Planning a prergnancy straight after DEPO

[KATE535]

Please help, I'm planning a pregnancy after coming off the Depo. My depo was due for redoing on 12 th Oct 2008 but I haven't been as I'm coming off it. I am now having unsafe sex with my partner as we would like to have a baby. Is it wise to try straight away considering your system becomes quite unsettled from the Depo.
Would I be ensuring my baby will be healthy and without defects if I waited til my system is normal, or doesn't it matter?

[sweetangel7]

Personally, I'd wait, I was on bc pills for 10 years then went off them and got pregnant within a month...it ended in a mc and deep down, I believe that my body just wasn't ready for a pregnancy after being on hormones for 10 years.  I didn't even get my period, I just got pregnant.  I'd give your body some time, get your period and then try.  I have no medical insight but this is just my opinion.

[Kamyrn2009]

I was on Depo about six months ago as well and now me and my husband are trying for our first child! The thing about depo is... it is a very potent! Meaning, it has lasting effects! If you were to conceive right away, i dont think it would harm the baby because if you are able to get pregnant in the first place, the depo has probably worn off. When I was on depo, my AF's stopped all together and they just recently returned last month! Did you still have AF while on depo? If you did then maybe you are able to get pregnant right away. If you didn't, you might not be able to conceive until your periods return. A lot of women have reported that it took them a year to get pregnant after stopping the shot. Its a great contraceptive but if you're planning to have a baby within the next year, I would get off of it now and switch to the pill until you are ready to start trying! Also, like sweet angel said, it's best to wait regardless. Those hormones could still be lingering, especially in depo because its timed release which is why you only need the shot every three months! After I stopped depo, my husband and I still had unprotected sex and NOTHING! I'm no doctor at all just my personal experience, but I doubt if it's possible to conceive so soon after it! But, you never know! Good luck and be safe
** Sorry I wrote too much***

[martikadragoon]

I was on DEPO for 3 yrs and off for 6 mo. when I got preggo with my baby boy tyler. My AF's stopped while on depo. but I was one of the lucky few that got my period the month depo was due and I missed the shot.

My OBGYN said I've got to be careful because supposedly I'm VERY fertile.... You must ovulate to conceive, and sometimes it takes women up to 6months or more after depo to ovulate.
You can try, I don't think there's any harm in it. but you won't get anywhere unless your ovulating

[sadiesmommy]

I was on depo for almost a year after my first child. When I came off depo the effects were lasting and crazy my body felt so out of whack. I was nauseous and tired and convinced I was immediately pregnant but it ended up taking five months to finally get pregnant. I think my periods return almost to the usual pattern within the first two months though which is why I thought for sure then I must be pregnant.
I hate to make correlations without much evidence but that pregnancy ended in m/c at 12 weeks and the pregnancy after that ended in m/c at eight weeks. After the first m/c I searched for answers (how I ended up here mostly) and found this website called 'life after depo' real reassuring right, well anyways they stories on their were disturbingly familiar to my situation and although I know not everyone has the same experience with birth control I know that for my own personal reasons and choices I will never ever use the depo shot again and I wish I had found that site before I agreed to go on it. I was looking for a bc method I could use while breastfeeding my son and that seemed like the most carefree solution at the time. This time after my twins are born I will just go back to the low dose pill and make sure I remember to take it (no being lazy for me) as I am pretty sure me and dh are done after these two but neither of us are ready for permanant bc like tubals or vasectomies just yet!! I would wait a month or two and then just start tracking for another month or two and really let your body adjust on its own, things can get crazy especially when you add in the emotionality of trying to get pregnant! Good luck to you and yours!

[SARgirl]

I was on the Depo shot for 10 years...I had it the day I gave birth to my son, now 11 1/2 years old....I was re-married about 3 years ago, and we wanted to have a child together....I never got my menstrual cycle while on the Depo....I stopped taking it April 07' , got my menstrual cycle back for a good 2 months...Nov & Jan...spotting other months...then I got pregnant April 08', exactly 1 year later....


Good luck, remember everyone's body is different...but it will take a while before you start to ovulate again...you are just fine!!  You just may not get pregnant as soon as you wanted to...

[KATE535]

Thanks for the advice everyone.
I had wondered about the fact that because I've only ever had 2 depo shots, whether I'd be 'ok' with regards to concieving easily seeing as as I haven't been on it very long. And my last two pregnacies happened very easily (most definately very fertile going by my past situation).
To be honest, I got fed up of having light but sometimes heavy bleeding after the depo that lasted for about a month during the previous month gone. Then when my depo was due last week, but I didn't have it, I recognised the 'new' bleeding as most definately my period. I have had unsafe sex around this time and after and so I have been ovulating when being intimate. Is this likely to be my period if I am sure it is?
The question I probably need to be asking myself now is, am I pregnant?
Does anyone know whether your system is more likely to get back to normal if you've only been on the depo for 6 months? Could pregnancy be a likely outcome in my case?

[sadiesmommy]

Anything is possibly especially if you are considered a fertile person. Just take it one day at a time and when it is appropriate take a test and see what it says. Don't get discouraged if it says negative either some things just take time also remember that you don't neccessarily ovulate every cycle either so even though you may have been intimate on your most fertile days if you didn't ovualte it won't matter, are you using opk's or anything??? Just wondering, I have never used them so I am not much help in that area - sorry!

[KATE535]

Hi it's been a while since I wrote on this question, but my period is finally back!!!
Yippeee,
it's felt like ages, since I've been having the odd period pain the last 6 weeks, but no sign of a period - untill now. What you told me has helped to control the self questioning of why nothings been happening. I know my system has been taking time to restore itself after Depo.
So, would you recommend I start trying for a baby with my partner now ?! Since he and I want this more than any thing right now...
I have two boys from a previous relationship but my partner has not ever had a child of his own. We adore eachother and I want to give him the opportunity to love a child of his own. He is wonderful with my boys. It is his dream to have a baby with me. We're very stable and ready for this.
I suppose we can't wait really!!!!
We're going for a romantic weekend away this weekend............................ mm?