Menstrual Cycle and Pregnancy

To enjoy a healthy sex life, it is very important that you understand your body and how it functions. When it comes to pregnancy, you should know all about your menstrual cycle. This monthly phenomenon decides when you are fertile and may get you pregnant after unprotected sexual intercourse. Most menstrual cycles have several days at the beginning that are infertile, a period of fertility, and then several days just before the next menstruation that are infertile. A woman’s menstrual cycle is usually calculated as 28 days. The first day of this cycle is typically the day when you begin menses. This is when your uterus begins to shed its lining and bleeding occurs. Under normal circumstances, the menses last around 5 days and then your uterus begins to prepare for the next fertile phase. Under normal circumstances, your body will take another 9 days to produce a mature egg. In other words, on day 14 of your menstrual cycle, your uterus releases an egg ready to be fertilized. The most fertile period covers the time from 5 days before until 1–2 days after release of the egg. In an average 28 day cycle, this corresponds to the second and third weeks after menstruation.

However, since most women do not have a menstrual cycle of exactly 28 days, this can be misleading. In fact, individual cycles can vary from 25 days to 35 days. Also, real women have irregular cycles. That is, you may have a menstrual cycle of 29 days this month, and 32 days the next. However, there are methods available that take into account this variation among individual women. The Standard Days Method can be used by any women whose cycle is always between 26 and 32 days in length. Using this method, days 1-7 are considered infertile. Your most fertile period then falls between days 8 and 19, with day 20-onwards being infertile. The Standard Days Method has been shown to be pretty effective when used to avoid pregnancy, with a failure rate of just 5% per year.

In your own case, you mentioned that you had sex 8 days after your last period. If your period lasted for 5 days, this roughly corresponds to day 13 of your menstrual cycle, which is in your fertile period according to the Standard Days Method. However, pregnancy is dependant on many more factors than just your fertility and you should probably wait to see if you get your next period. If not, consult your gynecologist for a professional opinion.

answered by G M

I had my last period on March 18 and had sex on March 26. Is there any possibility of getting pregnant?