I'm glad the pregnancy test is negative. That tells us that it is very very unlikely that you could be pregnant. My guess would be that the stress, the illness and the antibiotic affected your cycle somewhat, and if you didn't get your period over the weekend, you probably will this week.
In general, there is not just one or two days when a woman needs to avoid sex. Here's why. Let's take a normal cycle of 28 days. Yes, ovulation would probably occur about day 13 or 14. So you would want to avoid sex on those days. But sperm can live in the body for 3-5 days, so you need to avoid sex for at least 3-5 days BEFORE you ovulate. And your egg can live for 24-48 hours, so you need to avoid sex for at least 1-2 days AFTER ovulation. This means that your "fertility window" is actually around 7 days, beginning to end, when you have a chance of getting pregnant. Because our cycles are always just a little different from month to month, you can see why it's difficult to anticipate just exactly when it's safe to have sex.
One thing that stays relatively stable is that we tend to ovulate about 14 days before we start our period. So if your periods are 34 days apart, it is a good guess that you are ovulating somewhere aroung day 19-20. That would mean you would need to avoid sex at least between days 16 and 22 to be extra careful about that fertility window. Of course, if your cycle changes during the month and you don't know it, your calculations can be all for nothing.
I'm sorry to hear that you and your boyfriend both have issues about birth control. I'm very sorry that he won't take responsibility and use condoms. However, because of this, you really need to take responsibility to protect yourself. Clearly you are scared of becoming pregnant, and the fear and anxiety are not good for you. If you don't have a doctor you can see, did you know you can go to Planned Parenthood for a checkup and to talk about birth control? Just go here:
www.plannedparenthood.org
and put in your zip code, and you can find a health center near you. It is completely confidential, won't cost much, and will be an important first step in protecting yourself.
Comment Reply
Janelle,
I'm glad the pregnancy test is negative. That tells us that it is very very unlikely that you could be pregnant. My guess would be that the stress, the illness and the antibiotic affected your cycle somewhat, and if you didn't get your period over the weekend, you probably will this week.
In general, there is not just one or two days when a woman needs to avoid sex. Here's why. Let's take a normal cycle of 28 days. Yes, ovulation would probably occur about day 13 or 14. So you would want to avoid sex on those days. But sperm can live in the body for 3-5 days, so you need to avoid sex for at least 3-5 days BEFORE you ovulate. And your egg can live for 24-48 hours, so you need to avoid sex for at least 1-2 days AFTER ovulation. This means that your "fertility window" is actually around 7 days, beginning to end, when you have a chance of getting pregnant. Because our cycles are always just a little different from month to month, you can see why it's difficult to anticipate just exactly when it's safe to have sex.
One thing that stays relatively stable is that we tend to ovulate about 14 days before we start our period. So if your periods are 34 days apart, it is a good guess that you are ovulating somewhere aroung day 19-20. That would mean you would need to avoid sex at least between days 16 and 22 to be extra careful about that fertility window. Of course, if your cycle changes during the month and you don't know it, your calculations can be all for nothing.
I'm sorry to hear that you and your boyfriend both have issues about birth control. I'm very sorry that he won't take responsibility and use condoms. However, because of this, you really need to take responsibility to protect yourself. Clearly you are scared of becoming pregnant, and the fear and anxiety are not good for you. If you don't have a doctor you can see, did you know you can go to Planned Parenthood for a checkup and to talk about birth control? Just go here:
www.plannedparenthood.org
and put in your zip code, and you can find a health center near you. It is completely confidential, won't cost much, and will be an important first step in protecting yourself.
Will you consider that?
June 14, 2010 - 8:48amThis Comment
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