of the pill as well. So best to use extra protection at these times.

 

Well, I did at least know that much thankfully!  Thinking back about how I made it 13 years with just the pill... I honestly don't remember ever missing TWO pills at once.  Even if we missed one, we used protection, although many sites say missing just one extra protection is not needed.  That seems bogus to me though, considering with perfect usage the pill still has a failure rate.  It seems logical that OF COURSE missing just one pill would increase the failure rate.  I wasn't taking any chances I thought, but reading all these stories, eek!  It did take me 6 months to get pregnant when we were trying.  The rest of my family is fertile Myrtle though.  

DD has problems with depression and borderline bi-polar issues.  She considered the implants, etc, but there were too many experiences out there about drastic mood changes.  She has been on the pill since 13 for really bad periods.  Doctor said hormonal IUD would help with periods but still may have mood issues, a non-hormonal IUD won't help her periods likely. The hormonal IUD would probably be her next choice if she could not take the pills for some reason.  Although those miscarriage stories are scary!

[ktgrok]

2 hours ago, bethben said:

My friend tried recently getting an iud removed and now is looking at outpatient surgery because the thing is embedded in her uterus.

Mine was partially embedded. They needed to use a scope up there to find it, and then were able to grab it with the scope and tug it out, but yes, partially embedded. 

2 hours ago, Arctic Mama said:

 

Why do they fail more for some people than others?

I only quoted the non personal part ? As for why, I bet it has to do partly with not just how fertile you are, but how regular your ovulation and signs of it. If you re super fertile but also ovulate at weird times, or twice in a month, or have very few indications like cervical mucus, you could be fertile but have trouble knowing WHEN you are fertile, if that makes sense. I think that was me for a while. We got pregnant the first time we tried, both times we tried, but also got pregnant when not trying, lol. I'll take the blame on the pill one, I did miss pills, but the other time I was charting according to the rules I was given. later, I switched to a different method of charting, lol. For me, I think the issue was breastfeeding reduces my cervical mucus, but doesn't leave me infertile, so it screws up my signs and often messes with ovulation timing as well. 

Also, how well the rain jacket fits can be a factor, how much friction there is (effected by natural and artificial lubricant, style of Tea, etc). I have had failures, just a few over many decades, but I've had them. 

2 hours ago, Arctic Mama said:

 

Edited September 4, 2018 by Ktgrok

[Ottakee]

3 hours ago, goldberry said:

 

Well, I did at least know that much thankfully!  Thinking back about how I made it 13 years with just the pill... I honestly don't remember ever missing TWO pills at once.  Even if we missed one, we used protection, although many sites say missing just one extra protection is not needed.  That seems bogus to me though, considering with perfect usage the pill still has a failure rate.  It seems logical that OF COURSE missing just one pill would increase the failure rate.  I wasn't taking any chances I thought, but reading all these stories, eek!  It did take me 6 months to get pregnant when we were trying.  The rest of my family is fertile Myrtle though.  

DD has problems with depression and borderline bi-polar issues.  She considered the implants, etc, but there were too many experiences out there about drastic mood changes.  She has been on the pill since 13 for really bad periods.  Doctor said hormonal IUD would help with periods but still may have mood issues, a non-hormonal IUD won't help her periods likely. The hormonal IUD would probably be her next choice if she could not take the pills for some reason.  Although those miscarriage stories are scary!

I have one with bipolar and one with a mood disorder both using Nexplanon.  It has been great for both of them with no increase in mood swings.  Also almost eliminated all pms and cramps, etc and periods are very very light now.