Hi,
There is a chance of being pregnant, but how much of a chance (most likely slight) depends on a few other factors.
The summary (please read my assumptions below): missing pills during Week 1 and Week 3 are riskiest for pregnancy, and missing 3 pills also seems to be riskiest for pregnancy. What type of pills are you taking (we can look up the instruction sheet that comes with your specific brand of pills, to see what the dosage is and know more information. It's best to keep one of these handy!)
First of all:
How long ago did you have unprotected sex? If it has been withing the last 72 hours, you can use emergency contraception.
The greatest chance of pregnancy is when you miss a pill at the beginning or end of the "active pills" (not the hormone-free pills), which would be the 1st week and 3rd week, assuming 4th week is hormone-free pills. This is because the hormone-free interval has been extended. Does that make sense? It also depends how long you've been taking birth control (assuming this is not your first-ever pack?), and I am assuming you are talking about missing pills that are the 28-day, combined oral contraceptives?
You can also call your OB/GYN office, and confirm this information with a nurse, which I would highly recommend (especially if unprotected sex has been within the past 72 hours).
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Hi,
There is a chance of being pregnant, but how much of a chance (most likely slight) depends on a few other factors.
The summary (please read my assumptions below): missing pills during Week 1 and Week 3 are riskiest for pregnancy, and missing 3 pills also seems to be riskiest for pregnancy. What type of pills are you taking (we can look up the instruction sheet that comes with your specific brand of pills, to see what the dosage is and know more information. It's best to keep one of these handy!)
First of all:
How long ago did you have unprotected sex? If it has been withing the last 72 hours, you can use emergency contraception.
The greatest chance of pregnancy is when you miss a pill at the beginning or end of the "active pills" (not the hormone-free pills), which would be the 1st week and 3rd week, assuming 4th week is hormone-free pills. This is because the hormone-free interval has been extended. Does that make sense? It also depends how long you've been taking birth control (assuming this is not your first-ever pack?), and I am assuming you are talking about missing pills that are the 28-day, combined oral contraceptives?
You can also call your OB/GYN office, and confirm this information with a nurse, which I would highly recommend (especially if unprotected sex has been within the past 72 hours).
Here are a few helpful university websites that answer this question in more detail:
April 21, 2009 - 2:41pmhttp://healthcenter.ucdavis.edu/topics/contraception/pill-missed.html
http://ec.princeton.edu/questions/missedocs.html
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