What are my changes of pregnancy after missing a pill??

Hi Anon,

Thank you for sharing your question with the EmpowHER community.

If you miss one or more pills you increase your chances of releasing an egg (ovulation). So your chances of getting pregnant greatly increases. It's estimated that only 0.1 percent of women get pregnant when using the pill properly, pregnancy rates soar by 30-80 times when pills are missed.

Your chances for getting pregnant depend upon when you missed your pill during your cycle, the number of pills you missed in a row, and if you had unprotected sex around the time of missed your pill.

The highest risk of ovulation occurs when the hormone-free interval (the time when inactive pills are taken or there is a break between active pills) is prolonged for more than seven days. This can occur by either delaying the start of your birth control pack or by missing active pills during the first or third weeks of birth control pill use. Since you only missed one day, and doubled up on your pills the following day your risk of ovulation is lower but it's still possible. 

At this point it's a waiting game to see if you miss your menstrual cycle, indicating you released an egg and it was indeed fertilized during unprotected sex.   

You can take a home pregnancy test or have one administered by your doctor to see if any hCG (the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin) is in your system.  hCG is produced during pregnancy.

For future, perhaps an app like myPill can help.  If you diligently use the app, you could look at your phone quickly to make sure you didn't miss before any sexual activity.

	REMINDER. myPill® knows when to remind and when you're on a break.
	SNOOZE. If you want, it will keep reminding until you've taken your pill.
	PLANNER. Reminds you to buy new packs, call the doctor, schedule yearly checkups, stores your prescription, or anything.
	HISTORY. Take notes, track symptoms. Your doctor will love you.
	PREDICTION. Plan your vacation according to your period, makes it easy avoid unpleasant surprises.   I hope this helps. Be well,  ~Gillette