In the movies, a girl decides
she wants to get pregnant and
ceremoniously throws out her
birth control pills. A few
scenes later, we see her with a
big, swollen belly and a smile
as big as the sun.
Unfortunately, it doesn't always
work this way in the real world.
Getting
pregnant after using birth
control can take time. In
a lot of cases, more time than a
woman and her mate might
anticipate.
Birth
control pills, shots and patches
are designed to disrupt the
normal release of an egg into
the fallopian tube. To
achieve this, contraceptives use
hormones that also disrupt the
natural flow of the body. The
removal of these medications
from the body entirely will take
a bit of time. It might,
in fact, take several cycles for
the body's normal cycling to get
started again.
The length of time necessary for
the body to return to its normal
functioning will vary depending
on the type of birth control
being used and the woman in
question. Some
women can throw out their pills
and conceive on the very next
cycle. Others
require a bit more time.
For those who use injections,
such as Depo Provera, the length
of time for the cycles to return
to normal can be long, even
after injections have ceased.
Some women see a return to
normal within about three
months. Other women have
gone as long as 18
months following their
last shot without a return to
normal cycles.
When other forms of birth
control are used, such as IUDs,
the return to a normal cycle
will also be required before
pregnancy can be successful. For
those who use condoms only for
birth control, there is no
waiting period suggested since
the woman's natural cycle has
not been disrupted.
It is normally recommended that
a woman wait at least one full
normal cycle before she tries to
conceive. This simply helps the
body regain its functioning
before the strain of pregnancy
is put on it.
Still, the wait isn't always
necessary. Some women, just like
in the movies, manage to get
pregnant within weeks of ceasing
to take birth control pills. It
is very important for women to
remember, however, that there is
no set calendar on when
fertility will return. In some
cases, it simply takes a little
more time than others. There is
no switch that can be turned on
to speed up the process.
