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Vesatot going off pill

5 May, 2009

Question:

Since I got married and until now, I have been on birth control pills. No matter how many active pills I take in a row, I always count my veset as being the number of days after my last active pill. I, therefore, have a veset kavua and never keep onah beinonit, yom hahodesh, haflaga or any of those. Soon, I'm planning to go off the pill in order to try to get pregnant, God willing. How should I handle vestot? I will obviously keep onah beinonit, 30 days after my last period. I imagine I should also keep yom hahodesh, the same as my last period, but veset haflaga has no meaning once I'm off the pill, since that was always dependent on the number of pills I took…. Also, please remind me if and when one should do bedikot during or following these onot.
Thank you.


Answer:

Immediately following your final active pill cycle, you will observe vesatot as you have been doing. 

For the subsequent cycle, you will calculate veset dates for the subsequent cycle based on the day on which your flow began.  You will observe veset hachodesh and onah beinonit, but not a haflagah, since the interval was wholly determined by conditions no longer present. 

The next cycle (i.e., about two months after going off the pill), you will observe an interval day as well.

There is a range of opinions on how many bedikot should be performed on each onah and when.  Some authorities require one bedikah during the onah; others require two or three. Some authorities maintain that a bedikah right after the onah is also sufficient. When there is a daytime onah, and a woman customarily performs a bedikah at the end of the onah, it is preferable to perform it prior to sunset.


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