# Possible to get pregnant ANY time of the month? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 20, 2004, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-pregnant-any-time-of-the-month/270252 "2004-10-20T18:30:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-pregnant-any-time-of-the-month/270252/21 "2004-10-20T21:54:40Z")
> [@badmana](#): > > See, the thing is, it is possible to get pregnant “while menstrating” because in certain instances you aren’t really having your period. Sometimes hormone levels are such that you don’t ovulate. Instead what happens is ovulation occurs very late in the cycle while you have a “fake” period (I’m recalling all from memory here and I know there’s a better term for it!). The period masks fertile cervical fluid so you can’t tell what’s up. If you really are menstrating then it is indeed impossible to become pregnant because ovulation would have occured 12 days before hand. It’s called “anovulatory bleeding” or “estrogen break-through bleeding” ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-pregnant-any-time-of-the-month/270252/22 "2004-10-20T22:45:25Z")
> [@Thinks2Much](#): > > If you know how to read your mucus, \ must refrain from posting something absurd… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-pregnant-any-time-of-the-month/270252/23 "2004-10-20T22:49:22Z")
> [@badmana](#): > > What’s also cool about the book is the ability to pick the sex of your kid (with an 80% sucess rate!) and get accurate conception dates. How can aiming for your ovulation date help you pick the sex of your child? Or is there something else in the book (temperature?) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-pregnant-any-time-of-the-month/270252/24 "2004-10-21T01:23:57Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > How can aiming for your ovulation date help you pick the sex of your child? Or is there something else in the book (temperature?) Well, it’s based on a theory that “X” (girl) sperm are heavier, slower and more long-lived than “Y” (boy) sperm, which are smaller, lighter and faster, but also die sooner. The idea is that, once you have a pattern of your own cycle, you can predict ovulation several days before it occurs. If you want to increase the odds in favor of having a girl, and you have lots of good quality cervical fluid (aka “mucous”) then you have intercourse three or four days before you ovulate. If you’ve timed it right, the cervical mucous helps the female sperm survive low in the genital tract while the boy sperm zip on up into the fallopian tubes and get all confused (“no egg! no egg!”) and then die. The female sperm, having checked their mapquest twice, packed a nice lunch for the ride and found several fun things to do on the way, leisurely make it up to the fallopian tubes a few days later when the ovum is released. If you want to increase your chances of having a boy, then you wait to have sex until just before or right at ovulation. The fast little guys are more likely to beat out the slow, heavy females. In practice, bumping the odds in favor of a boy is more successful. My hubby and I decided to try for a girl. I’ll let you know in a few months if it worked. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@Cooper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cooper)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-pregnant-any-time-of-the-month/270252/25 "2004-10-21T01:29:22Z")
> [@pasunejen](#): > > I was informed that my brother was the result of unprotected sex the day after my mother finished her period–supposedly impossible, but apparently not so much so. > > She and I come from a long line of women with insanely irregular cycles, which probably had a lot to do with it. Still, it goes to show that you really can get pregnant just about whenever. That is not just irregular or odd, but absolutely absurd. I’m sorry, but I don’t believe it. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-pregnant-any-time-of-the-month/270252/26 "2004-10-21T01:45:26Z")
> [@Cooper](#): > > That is not just irregular or odd, but absolutely absurd. I’m sorry, but I don’t believe it. Now, now. It sounds very unlikely, but it’s not impossible. If she was having an anovulatory bleeding that she thought was her period, I’d buy it. Or, if she was a “slow bleeder”, prone to very long bleeding (eight, nine, ten days or more) or had endometriosis, her fertility signs (if she had been looking for them) may have been masked by the blood and she could have had good quality cervical fluid keeping the sperm alive for a few days. Ten days of “bleeding” + 4 days of sperm life = conception on day 14. Unlikely, but not impossible. ---
**Author:** ![aurelian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f4b2a3/32.png) [@aurelian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurelian)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-pregnant-any-time-of-the-month/270252/27 "2004-10-21T02:43:01Z")
**Sparklo** : I just started the ring this month - I just meant to say I’m not using any sort of timing/ rhythm method for birth control. Sorry, I should have been clearer - I meant I could tell I was ovulating before I started on the ring. \ ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-pregnant-any-time-of-the-month/270252/28 "2004-10-21T02:46:05Z")
Are there some more studies on this “heavy girl sperm” thing? I’m nowhere near having kids (or for that matter having somebody to have them with), but I’d really like to have a girl eventually. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-pregnant-any-time-of-the-month/270252/29 "2004-10-21T02:49:56Z")
