Next Lets Talk About Pregnancy Symptoms
Im going to come right out and say you shouldnt consider pregnancy symptoms at all, in my opinion. They are irrelevant this early, but then, I do have a quiz on early symptoms of pregnancy here, so why the hypocrisy there? You will not have pregnancy symptoms before you are pregnant. Period. This falls back into timing.
After sperm meets egg, it takes 6 to 12 days for that fertilized egg to find its way to the uterus and implant. It takes another 48 hours on average for pregnancy hormones to become high enough to even start to be detectablethats 8 to 14 days after fertilization, which could be up to 48 hours after ovulation. Until that egg implants, you arent pregnant. There are no pregnancy hormones. Your symptoms arent pregnancy-related. I have a pregnancy symptom quiz, yes, but with big warnings all over it that it applies after a missed period .
You may now be thinking to yourself, puh, this lady dont know Jack or his sister Sallys ovaries, because Ive had pregnancy symptoms before a missed period before. The thing is, one of the major players in all those fun pregnancy side effects is progesterone, and progesterone is actually present in the body before pregnancy. Its production is super-charged by ovulation, and its purpose is to maintain a pregnancy. So, if you dont get pregnant, it drops, and you get a period. If you do, it continues to rise. A high progesterone cycle will mimic the symptoms of pregnancy from nausea to gas.
Can You Get Pregnant If You Have Sex During Your Period
Most likely you will not get pregnant having sex while on your period. Thats because your ovulation time is several days away decreasing any chances of getting pregnant during this time. However, there are exceptions. This applies to women who have a typical 28 to 30 day or longer cycle. If you have a shorter cycle, say every 21 to 24 days, that means you are ovulating earlier in the cycle. Because sperm can live inside you for up to 5 days, you could have sex towards the end of your period and then conceive 4 or 5 days later with your early ovulation. To verify, inexpensive, early detection pregnancy and ovulation tests can be purchased online from our corporate sponsor Fairhaven Health.
The probabilities of getting pregnant during your period are low, but the possibilities are there. This is not the time to have sex if you are trying to get pregnant.
Chances Of Getting Pregnant During Your Period
Is it possible for a woman to get pregnant during her periods? Well, this depends on the woman, the length of her period, its regularity and the time of her ovulation.
If youre also wondering whether you can get pregnant while youre menstruating and whether having sex during your period can lead to a pregnancy, the answer is yes if the following holds true for you:
- Your period is regular.
- It lasts for up to 5-7 days.
- The time between your cycles is short .
- You ovulate around the 10th to 12th day of your cycle.
In all these situations, the sperm that has entered your body during sex while having a period can fertilize an egg and you can get pregnant.
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The Womans Orgasm Has No Effect On Conception
A womans orgasm during sex is, according to many experts, a very good thing. With the rhythmic contractions of the vaginal muscles, the uterus assists the sperms journey to the egg. It also increases the blood supply and hormone secretion in that area to increase the chances of a successful conception.
What Are The Chances Of Getting Pregnant Before Ovulation
Ovulation will occur 14 to 16 days before your next menstruation. If you are not sure about when you ovulate, you should learn the symptoms and signs of ovulation.
These are some of the sign that show when you ovulate
- Your discharge becomes watery, egg-white and very stretchy
- You feel like you want intercourse more
- Your breast pains and swells
- You experience spotting or brown discharge
If you feel or notice some of these symptoms, then you may be close to ovulation or already ovulated.
However, it may be difficult to know these signs if you are not conscious of your menstrual cycle and vaginal discharge. You can buy an ovulation kit or fertility monitor to help you know when ovulation will occur.
In a 28 day cycle, the chances of getting pregnant with intercourse 7 days before ovulation may be slim. However, if you have intercourse 5 days before ovulation occurs, then you may conceive.
If you have a 28 day cycle, it means intercourse on day 9 to day 14 may get you pregnant.
