This is a two-part question (or, rather, I’ll use this opportunity to address two issues. First, your period. If you had your period, you are not pregnant. If this is anything like your usual period (clumps and clots, blood, cramps, anywhere from 3-7 days) your uterine lining is shedding. This means that there is no embryo attached to the uterine wall and, thus, you cannot be pregnant.

Let’s talk about the second piece of your question. What you did with the birth control pills is actually…okay. I suspect you did some research ahead of time and figured out appropriate dosing for the pills you had, but yes. This is a way to create emergency contraception when it’s otherwise hard to find. However, keep in mind that when you take 4- or 5-times the amount of combination birth control pills, you’ll get some extra side effects. Emergency contraception is usually just a progesterone derivative, but taking a large amount of estrogen (as in the birth control) can cause nausea and vomiting. If you are in this situation and want to figure out dosing for a birth control pill as emergency contraception, check out this website.

It also sounds like you have access to birth control. This is a great opportunity to share that regularly taking birth control pills will actually be MORE effective than emergency contraception. I would recommend starting (if you’re interested in continued pregnancy protection in the future).