Coming Off The Pill

Congratulations! You have come off the pill and are ready to take the first steps towards brining a new baby into your family. This is an exciting chapter in you and your partner's lives, one full of fresh and exciting hopes and dreams. However, it is important to realize that having been on the pill can change the game plan in some very important ways as you try to conceive. Lets take a look:

Q: How long after taking the pill can we start trying to conceive? 

A:: After making the decision that the time is right to have a baby, of course you want to see the positive sign on the pregnancy test right away. Any delay can be really difficult! But women are often advised to wait roughly three months after coming off the pill before trying to get pregnant.

Three months is approximately how long the body takes to get back to its natural rhythm after experiencing a surge in hormones. In some cases, it can take up to 18 months for the hormonal balance required for pregnancy to be restored. This is especially common if a combined pill (progesterone/estrogen) was used.

Q: What should I know about becoming pregnant after being on the pill? 

A: Its important to realize that becoming pregnant immediately after coming off the pill may cause certain anomalies.

If your menstrual cycle has not yet returned or is not yet regular  and you do become pregnant, the expected due date of the baby will be difficult to correctly determine. This is because the moment of fertilization can not be accurately tracked without accurate menses. It can take a few weeks, or even a few months, before menstruation returns with complete regularity, so it is always a good idea to wait an adequate amount of time before becoming pregnant.

Additionally, if you become pregnant directly after coming off a hormonal contraceptive, you are one and a half times more likely to have non-identical twins or multiple births, especially if you have been taking a hormonal contraceptive for an extended period of time.

Q: What should I know about becoming pregnant after coming off a three-month hormonal injection cycle? 

A:Trying to get pregnant after coming off a cycle of the three month injection method of birth control has an even greater disadvantage. As a result of the injection dramatically altering the cervical mucus, it is commonly advised to wait twelve months or even longer conceive.

Its hard to get away from it, the bottom line is that an influx of hormones will alter you body's natural rhythm, and you may have to wait quite a while to actually become pregnant. This waiting time can be agonizing - after all, the reason you stopped using contraception was so that you could finally see the long awaited plus sign on the pregnancy test!

So What Are The Alternatives?

Well, hindsight, as they say, is 20/20 and not having these synthetic hormones racing around your body at all is the best thing when it comes to planing a pregnancy. Using Natural Family Planning (NFP) or the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) for your contraceptive needs is a great solution.

By using knowledge of your body's cycle and ovulation dates, NFP and FAM can be an effective natural birth control solution for most women. And as an added benefit, when the time to conceive comes along, you can simply transplant the knowledge of your body which you accrued during your contraceptive period to plan for an accurate conception.

Getting started with NFP or FAM is easy when you use a cycle computer. Observing your cycle with a cycle computer allows you to avoid intercourse or use protection during your highly fertile days for contraceptive purposes. When you know when your highly fertile days are, you can also pinpoint the days when intercourse has the highest chance of resulting in pregnancy. Therefore, using cycle computers for contraception can later help increase your chances of getting pregnant at the desired time.

Check out Cyclotest – it is  a great tool that can be used for both contraception and conception. Simple, easily to understand information about your body's cycle is presented on small handy screen. It is a great natural contraception solution that will quickly turn into your best friend when the time for conception is right! 

Check out the original article here: http://ethicalfamilyplanning.com/coming-off-the-pill