God, I used to hate that. I figured I was ovulating cause I had at least a week of heavy mucus. Now on the pill, I have no more. Irregular periods can make you unaware of when ovulation occurs. When I was trying to get pregnant, I was guessing it was day 14. After 8 months of non success, we tried on the 9th day and it worked. Not only that, I got pregnant once again on the 9th day. So I guess I do now. Or used to. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-pregnant-any-time-of-the-month/270252/30 "2004-10-21T03:21:11Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Now, not to hijack or anything, but why would that be acceptable by the church? I thought they were 100% against birth control. The church is 100% against **artificial** methods of birth control. The reason for this is twofold. Some artificial methods (IUD, the pill) can cause a newly created embryo (considered a living person by the church) not to implant, resulting in a very early miscarriage. Obviously the embryo doesn’t survive. The Church looks on these methods as causing the same outcome as abortion. The other reason is more philisophical. In a nutshell, some artificial methods (Condoms, female condoms, various sterilization techniques) take away the miracle of creating life from God. Since this is taking away from God, the church doesn’t approve of them either. Another philisophical point is that some artificial methods don’t respect the woman’s body and even alter it (The surgical sterilization methods). The reason that the church likes NFP/FAM is because it doesn’t do any of the above things. It respects the woman’s body, doesn’t cause the embryo to miscarry, and it includes God in the creation of life. For a more detailed (and somewhat lengthy) explanation [you can go here.](http://www.ccli.org/morality/Church.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-pregnant-any-time-of-the-month/270252/31 "2004-10-21T03:29:36Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Are there some more studies on this “heavy girl sperm” thing? I’m nowhere near having kids (or for that matter having somebody to have them with), but I’d really like to have a girl eventually. 🙂 I just looked it up the chapter in Toni’s book, and it’s apparently based on the work of Dr. Landrum Shettles, who wrote [How to Choose the Sex of Your Baby](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/038548562X/qid=1098329636/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/102-5510179-5544966?v=glance&s=books&n=507846). Toni adapted his theories with an emphasis on Fertility Awareness principles. Dr. Shettles claimed that his method is about 80-90% effective for choosing boys and 75-80% effective for choosing girls when the method is followed correctly. Obviously, what I wrote above is a vast simplification, and you should do much more research before you blame me for getting the “wrong” baby! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-pregnant-any-time-of-the-month/270252/32 "2004-10-21T06:17:03Z")
Well, I mean, you’re garaunteed 50% of that success rate right off the bat, right? My tap-dancing on a pool table wearing a gorilla costume method works at least -that- often. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-pregnant-any-time-of-the-month/270252/33 "2004-10-21T09:44:35Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Well, I mean, you’re garaunteed 50% of that success rate right off the bat, right? **My tap-dancing on a pool table wearing a gorilla costume method works at least -that- often.** 🙂 That sounds so much more fun than abstaining for three days! 😃 Seriously, though, there’s a huge statistical difference between 50% and 80%. And since it’s absolutely non-invasive and we won’t be crushed if we have a boy, we decided to give it a whirl. And actually, for any one pregnancy during your entire childbearing years, you’re slightly more likely to have a boy (53% of live births are male), and even more likely to conceive a boy (62.5% of conceptions are male.) If you’re dead set against having a baby of the non-preferred gender, there are [expensive lab procedures](http://www.fertility-docs.com/fertility_gender.phtml) that will separate male from female sperm and do an in vitro with the preferred stock. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-pregnant-any-time-of-the-month/270252/34 "2004-10-21T13:36:12Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Now, now. It sounds very unlikely, but it’s not impossible. If she was having an anovulatory bleeding that she thought was her period, I’d buy it. Or, if she was a “slow bleeder”, prone to very long bleeding (eight, nine, ten days or more) or had endometriosis, her fertility signs (if she had been looking for them) may have been masked by the blood and she could have had good quality cervical fluid keeping the sperm alive for a few days. > > Ten days of “bleeding” + 4 days of sperm life = conception on day 14. > > Unlikely, but not impossible. What about the uterus being a welcome place for the embryo to implant? At the end of a period or with other issues, would the uterus have the lining, etc., that is supposed to be prepared for the embryo? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-pregnant-any-time-of-the-month/270252/35 "2004-10-21T15:52:42Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > What about the uterus being a welcome place for the embryo to implant? At the end of a period or with other issues, would the uterus have the lining, etc., that is supposed to be prepared for the embryo? The zygote doesn’t implant in the uterus until 2 weeks after fertilization, so there would be time for the endometrium to rebuild. Until then, it gets all it’s energy and nutrients from an egg sack, just like a chicken’s egg. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-pregnant-any-time-of-the-month/270252/36 "2004-10-21T16:23:55Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > How do you know when you’re ovulating? E-mail announcement? Trumpets blaring? A hand-delivered invitation to make a baby? > > What I’m trying to say here, is that pin-pointing ovulation is almost impossible. I know when I ovulate. I have pain and mucousy discharge. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-pregnant-any-time-of-the-month/270252.md?page=1)