When can a women get pregnant? For a majority
of women, the time period you're talking about, a week
after your menstrual period ends, is a window of the
highest fertility for when can a women get pregnant: in other
words, the time when most women would be at their highest
pregnancy risk.
Thing is, with any question like this, we're always going to
have two equally true answers:
1) It depends on YOUR individual fertility cycle, and
2) ANY time a woman has unprotected genital sex with a
cisgender male partner -- read: direct penis-to-vulva contact
without a reliable method of birth control -- she has a real
risk of becoming pregnant.
So for when can a women get pregnant, let's chat a little
about fertility cycles and what the heck I'm talking about.
If you take a look at this piece When can a women get
pregnant, you can get a good idea of how the fertility and
menstrual cycle works. There are times in every woman's cycle
when she is more or less likely to become pregnant and what
that depends on is when that particular woman ovulates; when
she is near or at the end of her proliferative, or follicular,
phase and in her ovulatory phase. When can a women get
pregnant, That is then when the ovary ruptures and an egg is
released, which can be fertilized by sperm to create a
pregnancy. For the "average" woman with an average cycle of 28
days, that day will be on day 14 (the day a woman's period
begins is day 1).
The window after that egg is released for it to be
fertilized is about one day When can a women get pregnant,
however, you've got to remember that sperm can survive in the
vagina for anywhere from three to seven days. So, if that
average woman had intercourse where her male partner ejaculated
within her anywhere from Day 7 to day 16, she would have a high
risk of pregnancy. She may also have risks on other days in her
cycle, but for that woman, intercourse in that time period
would be the time of her highest risks. When can a women get
pregnant
How does someone know when they ovulate? The only way to
have an accurate idea about how one's own fertility cycle works
is to chart it, every day, through both examining cervical
mucus and by taking basal temperatures. Every day. When we do
that daily, we can see over each cycle, when we have the kind
of mucus women do when most fertile and when we have the kind
of mucus where we're least fertile, as well as seeing the
temperature changes that happen during the different times of
our cycles. If we have a regular cycle, after several months of
doing this, we can become able to predict with a decent amount
of accuracy when, in the next cycle, we will probably be most
and least fertile.
When can a women get pregnant. Some women may be like our
average woman above. Others may ovulate on day 11, some on day
16. And far less frequently, some women may even ovulate more
than once in a given cycle. To be clear: all women are not the
"average" woman, When can a women get pregnant so we can't know
when we're most fertile just by counting days (which is
sometimes called "the rhythm method").
Toni Weschler, the awesome author of both Taking Charge of
Your Fertility -- which is basically the bible when it comes to
fertility charting -- and Cycle Savvy, a book about cycles for
teens (and she does not recommend FAM for teen women) explains
more here. When can a women get pregnant And if you or your
partner really want to know more about charting and fertility,
it'd be a good idea to get your hands on those books. Once a
woman gets the hang of charting, it's not all that complicated,
but at first, it really is detailed and involved enough that
it's something one needs a good book for.
When can a women get pregnant Without doing all of that
daily homework with charting, we have no way of knowing when
that happens, save after the fact. As well, using charting as a
method of birth control -- often called Natural Family Planning
or the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) -- is only recommended
for a) women whose cycles have regulated, which often is not
the case with teen women b) couples who are ready for a
potential pregnancy, c) couples where the male partner is in
real cooperation with the female partner in abstaining from
genital-to-genital sex in and around the fertile window (or
where a backup method of birth control will be used then) and
d) couples who have practiced all the parts of safer sex --
latex barriers, monogamy and screenings, for at least six
months before going without barriers -- to know their STI
(sexually transmitted infection) risks are minimal. Generally,
FAM is only a good choice for women with all three of those
factors accounted for, and tends to be best for women who know
they can and will chart without fail, who have problems with,
objections to, or lack of access to other reliable methods of
birth control, or who are using charting in conjunction with
another sound method of birth control.
When can a women get pregnant It's likely obvious at this
point that for teens, this isn't a sound method, and just
guessing and gambling isn't a sound method for ANYONE. If you
or your partners do NOT wish to become pregnant, you need to
only be having genital-to-genital sex When can a women get
pregnant IF using a reliable method of birth control which you
can use properly. Charting probably isn't it, but that's not a
big deal since there are a LOT of reliable methods out there,
most of which are very easy to use -- and involve less effort
than charting does -- and are affordable.
Of course, the other big issue here is that FAM doesn't
protect anyone from sexually transmitted infections, which are
really a bigger risk, especially for young people, than
pregnancy is. Around one out of every four young adults between
the ages of 15 and 22 has an STI (around one of every ten
sexually active teen women in the U.S. will become pregnant).
Teens and young adults are the fastest growing group of people
with sexually transmitted infections. The bonus is that the
method (sparing not having genital sex at all) that protects
everyone from STIs best is also a reliable, inexpensive and
easy-to-use method of birth control too: the condom When can a
women get pregnant.
When any person is really ready for partnered sex that poses
STI and/or pregnancy risks, they also have to be really ready
to deal with safer sex and birth control. If you or your
partners are not, then the very best thing you can do is just
to wait until you are. Not only is that best for your physical
health, it's best for your emotional well-being. Plus, sex can
only be so fun when you're freaking out before, after and/or
during it because you know you're taking risks you shouldn't
be. What a drag! When can a women get pregnant
If you need help working out reliable birth control methods
and safer sex, you can talk to your doctor, When can a women
get pregnant gynecologist or to any family planning clinic,
like Planned Parenthood. Any of those folks can help you find
out what methods are best for you and yours, show you how to
use them, and help you obtain them When can a women get
pregnant.