Did you JUST have sex yesterday, or a few days ago, and wonder if you could be pregnant?

Ashelen

Well! the answer is a bit trickier than it might seem. Most women know that you have to be ovulating to get pregnant, and most women ovulate approximately 14 days before their period is due. When you ovulate, an egg is released from your ovary into your fallopian tube. If you have sex right before or very close to your ovulation, there is a 25% chance that a woman with a healthy reproductive system and a man with healthy sperm will have the sperm and egg meet. If the sperm DOES meet the egg, it will meet the egg somewhere in the fallopian tube, surprisingly close to the ovary that it just came out of. Once the egg and sperm meet, the egg will continue it's journey down the fallopian tube into the uterus.

This is when pregnancy either occurs or it doesn't. In some cases, the fertilized egg will NOT implant and pregnancy will not occur. Sometimes hCG will be produced by the fertilized egg and can be picked up on a pregnancy test, but unfortunately since the egg did not implant it will pass out of the uterus when your body sheds the bloody lining of your uterus when your period begins. This is what is known as a chemical pregnancy and it's one of the dangers of testing for pregnancy before your period is late.

If, however, the egg DOES implant, pregnancy has occurred! yay :-)

It takes the average egg 3-7 days to travel from the point where it was fertilized to the point where it implants and pregnancy occurs. After this, the implanted egg begins to release hCG and pregnancy symptoms can begin. This does not mean that pregnancy symptoms can be felt 3 days after ovulation, however, because you have to look at it as a journey. if the egg and sperm meet high in the fallopian tube, it will take about 7 days for implantation to occur. If however the sperm meets the egg farther down the tube, it will take less time for implantation to occur BUT there will be more days spent in the tube after ovulation...so even though it may only take 3 days from sperm and egg meeting to implantation, you have to account for the days that it takes for the egg to pass farther into the tube before it meets the sperm. So again, the time frame you're looking at is about 7 days.

Some women will feel pregnancy symptoms right away. This can be as soon as 5 to 7 days after ovulation, depending on a number of factors. Symptoms can be deceivingly similar to those experienced during PMS, so they are unfortunately not a reliable indicator. Also, if you are on any sort of fertility treatment it will be nearly impossible to sort side effects from pregnancy symptoms.

On the flip side, if you do NOT experience symptoms you may still be pregnant! Not all women experience early symptoms, or even symptoms at all until way later.

Once pregnancy has occurred and you have missed your period, your uterus is still tucked well behind your pubic bone. You may experience bloating at this time. While this is not TECHNICALLY a baby belly, it's all part of the pregnancy experience so as far as I'm concerned it counts. You won't feel your uterus when you put your hand on the bloated belly of a newly pregnant woman, but since the bloat is due to the pregnancy..it still counts!

Your uterus will not peek out from behind your pubic bone until approximately 10-12 wks, at which point the bump in your waistline will become "genuine" belly.

Symptoms, lack of symptoms, or changing symptoms, do not indicate anything about the health of the pregnancy. Some women have symptoms come and go and still have perfectly healthy pregnancies, so if you've been vomiting since 8DPO and suddenly right after you miss your period you stop vomiting; don't panic!

Bleeding in early pregnancy is somewhat common. I was told in the ER when I was bleeding with baby #2 that about 50% of women will experience SOME bleeding early in pregnancy, and about 50% of those will go on to have healthy and happy pregnancies. If you experience heavy bleeding, pain, or feel that something is truly wrong the best thing to do is to see your doctor or go to the ER. passing clots during pregnancy is not normal. sometimes it can be done and the pregnancy can continue, but it's a red flag and you should receive medical attention immediately.

Now one last thing I wanted to try to address was the fact that some women worry when the line on their pregnancy test isn't very strong. Don't worry ladies! The darkness (or lightness) of the line indicates NOTHING about the health of your pregnancy. So if your lines aren't getting darker, don't panic. As long as your period doesn't arrive, you're pregnant!

I hope that this helps some of you...I'm happy to answer any other questions you ladies might have, but I noticed that there were more than a few women asking the same questions and I hoped that maybe getting some of the info together in one spot would help at least one person out.

Best of luck to all of you who are trying to get that little gummie bear in your belly..and for those of you who are afraid you might be pregnant but are not ready, don't worry until you know you have something to worry about :-). We're here to reach out and help you through whatever journey you're on, and I hope that everyone feels comfortable asking any question that comes to mind...that's what Medhelp is here for!

Welcome to all the new ladies, and Hello! to all the golden oldies who have been around awhile.

best wishes to all,
Co-Community Leader Ashelen

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