Ive been on the Nuva ring for almost 3 months now.
When you first start the Nuva Ring, you can either start it on your first day of your menstrual cycle, or your 5th day on your menstrual cycle. If you start it on the first day of your menstrual cycle, you will be safe immediately, provided you dont have sex during your cycle. If you start the Ring on the 5th day of your cycle, then you have to wait 1 week until you are completely covered.
Once you start your birth control, you keep the ring inside of your vagina for 3 weeks straight. You may take it out to clean it, or have sex (after the first week is over) but DONT leave it out for more then 3 hours (it will lessen the protection). The best bet (which I do) is just leave it in. Often times a guy will like the feeling of it inside of you (and you might aswell).
After you have counted 3 weeks exactly, remove the ring, and leave it out for a full 7 days. During that 7 days, you are completely covered for pregnancy, however, this is the week that you should get your period (it usually will start within 1-2 days after removing the ring).
Because you left your ring out for more then 3 hours ( a couple of days ) you wont be protected for this month. You need to start a new ring on your next period. If you need to start it immediately, you can insert it but you will not have your period on the scheduled day, therefore you will need to mark down when your 3 weeks is up and the 1 free week for your period.
If you have any more questions, feel free to message me again. :)
an fyi 2 all nuvaring users; its not as effective as initial research showed... the package insert and nuvaring website say it is 99% effective... it has recently been shown to be closer to 95%so be careful! several women have been getting pregnant while using nuvaring as directed... i myself am concerned i may be and iv been using it properly for several months!
also it is supposed to be fully effective after 7 days of continuous use in which it has not been out for more than 3 hours. if it is out for more than 7 days after the 3 weeks in, u need to abstain or use alternative protection such as spermicides(which do not counteract nuvaring in any way) until it has once again been in for 7 days continuously.