My husband and I were discussing when I should stop taking birth control before we try to get pregnant so I can get all the hormones out of my body before conception. I realized I wasn’t even sure where I got the idea that I needed to do this, so I tried to do a bit of research.
Apparently, it is a good idea to have a full menstrual cycle before you conceive, but the reason given was to more easily calculate date of conception, not because the baby’s body was going to be riddled with synthetic hormones.
Yahoo Answers (the authority on everything 
states:
You can get pregnant right away after stopping regular-dose or low-dose hormonal birth control. About half of women get pregnant in the first 3 months after stopping the Pill, and most women get pregnant within 12 months after stopping the Pill. Specific information about how quickly a woman’s fertility returns after stopping use of patches or rings is not available, although experts believe the delay may be similar to or shorter than the Pill.
But what about the baby!?? Mayo Clinic quelled my doubts:
In the past, doctors had concerns that if you conceived immediately after stopping the pill, you had a higher risk of miscarriage. However, these concerns have proved to be largely unfounded.
Okay, so fine, the fact that I took the pill won’t make my baby grow another head or arm, but then I had another thought . . . what if I KEPT taking the birth control pill because I didn’t know I was pregnant (I was part of that .9% that gets pregnant on the pill?). Would my baby then be warped? Mayo Clinic answered that one too!
If you continued taking your birth control pill because you didn’t realize you were pregnant, don’t be alarmed. Despite years of this accident happening, there’s very little evidence that exposure to the hormones in birth control pills causes birth defects.
Still, the birth control pill is a potent estrogen. Lessons learned from women who took diethylstilbestrol — a synthetic estrogen that was later linked with cancer — to prevent miscarriage in early pregnancy suggest that such exposure should be minimized.
Once you learn that you’re pregnant, stop taking the birth control pill.
In summary, if I get pregnant and keep taking the pill until I realize I am with child, I won’t be dooming my baby to some horrible mutation. If I get pregnant right after getting off the pill, my baby won’t be full of fake hormones, and it will probably take me 3 months to a year to get pregnant after getting off the pill.
Easy peasy.
Now for all those who want to see what they would look like pregnant, you can! Click on the image below and upload a photo to FaceinHole.com.
