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Conception

When's the best time to get pregnant? Use our interactive ovulation calculator to work out when you're most fertile and most likely to conceive.

Original poster

can you conceive when you miss just one pill??

13 replies

miranda2 · 12/01/2004 16:53

Just been filling a bit - not sick but odd - for the last few days and couldn't help wondering.... Missed pill number 12 (last Sat), realised on Sun and took both - just got to wait til c.Fri to see I guess.... (and ahem didn't QUITE obey the other contraception for 7 days thing... but surely there's a huge margin for error??)

OP posts:
SHIREENSMOM · 12/01/2004 17:37

ive missed one lots of times and i havent become pregnant i supose its just luck

hmb · 12/01/2004 17:40

Yes, it can happen. It isn't 100% that it will, but it can happen. It is always best to follow the extra precautions thing just to be sure. The worst pills to miss at the fisrt one and the last one. You can have a pill free break of 7 days without ovulating. If you extend that to 8 or 9 days you can ovulate. If you missed pill 12 ( in the middle of the cycle?) you are less likley to ovulate. It doesn't mean that you are 100% in the clear, but that isn't one of the 'worst' pills to miss IYSWIM.

HTH

prufrock · 12/01/2004 17:43

What pills are they - normal or mini. If it's mini you have a smaller margin for error, if it's normal and you took it within 12 hours you are covered (so if you missed Sat pm but took it Sunday am you'd be OK)

hmb · 12/01/2004 17:46

also you get the cover back faster from a minipill, than the combined. I know they say the same thing on the leaflet, but the science on the mini pill means that you lose the cover faster and you get it back faster.

Original poster
miranda2 · 12/01/2004 18:16

normal pills.
I'm 90% sure its unlikely, but can't help wondering - mind you, I seem to spend half my life wondering if I'm pregnant!! At least it wouldn't be a disaster now - 6 months or so before we were going to try but manageable if necessary...

OP posts:
aloha · 12/01/2004 18:35

If you are taking the normal combined pill you didn't really miss a pill if you took two together the next day. But if you are taking the minipill, well yes, you could be pg. But you probably aren't.

Skara · 12/01/2004 19:00

Hi Miranda2, yes you can...am halfway through pregnancy with a missed minipill baby

hmb · 13/01/2004 06:34

Aloha, that information about taking 2 pills together isn't true. Or at any rate it wasn't true when I worked for the manufacturer of a combined pill. If you take it within 12 hours you are covered. If you are later than that the cover is reduced. This is more of a problem at the start and end of the pill taking cycle but can happen at any time. taking 2 is recomended, but you still have to take extra protection.

Bozza · 13/01/2004 12:10

Well I regularly used to leave 9 days betweeen packets (I think because of sub-consciously wanting to conceive- well not very sub...) but conceived the first month I came off completely. But thats just me.

hmb · 13/01/2004 16:09

Even missing the 'worst'pills doesn't mean that you will ovulate, but you might do so. If you realy don't want to get pregnant, it is wise to take extra precautions.

Bozza · 14/01/2004 10:50

Or maybe hmb its more the case that when I came off the pill I made sure we had sex at the relevent time. Was interested in what you say though because previously I had assumed that the first and last were the "safest" to miss because furthest away from mid month when conception normally occurs IYSWIM.

aloha · 14/01/2004 11:19

Thought this might be interesting:

Missed Pills:

  • Missing pills at the beginning of a packet::
    If the packet is started late, or you miss any pills in the first week, the pill-free week is effectively lengthened, so emergency contraception may be required (as well as condoms for 7 days). It is important to seek advice regarding any problems.

  • Missing pills at the end of a packet::
    Pills missed during the last week of a packet effectively become an early pill-free time. It is therefore risky to also have the normal pill-free week, so the next packet should be started without a break. Emergency Contraception is not needed.

  • Missing pills in the middle of a packet::
    The pills in the middle of a packet (i.e. 8-14) are the least risky to miss. This is because taking seven pills makes the ovary ?go to sleep? and missing up to four pills is not enough to ?wake them up? to ovulate. Therefore Emergency Contraception is inappropriate.

aloha · 14/01/2004 11:24

I have to admit Hmb that I read Miranda2's post that she had taken the pill around 12 hours after forgetting it, but of course that may not have been the case at all. I still think it massively unlikely to get pg if missing a normal combined pill in the middle of a packet.

I do know people who have got pg after missing pills but the only one who got pg from missing one was when she missed it at the beginning of a packet when those ovaries were fully awake and looking for some action

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