IS THERE A 100% WAY OF PREVENTING GETTING PREGNANT?

Preventing pregnancy is not as easy as it might sound. Every method of preventing getting pregnant has a chance, however slight, that you will become pregnant. Even the most aggressive birth control method, surgical sterilization, carries a small chance that you can become pregnant afterwards.

Natural methods of birth control are possibly the least reliable methods of preventing getting pregnant. Using the withdrawal technique is about 96% effective; using rhythm can be as little as 91% effective, or as high as 99% effective, depending on the individual woman and how exactly the method is practiced.

Barrier methods of birth control tend to be a little bit better in terms of preventing getting pregnant. Using a sponge is about 91% effective. Using spermicide alone or a diaphragm is around 94% effective. Using a male condom is about 97% effective, and using a female condom about 95%. Combining one of the other methods with spermicide can raise the effectiveness to around 99%, however.

Hormonal methods of birth control have some of the best statistics. Norplant, for example, is 99.91% effective. The Depo-Provera shot (sometimes called the Depo shot for short) is around 99.7% effective. Birth control pills are around 99.9% effective.

Even surgical methods of sterilization, such as vasectomy or having your tubes tied are not 100% effective. Having tubes tide leaves you with around a 99.96% success rate, whereas a vasectomy is closer to 99.5% effective.

There are two proven ways that are 100% effective at preventing getting pregnant. The first one is, obviously, abstinence. If you don’t have sex, you can’t get pregnant. Having a hysterectomy, in which your uterus is removed, is the only other 100% effective method of preventing getting pregnant. For many couples, however, neither of these options is particularly reasonable as a method of preventing getting pregnant. Having a hysterectomy as a method of birth control is also not recommended, and most health care providers will not agree to perform a hysterectomy solely for this purpose.

WHAT WILL MY PREGNANCY SIGN BE IF I AM ON BIRTH CONTROL PILLS?

Birth control pills are one of the most effective methods of preventing . Assuming that you take all of your birth control pills in the exact manner as they are prescribed, there is only a 1 in 1000 chance that you would become pregnantThis works out to a 0.1% chance of pregnancy. However, if you miss one or more of your birth control pills during the month, or if you take one late, you are more likely to become pregnant; your chances of becoming pregnant if you don’t follow the directions exactly rise to around 5%, or 1 in 20. Because of this, some women do indeed become pregnant while they are on birth control pills.

The signs of becoming pregnant are generally the same, regardless of whether you became pregnant while on birth control pills or not. The first and most obvious sign of pregnancy is often the missed period; however, many women who are on birth control pills either don’t have regular periods, or have periods that are so light that they could be mistaken for implantation bleeding or spotting in early pregnancy. So, a missed period is not the best sign to rely on to know if you are pregnant while on birth control pills.

Other signs of pregnancy can be more telling. Breast tenderness, for example, is one of the very earliest signs of pregnancy. Increased hormones cause breasts to be sensitive and sore, and often to swell. If you are on birth control pills and your breasts suddenly become sensitive and sore, you may be pregnant.

Frequent urination can also indicate pregnancy. The old saying goes that the most dangerous place in the world is between a pregnant woman and a bathroom. While this is especially true later in pregnancy when your baby is pushing on your internal organs, many women experience a more frequent need to urinate throughout their pregnancy.

Nausea caused by pregnancy, sometimes called "morning sickness" is a fairly common symptom of pregnancy. Around 70% of all new moms-to-be will experience morning sickness. Morning sickness can occur at any time of the day, not just during the morning. This nausea may be constant, as it is for some women; or, it may just occur occasionally. The degree to which you feel sick can also vary; you might just feel a little woozy, or you might experience full fledged vomiting.

The most effective way that you can determine whether you are pregnant is, of course, with a pregnancy test. For most women, it may be possible to determine whether you are pregnant as early as 7-10 days after conception using a home pregnancy test. However, the time required depends greatly on the type of pregnancy test being used, as well as your own individual physiology.

Many women who do not wish to become pregnant may use a combination of birth control methods. Because the birth control pill offers no protection whatsoever from STDs, many women choose to use some sort of barrier method, such as the male or female condom, the sponge, or the diaphragm along with their birth control pills. Put together, multiple methods of birth control make pregnancy much less likely.

CAN YOU HAVE YOUR MENSTRUAL PERIOD WHILE PREGNANT?

Many women report having their period while pregnant but typically this is not the case. The reason why this cannot be is that pregnancy and menstruation cannot take place at the same time, by the very definition of the two. If you were pregnant and you began menstruating you would inevitably lose the pregnancy, or have a miscarriage. While you cannot have your period and continue to be pregnant at the same time you can experience vaginal bleeding and continue to be pregnant. It is often this vaginal bleeding that women believe is their menstrual cycle when it is not.

Early pregnancy bleeding is not at all uncommon and many women report that they do bleed regularly during the early portion of their pregnancies. This is not at all a menstrual cycle though; it is usually referred to as early pregnancy bleeding. This bleeding is usually is due to hormonal changes and is not of the quantities of blood that a woman typically sees when having her normal menstrual period. Early pregnancy bleeding can vary in amounts from slight spotting to vaginal bleeding consistent with a menstrual cycle.

Another reason for bleeding during pregnancy is something called implantation bleeding. This bleeding usually takes place when the embryo is attaching to the wall of the uterus. This type of bleeding is ordinarily seen five days after conception, so it is easy to see why a woman would confuse this bleeding with her menstrual cycle and there may be some difficulty in determining when the last menstrual period was. Implantation bleeding is not all that common and usually is not more than a slight spotting or a pinkish red colored mucus, but occasionally there is more bleeding associated with it.

Getting pregnant while on the pill is often associated with bleeding during pregnancy that can be confused with a menstrual cycle. Many women who are on the pill have several bleeding episodes before they realize that something is not quite right. In cases like this a woman usually cannot accurately tell her doctor when her last real menstrual cycle was and an ultrasound is required to provide the mother and the doctor with an estimated due date.

There are many reasons, as stated above, that a woman can experience vaginal bleeding while pregnant but it is impossible to have a true period and remain pregnant at the same time. The problem is that much of the bleeding that women experience coincides with the same time that they usually see their menstrual cycle each month, so they naturally assume that it is their period. Luckily, the majority of women do not experience this type of bleeding.