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Hey, my name is Eric and i'm in a bit of a jam right now. Recently my girlfriend of 4 years and I had intercourse, but to the bottom line is that somehow the condom broke and had not been effective. Atleast i'm almost 95% sure it didnt. Normally she takes the birth control pills called Yasmin (I think) and she was on a regular routine. She had run out of them last thursday. Thursday being he last pill. She couldnt get a refill into her prescription because the doctor hadnt called it in. Chances are, she's pregnant. Today we went to get the pills only to find out the pharmacy couldn't legally give her the pills until her doctor calls it in. Tomorrow we plan to pick up the Yasmin Birth control pills. She was told she could take two pills tomorrow to make up for the lost pills by one of her close friends. My only concern is that, is that true and if it were true would it only count if she missed one day? As I said earlier, the last pill she took was on Thursday night. So would it still prevent it even though she wasnt on birth control the previous days and the condom broke somtime during intercourse? I'm sorry if this post is a mess but i'm really confused and uncertain what to do. My last question is, if the morning after pill is issued in clinics for this kind of purpose? Thanks again for taking the time to read this and if you have helpful advice, please be sure to share. I could really use experience and knowledge about this. Eric
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Don't worry yet. You have seemed to resign yourself to the fact that she is pregnant but the truth is that it isn't that easy to get pregnant. She had to be ovulating, the condom had to brake, the embryo has to implant. There are many things that have to go "right" for this to happen.
First of all, you say that she was had taken her last pill that Thursday. Do you know if it was her last active pill or fake pill (each pack of 28 day birth control have 3 weeks of active pills and one week of sugar pills which will cause you to have your period every month- if you took nothing but active pills you'd never get your period). If she had taken her last active pill then you really have nothing to worry about because she would be taking her "fake" pills after that anyway. Does that make sense? If she had taken the last "fake" pill then you have more to be concerned about since it means that she has already gone 7 days without any of the hormones. But you won't know until the end of the month anyway. Just try and relax (I know, hard to do) until you know for sure.
This would be the type of situation for the morning after pill. I think that you may be outside of the window of most effectiveness but it would be worth getting a perscription to keep on hand so that if this ever happens in the future you'll be ready.
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The missing piece here is when intercourse happened - before or after Thursday. Another piece is where she was in her monthly cycle. The fact that she 'ran out' makes me wonder if she was close to the end of her cycle anyway?
If she's gone more than 2 off her pills (i.e. 3 days or longer since last pill), then 'doubling up' will not do any good. Her hormone cycle has been disrupted. Taking pills after that may not stop ovulation and implantation, b/c they're likely to have occured during disruption. She should stop taking pills, wait for her menses, then begin with her next cycle.
Sometimes, stopping pills in the middle of a cycle will 'force' ovulation to occur. Other times, it will create the onset of menses. The body still goes through a hormone raise/hormone deplete cycle on birth control pills, so a lot depends on where she was in her regulated 'cycle'.
There's also an issue of when a 'morning after' or emergency contraceptive is a viable alternative. Generally, this is going to be effective w/in 48-72 hours of intercourse, the sooner the better. Really, morning after pills are high-dose hormones that make the endometrial lining not receptive to embryo implantation.
Remember, though, even in the best of cases - where a couple is actively wanting to concieve, no birth control is being used by either partner, you've only got a 20% chance of concieving in any given month.
A little advice for the future - in addition to pills & condoms, consider using a spermicidal cream or jelly. That way, even if your condom fails, there is still a level of protection against accidental pregnancy.
HTH
Regina