"Accidental" Pregnancy?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
"Accidental" Pregnancy?
Tue, 04-08-2003 - 2:09pm
Just curious, I've heard/read about woman who say they "found themselves pregnant" or they "accidentally" got pregnant. Aside of a condomn breaking or a cervical cap slipping, what other methods of birth control were used that failed? I mean, talking to most women who've taken the pill and it failed, I'd factor the failure rate is greater than what the packing information states!

Seriously, if you weren't planning on having children, you were using BC, yes? I am confused as to how a pregnancy can be a "surprise". Either you are using BC or you aren't. If you aren't using BC and you get pregnant, where is the surprise?

I had this conversation with my SIL. She "found herself pregnant" two months before her wedding and was sincerely shocked. I asked her, "Were you using BC?"

Her answer, "No. But we weren't planning on getting pregnant."

ME: "Well, if you weren't using birth control, how can you be shocked at getting pregnant?"

Her answer: "I didn't think I could get pregnant. We've never used birth control."

Um, okay. Ah, let's see, herpes, hep c, other STD's, HIV, oh never mind.

If you had an "accidental" or unplanned pregnancy, was it due to a BC failure or other factors.

Your input is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.


iVillage Member
Registered: 05-09-2003
Sat, 05-10-2003 - 4:51am
The statistics are based on controlled studies, however, and then are generalized on the total estimated pill taking population, so you can always assume that there is a level of inaccuracy in the statistical data and that is also influenced by the measure taking, referred to as error. This is true for every statistical study. Americans are statistics crazy which is why you see lots of statistics on test scores, prescription effectiveness, etc. The problem is that many data reports are worded wrong or inaccurately calculated. For instance, the pill's effectiveness is going to rely on many factors, including how many previous pregnancies, ethnicity, brand, weight, etc. There are so many variables that to accurately say what the effectiveness for any one person is invalid. However, effectiveness can be generalized over an entire population based on the control sample. And based on comparisons with other bc(prescription) the pill is the most effective. Ultimately it comes down to whose taking the pill, there are a number of factors in an individual's lifestyle and body composition, etc that can affect effectiveness. Also, hormones affect everyone differently and some can not even take the pill or the hormonal make-up negates the effectiveness of the pill. The point, all you can do is take it and have faith, that for the majority of women who trust the pill it works, and it is more effective than taking nothing. If I were thinking about taking the pill, I would be more concerned on the statistics and studies that link the pill with certain cancers, such as breats cancer. One of the reports I read in JAMA said that taking the pill could help prevent ovarian cancer, but could be a factor in developing late- stage breast cancer. Ovarian cancer in realtivity to breat cancer happens much less, so many women may take the pill in hopes of preventing a disease that occurs in a small proportion of women just to put themselves at risk for a much more prevelant and invasive cancer.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-26-2003
Mon, 05-26-2003 - 12:52pm
I have three kids....

#1 while using a condom and the pill

#2 while on depo (shot)

#3 nursing, rythm and condom.

So there you go. Three wonderful surprises! My dh just had a vasectomy--I'll let you know if that one works.....
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 05-26-2003 - 1:01pm
**I got pregnant with 2 children using BC. My son was conceived using BC pills religiously never late, never missed a pill. I had taken these pills for years and never had a problem. TOTAL shock.**

NOT! Either you never had your pills updated to fit your body changes, which you need to do at least every 2-3 years, or you were taking a medication that causes your contraceptive to not work (antibiotics, blood pressure meds, etc.).

Or maybe you were on a pill that was too weak for you (mini-pill, 21-day pill, etc.)

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 05-26-2003 - 1:04pm
Soooooo not true!

Anytime you don't use protection of any kind, it is a PLANNED pregnancy. The denial is just in your head. And your head is telling you it was unplanned.

So I also guess if you speed down a highway at 90mph on a 55mph stretch that if you get a ticjet it was unplanned? NOT! You know the law. If you speed you will get a ticket. But what happens is people don't think they'll get caught or should I say caught out there.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-15-2003
Tue, 05-27-2003 - 3:33pm
I had a 3 year old little boy, a 4 mo. old little boy, and "whoops, we're pregnant again!" No, it wasn't an "accident", there's no such thing as an "accidental" pregnancy IMO, as long as you are old enough to know that sex causes pregnancy. My "surprise" baby was due to poor planning, or lack of planning. We weren't using BC, and were way too fertile for our own good! ;) He's now 6 mos. old, though, and the best "surprise" I ever received! --->Dawn
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 05-28-2003 - 2:16am
Actually, you can do all those things (I did) and still get pregnant. In fact, the third time I conceived on the pill (the one that I terminated), I was on a prescription so strong my doctor was constantly monitoring me through blood work and exams, grilling me to ensure I wasn't smoking and just generally made it clear he did not like me being on a prescription that was as strong as that. No one was more shocked than he when after 3 years on this prescription, I conceived. It happens, sometimes.

BCPs are not 100%, even if you do all the right things.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 06-04-2003 - 4:51pm
I've never had an "accidental" pregnancy, which surprises me a little, b/c we use condoms that are coated w/spermicide & the failure rate of those are supposedly 3%, so after 15 years of marriage . . .

And when we did plan on having our one & only, BOOM, I got pregnant the 1st time we made love unprotected, and even tho' I exclusivley nursed DS, I got my period back 2 weeks after I gave birth. So, I seem to be some kind of "fertile Myrtle" & I consider myself lucky to have never gotten PG on condoms. (And once, when we were engaged one broke about 10 days after my period) but luckily I didn't get PG. (But it would not have been the end of the world)

Now, I'm a little worried. Seems I've developed an allergy to latex & now I have to use the Lambskins which are about $3 a pop, and LESS effective than Latex. (Now we joke that it costs as much to make love as it does to rent a video) I'm just hoping that since I am 48, that my fertility is on such a decline that using Lambskins will be good enough. Since I am going through menopause, I think it would be silly for one of us to get surgically sterilized at this point. But I hope I don't experience a birth control failure at this late point in the game, since I am 48, and my DS is 13. It would be like having 2 only children. With that much of an age gap, seems they wouldn't have much of a sibling relationship, & at my age, I am at a higher risk for birth defects.

Has anyone hear had experience with the Lambskin condoms & b/c failure ?
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-30-2003
Mon, 06-16-2003 - 4:10pm
I've never had a failure with condoms, but I had an accidental pregnancy, which surprised the heck out of me because I was on the Pill, never missed one, took them the same time every day, didn't take antibiotics, etc - in other words, I did everything I was supposed to do to prevent a pregnancy and it happened anyway. My boyfriend, at the time, called it an accident, but I called it fate. I figured I was supposed to have another baby so I made the best of it, and it's worked out wonderfully for all of us. Anyway, I'm one of those for whom the Pill just doesn't work. My doctor doesn't really know why, but after having I don't know how many people look at me like I'm lying when I said I didn't mess up taking my pills, it was nice to hear someone tell me it could just be the way my body reacts to the hormones and that it really isn't always a failure on the part of the person taking the pill.