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How Do You Measure Basal Body Temperature
To create an accurate chart, you need to take your temperature as soon as you wake up and at approximately the same time each morning. You must take your temperature before you get out of bed, talk, eat, drink, have sex, or smoke in order to get an accurate reading. The basal thermometer should be inserted for a full five minutes, and the reading should be recorded within one-tenth of a degree.
You can get a basal body temperature chart from your gynecologist. Keep your chart and a pencil by your bed and record your temperature within one-tenth of a degree each day. As your chart evolves you’ll begin to see a pattern. Each person’s pattern is different: some rise suddenly, while others increase more gradually. Patterns can also vary from cycle to cycle.
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How Does Pregnancy Occur
A pregnancy occurs when a mobile sperm cell fertilizes an egg cell and the fertilised egg gets implanted in the uterus. To do this, the sperm cell must swim up from the vagina and into the fallopian tube via the cervix. After fertilisation, the egg cell travels from the ovary to the uterus via the fallopian tube. Here, it attaches itself to the lining of the uterus. Soon after, the remaining processes that are part of pregnancy follow suit.
Conception can happen at any time, from a few hours after intercourse to 5 days after sex. The fastest-swimming sperm may zero in on the egg in just about 45 minutes while slower swimmers may take up to 12 hours to navigate the same journey. Sperm cells can take a break for up to 5 days in the hospitable environment of the fallopian tube and still do their primary job of fertilizing the ovum. This happens if ovulation happens 5 days after sex. This means that if at any time in this window of opportunity an egg is released, the sperm has a chance of fertilizing it.
So, we can see that in the action of conception, there are various markers that have to be met:
- There must be a mobile sperm cell.
- There must be a viable egg.
- They must meet at some time.
- Conception is most probable if when the sperm reaches the uterus, it meets with a viable egg.
- This is logically most probable if a woman has sex when there is a viable egg in the uterus.
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Can You Get Pregnant Right Before Or After Your Period
Doctors generally agree that people are not likely to get pregnant in the days leading up to their period. This is especially true if their periods are regular and they have a 28-day menstrual cycle.
However, given the fluid nature of the fertile window, people who do not want to become pregnant should still use contraception at this time.
Sperm cells can only fertilize an egg within a 24-hour window after ovulation. If a person knows when they have ovulated and counts w days from ovulation, they should no longer be able to get pregnant before their next period.
It is, however, possible for a person to get pregnant immediately after their period. This is because sperm can still fertilize eggs for 35 days after sexual intercourse.
If a person with a short cycle has sexual intercourse right after their period and happens to ovulate early, they may ovulate quickly enough for the egg to connect with sperm cells.
Early Intercourse: Can You Get Pregnant On Your Period
The chances of getting pregnant are low with intercourse during your period, but not impossibleremember, if there is intercourse, pregnancy is always possible.
How can you get pregnant on your period? Well, because sperm can survive beyond that ideal 48-hour window, if you ovulate on the early side, it could still be around to catch the egg. Its a scenario where the stars really have to align just right, so to speak.
Ex/ 26-day cycle, 6 days active bleeding, early ovulation at day 10. Intercourse on CD 5 during your period, sperm can still be viable at 5+ days when the egg drops.
This, obviously, also applies to the question, can you get pregnant right after your period as well, more so actually, because you are closer to mid-cycle.
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What To Do If You’ve Missed A Dose And Then Had Sex
If you plan on having sex after a missed dose, you should be aware of whether you’re taking a combination pill, that contains both estrogen and progesterone, or a progesterone-only pill.
If you use a combination birth control pill, it works to prevent pregnancy in two ways: first by halting ovulation and second by thickening your uterine wall, which makes it difficult for sperm to get through to an egg. Therefore, thanks to this double-up approach, there’s no need to use a backup birth control method after skipping a dose, according to the CDC.
Whereas, if you’re taking a progesterone-only birth control pill, which does not suppress ovulation as much as the combo pill, the CDC recommends using backup birth control, like a condom, until you have taken the pill as scheduled for two days.
