after my maternity class on friday, a group of us were involved in a discussion pertaining to conception. a few girls insisted that you CANNOT conceive during menstruation.... im sure that it varies from person to person, but i believe that its very possible to conceive during menstruation...
our maternity book was not very helpful in answering our question, and ive been doing some research tonight with no definite answer...
Specializes in Med-surg; OB/Well baby; pulmonology; RTS.
As for the whole "women ovulate 14 days after menses", it's just an generalization. I have ovulated as early as day 9, and if I had sex on day 5 (during menses) then it's totally possible for conception to happen. Sperm hang out in the cervical crypts until they are ready to make the journey to the egg...
As for a reference to the above, check out the book, "Taking charge of your Fertility"
I was about to post the same thing. I've ovulated as late as day 26 in my cycle as not all women have clockwork 28 day cycles.
All women, nurses or not, should check out Taking Charge of Your Fertility. It is full of stuff you will never learn in nursing school, that is for sure.
I have 36-42 day cycles and the period of time between ovulation and the start of my next period is approx 10-11 days.
So all that stuff about ovulation 14 days after the start of your period or 14 days before is a load of stuffing for me! :)
It takes about 24-48 hrs for the egg to travel down and be expelled, so that is the window of time you have. Granted sperm can live for up to 7 days (as I have been told) but it needs to have the conditions to help it survive.
Now, there are women who are so full of the required conditions that her hubby will only virtually have to sneeze at her and she will concieve, and there will be others who will have sex the day before and the day or ovulation and still not be able to concieve.
I learnt so much about my body through that book. It is amazing. I feel it should be taught to all women.
No they can't. Women can only get pregnant on the day they ovulate, and the egg generally only lives 12-24 hours. Now, the sperms can hang around for a while (few days). But the sperms need fertile cervical mucus in order to survive for any length of time.
If you quote me, please use my entire sentence. Picking and choosing words which you quote are misleading as to what I actually posted.
Women have the potential to get pregnant at any time during their cycle "should" they ovulate but most fertile during mensturation, NO WAY!
Women can get pregnant anytime during their cycle should they ovulate. Whichever day a woman ovulates during her cycle she can get pregnant whether it be day 2,7,10 14,18 etc....
As for the whole "women ovulate 14 days after menses", it's just an generalization.
While it is a generalization the truth is that women ovulate 14 days before their next menses.
If you quote me, please use my entire sentence. Picking and choosing words which you quote are misleading as to what I actually posted.
Women can get pregnant anytime during their cycle should they ovulate. Whichever day a woman ovulates during her cycle she can get pregnant whether it be day 2,7,10 14,18 etc....
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This isn't true either. If a woman ovulated on CD2 or 7, the egg isn't mature enough for conception.
No that isn't true at ALL! That period is called the luteal phase. For me, it's 11 days. That's not 14 days. Sorry. But I bet I've dealt with infertility a bit longer than you and I happen to know this inside and out.
Please don't presume that you know me. You don't. I have been through infertility treatment including IVF. Just because I'm a newbie nurse doesn't mean I'm a newbie woman. Infertility knows no age.
My only concern was that you quote me completely instead of picking and choosing my words to make it look as though I said something that I didn't.
The fact is that the vast majority of women ovulate 14 days before their next menses. There are always variations in any majority but they are in the minority. But I don't wish to argue this. I just wanted to point out that as I stated before, but was misquoted: Women have the potential to get pregnant at any time during their cycle "should" they ovulate, but most fertile during mensturation, NO WAY!
Yes. It is absolutely possible to be fertile during menstruation.
The typical 28 day cycle is not that typical.
The normal cycle can be between 24 to 38 days. If a woman has a 24 day cycle, she can pretty much count on being fertile 14 days before the first day of her menstrual period. So, in theory, a woman who has a 24 day cycle is ovulating on day 10, which means that she is fertile from day 5 on (because sperm can survive in the auspicious environment women begin to secrete about 5 days prior to ovulation).
Anyway, there is no cookie cutter answer. Every woman is different and the only way to know when you ovulate is to chart your monthly cycles. I suggest the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility. It changed my life completely and I think every woman, no matter what age you are, should read it and "own" it.
Until I read the book, I spent 17 years dealing with "irregular" cycles. Well, I started charting and after 3 cycles, I realized that I have a very regular 37 day cycle! So, I don't usually ovulate until around day 22 or 23 of my cycle. I have plenty of "safe" days thank goodness, so it makes family planning without using crazy hormonal contraceptives quite easy.
Great question! Thanks for posting and please read this book. Even if you don't want to use the natural family planning method for contraception, you will learn to know your body in a way that as a woman you deserve to and as nurse you will be armed with reasearch based truthful information to share.
Please don't presume that you know me. You don't. I have been through infertility treatment including IVF. Just because I'm a newbie nurse doesn't mean I'm a newbie woman. Infertility knows no age.
Sorry, but you didn't know what a luteal phase is, you thought it was possible to achieve a pregnancy with ovulation at any day (like day 2 or 7)...you've got lots of inaccuracies for an infertility pt. I base my presumtions on your posts.
We agree on one thing, a woman is not the MOST fertile during menses.
Thanks for posting and please read this book. Even if you don't want to use the natural family planning method for contraception, you will learn to know your body in a way that as a woman you deserve to and as nurse you will be armed with reasearch based truthful information to share.
:redpinkhe
Isn't it the best book ever! I learned so much from it...
Sorry, but you didn't know what a luteal phase is, you thought it was possible to achieve a pregnancy with ovulation at any day (like day 2 or 7)...you've got lots of inaccuracies for an infertility pt. I base my presumtions on your posts.
Where did I post that I don't know what a luteal phase is?
Duh, the luteal phase is the time between a woman’s ovulation and menstruation. If it's less than 10 days then the woman has a luteal phase defect. If a woman conceives with a luteal phase defect she will have an early miscarrage because the uterus is unable to sustain a pregnancy when the uterine lining breaks down.
My cause of luteal phase defect was premature demise of the corpus luteum. Even though my progesterone level 7 days post ovulation was adequate the level dropped precipitously soon after leading to an early period and hence a luteal phase defect.
We tried 100 mg of Vitamin B6 QD and progesterone cream BID from ovulation to menses but they didn’t work so we moved onto Clomid and progesterone suppositories. Yes I do know what a luteal phase is.
Me too! I take the B6 and progesterone cream as well. It lengthened it by 2 days. Clomid made me go blind once, so I am trying to stay away from that. My LP defect is just on of about 10 things wrong with me-fertility wise that is.
I assumed you didn't know what it was because you said it's '14 days before menses"
My mistake. And I'm sorry the IVF didn't work for you.
ETA: how long did you try the B6 for? I ask because it took a good 3 cycles for it to work on me.
Burnt Out, ASN, RN
647 Posts
I was about to post the same thing. I've ovulated as late as day 26 in my cycle as not all women have clockwork 28 day cycles.
All women, nurses or not, should check out Taking Charge of Your Fertility. It is full of stuff you will never learn in nursing school, that is for sure.