o goodness, hmm..i remember studying this in biology a looong time ago...ok..there are many stages in developing an ovum but i'm just going to try to explain the hormones and such according to how i remember it...during a normal cycle OFF of birth control there is estrogen and progesterone being produced in your body correct? when these two horomones peak(which is usually the middle of your cycle) this signals the release of an egg so fertilization can occur...after the egg has been released estrogen and progesterone levels drop and this is when you have your period...so, basically what the birth control does is monitor those horomone levels so that they dont get high enough to release an egg so basically you sort of skip the ovulation period(which is good bc you're trying to prevent pregnancy) then when you stop taking your pills its sort of mimicing the body's natural process, when you stop taking the pills briefly estogen and progesterone levels drop and you have your period as you normally would without the pill..however you must take the pills again as usual so that your horomones are maintained ....did i help any at all? lol..

i just thought that in order to have a period there has to be an unfertilized egg and i thought if you take the white pills with no hormone an egg would release and thats your period no? it just seems weird that i would still be protected during that time if an egg is released.

When you are on birth control you don't technically have a period like you would if you were not on birth control.

You shed your uterine lining due to the shift in hormones when you take your placebo pills. The hormones you take during the month prevents an egg from being released and keeps your uterus lining thin. That's why many women experience lighter periods while on birth control pills.

The bleeding is just your uterine lining being shed-- if you weren't on birth control it would be a combination of your uterine lining and the dissolved egg. Any time there's a drop or weird shift in hormones, that's where the spotting/bleeding comes from.

nope..you thought wrong dear..the whole point of birth control is to prevent ovulation..you do not ovulate on birth control and as maddie said the "period" you get on birth control isn't the same as your usual its just immitated...the pills regulate your horomone so there is no ovulation and when you take your placebo pills as maddie also said the shift in horomone levels cause you to have your "period"...so you are protected even during the placebo pill days