this is basically what happened to us too...I was having terrible side effects from the pill so we said screw it! 1 month of NTNP combined with my baby crazies, we are now into month 2 of officially ttc. Turns out not everyone gets pregnant straight off bcps..so who knows, maybe it will take us as long as we originally planned to allow for ttc just to get pregnant!
I stopped the pill in November (on it for about 6 years) and have been through one full cycle off of it and are currenlty NTNP. My cycle before bcp was anywhere from 28-30 days and post bcp it was 37 days. I had heard horror stories of women having long cycles after going off bcp (like 45 - 60 days...sometimes even longer!) so I was very happy with my 37 day. I even had a positive OPK! I know that I may have a longer, or shorter, cycle this month because my body is still regulating, so we are going to wait at least another 3 months or so before we think about switching to full TTC. I will say that AF was a little lighter than it was post bcp and I didn't have much cramping at all. Doctors say it can take a few months for your lining to thicken after stopping the pill so that's another reason why we'd prefer to get pregnant in a few months versus right away. In the meantime, I did start taking pre-natal vitamins, which I would recommend taking if you haven't already. My doctor recommended taking them 3 months to a year before we started TTC and since you can get pregnant your first cycle post bcp, it's good to get them in your system as soon as you can.
All women are different, but for the most part I've heard that if your cycles were regular before the pill then they should be regular after. However, it can take up to 6 months for that to happen. Going off of BCP was so liberating. My mood lightened and it felt impowering to get intouch with my body again and have it go through what nature intended without any hormones in my system.
Good luck to you!
I experienced light bleeding halfway through the pack as well, for a few months. But it has since gone back to "normal". I am only stopping the pill once I'm ready to ttc.
I went off BCPs in January as I hated how they made me feel. I had a normal cycle in February, then my period completely vanished. While we had talked about TTCing, we were not ready at the time. By April I still didn't have a period and we figured at this point I'll just have a bleed and not ovulate, so we weren't that careful. I was charting at the time and had no signs of ovulation yet either.
Well, come May I ended up ovulating around CD108/109. It was totally unexpected, especially since most people will just have a breakthrough bleed and not ovulate that late in a cycle. We DTD once, on CD108, and I wound up pregnant. I'm 32 weeks now. While we weren't prepared for kids, it happened and we have pretty much gotten ourselves prepared. We are married, own our house, have two dogs, and both work full time, so it really was the next step in life for us.
So my point here, if you aren't prepared, just make sure you are careful when you come off. I never had a normal cycle prior to BCPs, so I just assumed I would have difficulty getting pregnant. My sister has PCOS, and everything I've experienced in the past made me believe that I may have it as well.
If you are worried about your cycles after, start charting right away. This would give you something to show a doctor in a year or so from now if you don't regulate (and your ready to TTC). This was the whole reason I was charting, as I wanted to have charts to go in with when we were ready, rather than have them tell me that I need to chart for 6 months then come back.
I started spotting mid-cycle after 8 years or so on the pill. It got pretty annoying after several months (a change in pills didn't fix the problem), so I decided my body needed a break from the hormones. I stopped in April and my cycle regulated quickly. We used condoms for a few months as we weren't yet ready to TTC and I began charting to better understand my body/cycle.
We originally planned to TTC in fall/winter but ended up deciding to pull the goalie in July. We conceived in August. So, in my experience, whatever hormonal weirdness was causing my spotting on the pill had no effect on my fertility.
@cowgirlace: yay, we can go through it together!
@monet11: yea, with the extra bleeding came so much hormonal stuff that i NEVER usually have- i'm not one to get emotional or anything and i've been a wreck this month, so i'm so ready to ditch the pill! i'm planning on starting the prenatals this week, which i realize is a bit late since i'll be going off the pill next week, but i have a very good diet and take normal multis that are high in folic acid, so i think that'll be alright, especially since i'm unlikely to get pregnant right away.
@Onime: if this was just light bleeding i would stick with it. but it's not, it's slightly heavier than my normal period, and with way more side effects. and of course, whether or not we are "ready" is the age-old question. for very selfish/stupid reasons, i want to wait a few more months (i.e., to fit into a bridesmaid dress over the summer), but i also realize it could be a long ride TTC and my husband wants a baby yesterday, so...one of us is ready!
@snoie: that is amazing!! wow, as someone who has very rarely gotten my period off the pill in the past, i am very nervous about the long cycles. i am planning on using opks to start and then maybe after a few months i'll move on to temping. i'm hoping to ovulate within 60 days, that would be a huge improvement over the past. but 108! a miracle baby :)
@iheartnerds: that's excellent news! i'm trying to convince DH to use condoms for a few months, but having a hard time on that one, ha. i'm glad to hear that one thing had nothing to do with the other, though. From past experience i know i might have to wait a while for that first AF, but you never know!
4 more pills! i'm so excited to go off BCP, but am terrified both of not ovulating AND of ovulating and getting pregnant immediately, ha. it's going to be interesting! thank you guys for sharing your experiences.
My body is super sensitive to hormones. I would have to change pills every few months because of all the issues I was having. The last round my doc put me on bcp that would only allow me to have a period once every 3 months. That didn't work because I would start to spot and cramp etc 30 the whole month that my period was supposed to stop. And my doc suspected that I had endometriosis. So she said that I should finish my last cycle of pills and then we should TTC beccause it would prpbably take us a while to concieve. So I stopped my pills end of September early October and low an behold we got pregnant in October and I'm due in July. Believe me we were EXTREMELY shocked because I thought I would need time for my body to regulate after being on bcp. Everyone's body is different....
