I've been on ortho trycyclen lo for about a year now and have never had any breakthrew bleeding other than the first month. About 11 days ago I was a half hour late in taking my pill and had sex later that night. My boyfriend and I didn't use a condom for a few minutes but we ended up using one so that he wouldn't ejaculate inside me. Today I experienced spotting and after checking up online, I learned that some women experience spotting 10-14 days after conception of a child. I'm due to get my period a week from today and I was wondering if I should be concerned about pregnancy or if this spotting if just a random occurrence. I'd really appreciate any advice you could give me! I'm freaking out!

A half hour late is really nothing to worry about. I never took my pill at the same time every day, but as long as I took it every day it worked.

Some women experience spotting when the egg is released from the ovary (also known as ovulation). Your birth control pills can also trigger spotting sometimes.

I don't believe you should be worried about being pregnant, but you can take an HPT anyway just to ease your mind, since no birth control is 100% effective.

By the way, good job using condoms, even though you are on birth control. Doubling up on birth control (pill + condoms) lessens the chance of getting pregnant even more :)

If you still have a week to go before you are to start your period, I'd wait the week... otherwise you may get a false negative.

Half an hour late should not be enough time for the hormone levels to drop enough for you to get pregnant... Should be more like a day or two.

Hope that helps,
GI Jane 1968