Anyway, the reason I am posting is because... on the day I was starting my new packet of pills (after my pill free week) I took the first pill about 4hours after my usual time, due to forgeting. I am just wondering if this would mean it wasnt effective, as I had sex the next day (unprotected) although he didn't cum inside me. In the instruction leaflet with my pills (and my mum has said) that aslong as the pill is taken within the same few hours its ok. And plus it says that if you have forgotten to take one, as long as the time you were supposed to take it was LESS THAN 12 HOURS AGO then just take the missed one as normal and you'll be fine....

If you take them at the right time, everyday, they are in theory almost always effective. Most of the people who find the pill not to be effective are the same ones who mess up in terms of when they take it. So, to answer your question, taking it later can cause problems - it might open the risk just a bit.

We generally advise people to use the pill in combination with condoms, and doing that in your case will virtually close the window of risk that you've opened up here. You might want to keep using the condoms after that too, though, because the pill doesn't protect you from STDs.

From the sounds of it, you'll probably want to get yourself tested for STDs/STIs, as well, since you've been having unprotected sex.