@esqbee: I started temping for my own sanity and if you are open to it, just start right away. It gives you time to start getting into the habit. This kid is a real miracle baby and every doctor that has heard was shocked I ovulated that late. It's been an adventure.
I make a point to tell teenage girls about it if they ask about pregnancy/etc. I just remind them that even if they aren't getting a regular period they can get pregnant. I'm walking proof of that!
It's pretty common to spot if you skip you continuously take your birth control pills (skip your withdrawl bleed). You might also spot if your pill has a lower amount of estrogen, you just might need to change pills. I've been on a few with lower estrogen and I would bleed on and off at random times -- switching pills stopped that. It's not that the pill is hard on your body, it's just that you might need a bit more estrogen to maintain your uterine lining -- every woman is different, and sometimes the same woman reacts differently to the same pill at different times.
I wouldn't try to get pregnant just because you aren't liking your bcp at the moment. That is a bad reason to have a baby right now. So is worrying that you will have trouble getting pregnant later. Just switch methods until you are sure you want a baby -- you can always use a non-hormonal method, like condoms, diaphram, FAM, withdrawl . . . .
@MrsDTMajor: wow, so fast! congrats to you! i've had many doctors tell me since a very young age that i may have a lot of trouble conceiving b/c of some medical issues, but i've always had the feeling i shouldn't take that to heart b/c there is always that chance it happens immediately despite the odds - you are living proof! ha
@snoie: i'm toying with the idea of temping, but thinking i'll wait until at least a month because i don't want to drive myself crazy over it, and we agreed to letting things take their course for a little while as my body begins to regulate post bcp. and LOL about lecturing teenage girls - too true!
@bluegreenjean: i'm sorry, i didn't explain things fully, but i didn't want my post to become a novel, ha, but YES, i 100% agree with you that you shouldn't have a baby for any reason other than actually WANTING to have a baby! what i really meant was that i have always been unsure about being ready, but the thought that it could take a while (or not!) has helped put things in perspective for me. in my case, i've come to terms with the fact that there won't be a perfect time for me (i'm 31 and career driven), and that i can't plan this exactly like i do in everything else in my life. but it IS the perfect time for US, as a couple, and definitely for him personally. what i actually meant about "pushing up the timeline" was just a few months, i was planning on going off the pill in feb, but now will be going off in dec. but the only reason i'd planned on waiting is because of some commitments this summer (like fitting into a bridesmaid dress and pissing off the bride if i can't, and a summer vacation in a remote place that i may have to bail on), and i've realized that my health and well being and starting a family are all more important than those things, and i'm willing to take the chance that i have to deal with those things if by some miracle I were to get pregnant immediately. which, while i admit i'm scared, would be amazing!
and yes, i have tried low estrogen, higher levels, every possibility under the sun...and i am religious about taking it at the same time, never skipping pills, etc. but eventually at some point, my body seems to just reject the pill and bleed on its own accord...i know that's not the medical explanation, but at this stage in my life, after over a decade of taking it, i'm just ready to call it quits! my husband's baby fever is WAY too out of control to convince him to use other methods, so i agreed that as soon as i went off the pill we'd try (or not prevent).
@esqbee: I didn't have any issues while on the pill so I can't comment on that but I can share my experience once I came off of it. Like PP's I had heard horror stories of women needing months or years to regulate cycles, break through bleeding, no bleeding, no ovulation etc etc. So after my honeymoon I stopped taking the pill and DH and I decided to see what happened for a year or so and then actively TCC. Well I ended up ovulating on day 14 of that first cycle off the pill and getting a BFP 2 weeks after that. We were shocked but happy. So you never know what will happen once you come off the pills, everybody is different. You can also start charting/using OPK's and then either BD on O days or not if you need more time before becoming a mother. This way at least you are off the pill so that isn't making you miserable anymore! Good luck!
@Ballet513: yes, this is what i was thinking of doing, using protection when i am ovulating during the first month or two, assuming that even happens! that's crazy how fast it happened for you! and btw, i love your name, i am a (recreational) ballet dancer, and it's one of my biggest fears about pregnancy, not being able to dance for 9 mos!
I went off BCP over a year ago. We discussed it and decided that I was struggling too much with the emotional effects the pill was having on me and it was costing too much. We decided that we both love children and if it happened, it happened. We opted for the withdrawl method which has worked for us (statisticly not a sure-fire contraception method but better than nothing). We've only now decided to actually start trying.
@esqbee: I was on BCP before the wedding, but I had horrible emotional side effects from it, so I decided to stop taking it right after the wedding. Our plan was to start TTC one year after we got married, however, so we used condoms until then with no issues. We've now been TTC for 13 cycles now with no luck. I doubt there is a correlation between my BCP issues and my apparent fertility issues, but I suppose there could be.
My point is this, don't TTC now if you're uncomfortable with the timing. Definitely stop taking BCP if it's not working for you, but you can always use another form of protection until you're ready to start TTC for real.
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OK so I'm currently still on the pill, but am having a hell of a time on it recently. I've been on the same pill for years, but all of the sudden Im bleeding halfway through the pack and looks like it will continue right up to the withdrawal bleed - or, as has happened in the past, I'll skip the withdrawal bleed. it has been really hard on my body, so we are now thinking of pushing up TTC (or really ntnp) and just going off the pill this week.
I'm a bit freaked out, because while I've been very unsure about being ready for a baby, I now have an added fear that I'm going to have a really hard time regulating after the pill. I know most people take a few months to adjust, but I'm a little concerned that the bcp problems I've been having may make it worse.
Just wondering if any bees had problems with the bcp and what your TTC experience was like after the pills... Was there a correlation between your body's response to the pill and TTC? I know everyone is different, but hearing someone else's experience would help put my mind at ease or at least temper my expectations! Sorry so long :)