# Getting Pregnant from Being Around Pregnant Friends **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 7, 2013, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266 "2013-03-07T04:20:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266/21 "2013-03-07T14:54:29Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > A condom fails when it leaks. The probability of a leak occurring does not increase with exposure to pregnant chicks- unless they are the sort who want to share the miracle of birth with their friends and poke at the OP’s wallet with needles. > > The idea that being around pregnant women could increase the probability of conception assuming a leak _does_ occur has some merit until you actually think about it: there are still only two eggs available for babby-forming. Two? All of this is total conjecture, not even in the realm of hypothesis, so please don’t think I’m agreeing with the OP’s girlfriend. I know the old wives’ tale, I don’t know that there’s any actual support for it. I suspect it’s mostly confirmation bias at work. First step is to find out if there actually is a link when you run the numbers and control for things we know affect babby forming in groups, like age and peer pressure. But is it as out of the world inconceivable as some posters seem to think? I don’t think so. There are several mechanisms I’d explore IF an actual statistical link is found between peer group pregnancies that cannot be explained by known factors. Does being around/holding babies influence women’s hormonal levels in a way which affects fertility? The African Wives’ Tale I’m most familiar with is that if a woman is having trouble conceiving, she should work as a nanny or mother’s helper for a newborn. Supposedly, she will find herself pregnant in short order. We know that holding babies decreases cortisol and increase oxytocin - could that, or some other hormonal effect, enhance fertility, perhaps by increasing the fertile cervical mucus, or lengthening the luteal phase? If so, a pregnancy is more likely to result from a condom failure than in a woman whose fertility is less. Since the average window of fertility in any cycle is 3-5 days, even one extra fertile day a month is a huge fertility boost. Does being around pregnant women or babies change sexual intercourse style? We know that men who believe their partners have been unfaithful have rougher sex. Does being around pregnant friends cause women (or men) to have rougher sex? Rougher sex correlates to greater chances of condom breakage. Does being around babies cause riskier behavior regarding contraception use? Does it get people to thinking “what if?” and “maybe?” and they consciously or unconsciously forget a couple of pills, use less spermicide, stay inside longer after ejaculation with a condom, or “oops” and don’t use contraception at all? ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266/22 "2013-03-07T15:19:12Z")
My guess is it is bias confirmation. Most women of the same age and peer group get married then plan a family about the same time; things are relatively common. If the peer group is college students, then they will rpobably put off marriage until after college, give a year to get established and find a job, a year to get married and then think about starting a family… Maybe wait another year to establish a house, pay down the worst of student loans, be sure that job is secure, etc. So what is that - about age 26? (I recall several female co-workers who spent the first year on the job travelling once or twice a month to attend fellow ex-students’ marriages.) The odds two or more of a peer group will find themselves pregnant at the same time is incredibly high. This is especially true when you consider the average family now is 1 or two (or none) children - so planned (or “semi-planned”) pregnancy will happen not long after marrriage, about the same time in life for much of this group. The odds a few 25-to-30yo will be pregnant is a lot higher than the odds for a random collection of women. But… it’s always fun when someone shows up pregnant at work to advise the other ladies, “don’t drink the water…” Whether there’s apheromic component - if there is, it would have to be incredibly minimal and it’s not going to cause a condom to fail. My money is more on the subconscious forgetfulness through bulge envy. Similarly, couples who have tried to have a child for say, 3 to 5 years and failed, a number may succeed in the next 2 or 3 years if the issue is simply a difficult environment (thanks to him or her) for conception to happen. The only other logical explanation is that stress or “trying too hard” at the wrong time might contribute to initial failure. So… no surprise if a number of couples conceive while working on adoption. I know of one couple who were surprised after 15 years, long after they had given up; and another whose husband had been diagnosed with “low sperm count” - she made the comment once that a friend had mentioned birth control “I haven’t worried about that for 10 years”. Unless “low” was a euphism for “none” she may still be surprised… So it is not surprising if a few couples conceive during the adoption process. It’s the same thing with sex prediction apocrypha; “do this and you’ll have a boy”, or “when you look like that it means it’s a girl”. People tend to remember when they were right more than when they were wrong, so confirmation bias suggests the adage is true when it is still 50-50. After all, even a wild guess will be right half the time. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266/23 "2013-03-07T15:30:57Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Two? I have a feeling I’m about to display some astounding ignorance, but I assumed (or misremembered, possibly) that _each_ ovary releases an egg during ovulation (and that fraternal twins occur when both are fertilized). Is it just one at a time? ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266/24 "2013-03-07T15:56:51Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Yes, and her squeeing in excitement, whatever that is, sounds kinky. Unless you’re into that.\* > > \*Since you’re new here–stick around!–being obnoxious about typos is often mandatory. I’m guessing from this that you think that “squeeing” is a typo? See [Urban Dictionary.](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=squee) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266/25 "2013-03-07T16:03:44Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Is it just one at a time? Mostly, yes. Not always, but mostly. Or we’d see a lot more fraternal twins. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266/26 "2013-03-07T16:04:33Z")
_facepalm_ This is up there with “Adopt a baby and you’ll get pregnant within a year,” or the statement by the US politician (whack job) that a LEGITIMATE rape cannot result in a pregnancy, because a woman’s body can reject fertilization. And the cow jumped over the moon. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266/27 "2013-03-07T16:12:08Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > I’m guessing from this that you think that “squeeing” is a typo? See [Urban Dictionary.](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=squee) Huh. I did! Sorry, OP. Kids these days and their funny expressions. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266/28 "2013-03-07T16:13:52Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > I’m guessing from this that you think that “squeeing” is a typo? See [Urban Dictionary.](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=squee) Huh. I did! Sorry, OP. Kids these days and their funny expressions. It’s a good word. Funny that’s a portmanteau word resulting in subtraction. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266/29 "2013-03-07T16:26:15Z")
