Missed two pills, but not in a row? Risk of pregnancy?

[raven6323]

I started my latest pack of Microgynon on Thursday January 16th and I missed one pill (24hrs late, 48 hrs after last pill) on Thursday January 23rd, after seven days of consecutive use. I took two on Friday 24th as instructed. I then preceded to take my pills as normal.

When I came to take my pill the following Thursday (30th) I noticed that my Wednesday pill was still in the packet, but my Thursday pill was gone. Now, the most rational answer is that I just popped the wrong pill out of the packet and swapped them around, but worse case scenario is that I missed it.

I then had unprotected sex with my partner on Sunday 2nd Feb. Given that the two missed pills were non-consecutive (and both taken no more than 24hrs late) I'm hoping that this wouldn't have triggered ovulation. I never get breakthrough bleeding when I miss a pill and I take a good 3-4 days to get a withdrawal bleed in my pill-free week. I took EC within 12 hours. Am I likely to be pregnant?

Following the advice below, given that I only missed one pill in the seven days preceding unprotected sex (irrespective of the one missed on day 8) I'm still covered. In the seven days before having sex, days 11-17, I only missed one.

If you’re in the first week after a pill-free break, emergency contraception (EC) isn’t usually needed unless you’ve already missed a pill this week or you missed a pill in the seven days before your pill-free break. If you’re in any other week, EC isn’t usually needed, unless you’ve missed another pill in the last seven days.

Thanks!

[KierC]

Hi Raven, and welcome to the boards!

You know, I think your conclusion that you took the Thursday pill on Wednesday makes sense. If the Thursday pill was missing, and you remember taking a pill on Wednesday, it’s reasonable to conclude that you took the Thursday pill on Wednesday, leaving you with the Wednesday pill to take on Thursday the 30th.

Missing a pill can cause hormones to drop, as each pill in your pack contains enough hormones for 24 hours. This does pose a risk to pregnancy, but it sounds like you took EC within the recommended timeframe to prevent pregnancy. Are you able to obtain a pregnancy test to take and confirm?

It’s true that two missed pills in 7 days increases risk more than one pill, but in the future if a pill is missed, it’s a good idea to use a backup method of protection like condoms. You can read more about the increased effectiveness of using two methods of birth control, such as Microgynon and condoms, here: The Buddy System: Effectiveness Rates for Backing Up Your Birth Control With A Second Method.

I also wanted to mention that if you find it hard to keep track of the pills (you’re totally not alone there), we can talk about ways to keep track and remember, or discuss other methods of birth control if you’d like.

How does that all sound to you?