Surprise Pregnancy: Could It Happen to You?

It happens much often than you mightiness think. Almost half of each pregnancies successful nan U.S. are unplanned.

“If you’re a female and haven’t gone done menopause yet, past it’s imaginable for you to get pregnant,” says Siobhan Dolan, MD, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and women’s wellness astatine Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

You tin return steps to amended your chances of conceiving only erstwhile you’d for illustration to.

As nan saying goes, nan only shape of birth control that’s 100% effective is abstinence. “Most of nan time, birth controldoes work, but ‘accidents’ tin happen,” Dolan says.

Condoms, birth power pills, intrauterine devices (IUDs), and different methods usually activity 80% to much than 90% of nan time. And imperishable commencement control, for illustration female sterilization aliases antheral vasectomy, has a nonaccomplishment complaint of little than 1%.

If you usage commencement power wrong, your chances of getting pregnant spell up. Sometimes it’s evident that it didn’t work, for illustration erstwhile a condom breaks. In that case, you whitethorn want to return a 2nd step, for illustration nan over-the-counter “morning after” pill. It tin forestall gestation up to 5 days aft unprotected sex. But if you don’t announcement an correction for illustration a mini spread successful a condom, aliases that you missed your regular pill, you could go pregnant.

The azygous biggest logic for unplanned gestation isn’t ineffective commencement power -- it’s from a mates not utilizing anycontraception. “Some women whitethorn not usage commencement power regularly, and others not astatine all,” says Maureen Phipps, MD, main of obstetrics and gynecology astatine Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island. “They whitethorn not for illustration it, mightiness not person entree to it, aliases whitethorn moreover person a partner who doesn't want them to usage it.”

Many times, women aliases their partners aren’t judge if they want a kid aliases not, Phipps says. “They’re not readying [to person a baby], but they’re not actively trying to debar pregnancy, either. And they extremity up getting pregnant.”

Some women don’t recognize that they could get pregnant. If you’ve struggled pinch infertility successful nan past, don’t person regular periods, aliases are successful perimenopause (the clip play earlier menopause, which tin lead to ray aliases irregular periods), it’s still imaginable for you to conceive, though you don’t expect it.

If you still get your periods -- moreover if they aren’t regular -- and you don’t want to get pregnant, you “should support utilizing commencement control,” Dolan says.

Once you spell done menopause (meaning you're nary longer menstruating and it’s been a afloat twelvemonth since you’ve had a period), past it’s safe to presume you tin person sex without contraception and not get pregnant. You will still request to protect yourself from sexually transmitted diseases, though.