One thing to consider also (and I don’t know if this applies to DP, although I would think it would) is that with any chemically-ingested BC, you are instructed to use alternative forms of BC for the first 2-3 months until your body’s hormones and the BC start to jive. At least I know that is the instructions that come with the pill I take. Maybe they were sloppy condom users in addition to her just getting on the DP.
Now, it might just be urban legend, but I’ve heard stories of a woman who got pregnant, while she was on the pill, having protected sex (condom) with a vasectomized man…
Although I’m suspecting that was more just a story to scare young girls away from sex…
Glenoled
I may not be married, but I have lived with my SO for 3 years and we’re as married as we’re going to get so I feel I can reply to this. Until he got a vasectomy (April 00) we used condoms EVERY TIME we made love and I was on the pill until just this October. Did we need to double up on the birth control? Maybe not, however, reading the OP, I’m sure glad we did, I risk getting pregnant for No One.
I wish I had more information on this woman, but I don’t know her very well. As for her size, she’s about 5’2" with a pretty small build.
Maybe there is more to her story. Like I said, I don’t know her very well. I just posted the thread because I wanted to know if such a thing was possible.
What I DO know is that what she told me has made me very paranoid.
…who has, according to her, ‘malignant fertility.’
She had 7 kids. The first six were unintended, while using birth control. She planned the 7th. With my step-dad, who is infertile, by the way - some sperm, but not enough to get anyone pregnant, according to the docs (his previous wife left him over the infertility). My mom said, TRY ME. Took her three months to get pregnant. Most fertile men take longer to get their wives pregnant (average is 6-9 months when trying, or 25% per month if you get the timing right, non-cumulative odds).
My mom is not an idiot by any stretch of the imagination, and after each kid she got more and more hyper about being careful, layering methods, etc. She has used every method known to be effective, and, as mentioned, often two at once. She knows her stuff, and grilled me as a teen on how exactly to use any method most effectively (she recommended at least one barrier and at least one other chemical or hormonal method). But there are also errors that you can’t predict, in use, in design, in manufacture, in effectiveness under some conditions (like antibiotics with OCs, or changes in cervical position for diaphragms, or weight changes and drug metabolism for depo). By the way, I was born with an IUD stuck to the placenta. So, what causes the string of ‘accidents’? You might not want to know this about your co-worker, but I think I have part of the answer for you.
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She probably is more fertile than average. Great cervical condition, excellent pH, long span of the ‘good’ cervical fluid. So even if her hubby is shooting fewer than average, each one has the best possible chance of making it. Her hubby may also be perfectly suited, pH-wise, motility, etc. The combo is potent.
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(this being the ‘too much info’ part) She probably gets a good dose of the hornies when she’s pre-ovulatory, or even all the time. In other words, she’s skewing the average by doing the deed more often than average, at the prime time for fertility. Which means there is more opportunity for the failures - user failure, mechanical failure, design failure, overlap with a conditional failure, and so forth. And when those happen, even in the slightest, that prime fertility allows conception even under less than prime conditions.
The problem with the effectiveness numbers is to some degree in the way they are calculated. IIRC, effectiveness is based on annual use, at any rate of activity, overall. That is, in an average year, of 100 normal people using a 98% effective method, 2 will get pregnant. THAT YEAR. next year, two others will get pregnant. The next year, two more. And so on. This is not a ‘per-use’ rate, it is an annual rate per person, and includes people who have sex once in a year, and people who have sex 25 times in a year, and people who have sex 300 times in a year, and people who are highly fertile, and those who are average or lower-than-average fertility.
So, my mom is highly fertile. She also is very active (ick, knowing that about your mom, but the info was at least useful at times). She also has been active for a long time. Over time, those risk numbers stack up. According to one article I read recently, there are as many unintended pregnancies in the US as there are planned ones. It seemed strange to me, but think about it - how many years are you actually trying to get pregnant? If you are lucky, less than a year per child. How many years are you trying not to get pregnant??? Many, many more. Add in alcohol, lack of info/education/experience, etc., and I can see those numbers coming close.
And, BTW, I inherited the fertility. 3 for 3, first tries (one an oops, and on the outside margin of sperm survivability, too), plus one try (one cycle) with no preg. 3 out of 4 months that it has been possible, I’ve been pregnant.
And yes, before anyone asks, my mom is pro-choice.
If you want more info to help you figure out your highest-risk time period, I can recommend a book. E-mail me, if you are interested.
Don’t want to imply the wrong number of offspring… Three pregnancies, but only one (wonderful) kid, so far… (two miscarriages).