When in doubt about what to do, reach out to your healthcare provider.
Can You Get Pregnant Right After Your Period
You are moving into your fertility window, so yes, you can get pregnant right after your period. On a typical cycle that occurs every 28 to 30 days, the fertility window is usually between Day 11 and Day 21. Remember, sperm can live up to 5 days. If your period lasts for 5 to 7 days, and you have sex right after that, you are approaching your fertility window.
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Having Sex Every Day Is Better For Conception
The myth that more sex is equal to better chances of conception is not correct. While regular sex obviously grants people better odds of conceiving, as with everything in life, quality is better than quantity. One sperm cell is enough to ensure conception and each ejaculation contains thousands of sperm cells. Therefore, it is not the number of times that sex occurs, but the quality of the sperm that matters their mobility and the health of their DNA is what affects conception. Even ejaculating once is enough to conceive if it is timed right during the womans ovulation period and if the individual sperm cells are healthy swimmers.
Can I Get Pregnant Just After My Period Has Finished
Yes, although it’s not very likely. If you have sex without using contraception, you can conceive at any time during your menstrual cycle, even during or just after your period.
You can also get pregnant if you have never had a period before, during your first period, or after the first time you have sex.
There’s no “safe” time of the month when you can have sex without contraception and not risk becoming pregnant.
But there are times in your menstrual cycle when you’re at your most fertile, and this is when you’re most likely to conceive.
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How To Track The Best Time To Get Pregnant
To properly plan your baby-making schedule, you need to know when youre ovulating. Regardless of the length of your cycle, ovulation usually occurs about 14 days before your next period. Physical signs, such as watery vaginal secretions, or pain on one side of your pelvis, can also tip you off that your egg is about to drop. You can easily ballpark when to have sex by looking at the calendar, says Shapiro. And add to that your own body changes to confirm what you already know.
Apps, such as the one my husband was using, are like Google Calendar for your ovaries. Their basic function is to flag when youre expected to ovulate based on information you plug in from past periods. If your cycle is regular, apps are highly accurate. But, if you have irregular periods, the calculations can get more complicated and more likely to result in error.
Shapiro points out that its normal for your cycle to vary in length by up to eight days. This can make narrowing down when to have sex more challenging, which means youll have to spend more time in the bedroom to maximize your chances. Having sex a couple of times around ovulation, 48 hours apart, is probably sufficient, Shapiro says. And if youre not sure when youre ovulating, add an extra day.
Trust yourself, Shapiro says. Youre probably getting the timing right. Dont stress too much over it. And dont forget to have fun.
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Fertility Does Not Depend On The Age Of The Couple
The prime reproductive age of humans has been found to be the ages between the 20s and the 30s. There will be a slight fall in fertility levels after the age of 35 and a sharp fall after that. After this, that is, any time during the age of 40 and above, the chances of a healthy unassisted pregnancy without complications, such as a miscarriage and genetic abnormalities, are quite low. This is true for both men and women.
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Try An Ovulation Predictor Kit
OPKs are at-home test kits that detect a surge in luteinizing hormone , which your body releases 24-48 hours before you ovulate.
In the middle of your cycle, you’ll test your urine every day for 5-10 days. When your LH goes up, it’s time to start trying to conceive.
There are two types of OPKs:
Ovulation test strips. These are paper strips you dip into a cup of your urine. A few minutes later, a line shows up. Depending on how dark it is, you’ll know if you’re about to ovulate.
Digital ovulation tests. They’re typically more expensive than test strips. With a digital test, you hold a stick under your morning stream of pee. The digital monitor tells you if you’re likely to start ovulating.
You can get OPKs at many drugstores and supermarkets. Most have clear instructions and a toll-free number for questions.
OPKs are helpful if you have sex less often or you’d like to time it more precisely, Marut says, but they’re not always accurate.