As far as I am aware, there is no real evidence whatsoever for the existence of human pheremones, or for their supposed ability to affect our biochemistry. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266/30 "2013-03-07T16:31:03Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I have a feeling I’m about to display some astounding ignorance, but I assumed (or misremembered, possibly) that _each_ ovary releases an egg during ovulation (and that fraternal twins occur when both are fertilized). Is it just one at a time? IIRC they alternate… usually. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266/31 "2013-03-07T16:49:17Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Mostly, yes. Not always, but mostly. Or we’d see a lot more fraternal twins. Okay, so not astounding ignorance. Just a bit. I suppose what I said goes double, though. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266/32 "2013-03-07T16:52:29Z")
OP: Tell your girlfriend that you are the father of her bff’s baby. That will cut your chance of getting your girlfriend pregnant to zero. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266/33 "2013-03-07T22:02:03Z")
It’s almost never worth it to date an idiot, no matter how hot she is. Unless she’s a 10. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266/34 "2013-03-07T22:10:50Z")
Six weeks in, a 10 doesn’t do anything more for you than a 7 did. Unless this is a weird, once-off stupidity, I’d run away screaming. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266/35 "2013-03-07T23:11:07Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > IIRC they alternate… usually. Yes usually, but then you get “lucky” like me and end up with fraternal twins after 2 years of trying then giving up hope of ever having children without medical intervention, LOL I was pleased as punch when I found out this one was JUST one, 😃 having twins again terrified me. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266/36 "2013-03-07T23:41:22Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Being around a friend who is pregnant can be a very emotional experience, and also the inner desire some women have to have a child one day. Could that inner desire surfacing cause a woman’s body to be more receptive to getting pregnant, to me you can’t rule it out. Yes. Yes you can goddamn well rule it out. Please do yourself a favor and read a book about female fertility. If it was all about a _desire_, there would never ever be any need for fertility treatments - women would just need to learn to _want it badly enough_. That mindset is nauseating. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266/37 "2013-03-07T23:43:00Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > As far as I am aware, there is no real evidence whatsoever for the existence of human pheremones, or for their supposed ability to affect our biochemistry. Yes there is or at least there is a lot of studies that support the idea of [menstrual synchrony](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstrual_synchrony) among women that live in close proximity to one another like dorms or prisons but also in lab animals. It certainly isn’t definitively proven yet but there is some indirect evidence for the idea that human females at least give off an respond to some pheromones. I didn’t take the idea presented in the OP the same way that many of you are. Some of you are assuming that the girlfriend meant that just being around another pregnant woman could make her pregnant. I don’t think that is what she meant. The idea, whether it is just an old wive’s tale or not, is that being around a pregnant woman can make you more likely to get pregnant yourself if you have sex shortly after being around them. I have never heard of any particular evidence for that but I wouldn’t write it off as completely impossible either. It is probably just an superstition based on confirmation bias but I don’t think it rises to the level of ignorance some of you are making it out to be especially compared to some of the other pregnancy superstitions that are out there. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266/38 "2013-03-08T00:23:38Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > As far as I am aware, there is no real evidence whatsoever for the existence of human pheremones, or for their supposed ability to affect our biochemistry. Maybe not pheremones, but actual scents have notable impacts. Google “smelly underarm science” and see what you come up with. We’re constantly influenced and altered on a chemical level by a crap-load of different inputs, not all of which we’ve figured out yet. That said - the only way babby is formed is if the protection doesn’t work. IF she’s really worried about babby being formed, she may actually be concerned about the state of the protection. You could mention some of the more effective methods (mirena has done me good for a while now, and has a pretty damn good track record) and that you can always double-up on the methods to help your odds. However, I’m with the majority of the posters here - she doesn’t want to have sex with you for some reason, and she’s using this as an excuse. Sorry mate. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266/39 "2013-03-08T04:10:42Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > _facepalm_ > > This is up there with “Adopt a baby and you’ll get pregnant within a year,” or **the statement by the US politician (whack job) that a LEGITIMATE rape cannot result in a pregnancy, because a woman’s body can reject fertilization.** > > And the cow jumped over the moon. > ~VOW Yep I was thinking the same thing, So according to some people a Womans body can decide for itself to get pregnant whether contraceptives are used or not, and can decide it’s not going to get pregnant if raped.:smack: IQ of a box of doorknobs. Now if the question was (as some have sort of posed it) whether being around other pregnant women could make a woman more susceptible to getting pregnant, that’s different and would require research. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266/40 "2013-03-08T05:46:04Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Yes there is or at least there is a lot of studies that support the idea of [menstrual synchrony](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstrual_synchrony) among women that live in close proximity to one another like dorms or prisons but also in lab animals. It certainly isn’t definitively proven yet but there is some indirect evidence for the idea that human females at least give off an respond to some pheromones. Please re-read the article you quoted a little bit more critically. When there is ‘some studies’ suggesting a correlation and just as many suggesting the opposite… then that is the scientific equivalent of “probably not.” Besides, if being around pregnant women sets off a chain reaction of biology or behavior that leads to self-pregnancy, then all the female staff that work ob-gyn offices and maternity wards would be perpetually pregnant. There is no evidence that there are pregnancy pheromones that cause women to ovulate faster or immediately. Besides, in order to get pregnant, even if ovulating, then any birth control being practiced would have to fail. So how is it possible that, in a modern society where the majority of women are using birth control, anyone could tell that the myth is true? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-pregnant-from-being-around-pregnant-friends/652266.md?page=3)