QuestionQUESTION: MY LMP WAS 05/02/07 I AM ON A 28 DAY CYCLE. I UNDERSTAND I OVULATE ON THE 14TH DAY (MAY 16) HAD SEX WITH AN EX ON MAY 11 ABOUT 3 A.M. AND TURNED AROUND AGAIN AND HAD SEX WITH MY CURRENT BF THE WEEK OF MAY 14 OR 15 I HAVE GOTTEN DIFFERENT ANSWERS FROM MANY PEOPLE ON THE WEB, STILL CONFUSED. I AM THINKING HOW COULD THIS BE MY EX BABY IF WE SLEPT 2GETHER 5 DAYS BEFORE OVULATION, AND IT APPEARS SPERM IS GOOD FOR ONLY 24-48 HRS. IS THERE ANYWAY I COULD HAVE OVULATED EARLY??????
ANSWER: It sounds like you are assuming you ovulate on day 14, simply because the average woman with the average 28-day cycle should ovulate on day 14. However, "average" is a myth; "normal" includes a range of possibilities, and a "normal" 28-day cycle could have ovulation anywhere between day 10 and day 20. Unless you were charting your fertility using Natural Family Planning methods before you got pregnant, you can only guess when your ovulation really occurred. Given the range of possibilities for your ovulation, your possible fertile dates could have started as early as May 11, even if you only assume that sperm can survive for 24 hours. The fact is, though, that while the female egg only lives for 24-48 hours, the sperm can indeed survive for up to 5 days in fertile cervical mucous; this pushes your possible fertile dates back to May 7. Either way, I cannot rule out your ex as a possible father.
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QUESTION: How does this push my fertile dates back to May 7 (I will never understand this)So I could have gotten pregnant on May 7 is what your saying? So am I 5 weeks and 5 days pregnant or will an U/S be exact. My first prenatal visit is Monday, June 18-can't wait. I had blood work (HCG)drawn on June 8 results show my levels were 2407 H is that within range? can it tell me an estimate of my pregnancy. I'm sorry, I am panicing.
AnswerSperm can live for five days if your body is fertile. Theoretically, if you had sex on May 7, and then ovulated on May 12 (day 10 of your cycle), then you could get pregnant from the sex you had on May 7. Having sex on May 11 means you can get pregnant from it even if you ovulate as late as May 16 (day 14 of your cycle).
If you have an ultrasound within the next week or two, it should be accurate to within a few days. That means that, if the ultrasound says you conceived on May 16, in reality you could have conceived anywhere between May 14 and May 18. If it gives you a date of conception later than May 19 (day 17 of your cycle), it will be much less likely that your ex is the father. However, any date of conception earlier than that leaves your ex in the running.
Using ultrasound dating in this way only works during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. After that, embryos show too much variation in their growth to be dated accurately by measurement alone.
