Is it possible to get pregnant while on your (first) period after giving birth?

[0MammaBear0]

I know you can be fertile as little as 3 weeks postpartum. I have been careful using the pull out method and after 5 weeks after giving birth I had my first period and I had unprotected sex with DH thinking it would be fine. I'm waiting for an appointment to get on BC and tonight my MIL messaged me and asked me if I was pregnant and now I'm wondering if it could even be possible.

Why is this funny?

Why do so many women not understand fertility? Mind boggling.

I had my son in august 2008 and my daughter June 2009 so…yes!!

Who said I don’t understand fertility? Pull the other one. Btw, that’s a sweating emoji, nothing to do with laughing. HTH

@MinnieTruck the 'haha' that you wrote indicated laughter, not the emoji. Unless haha means something other than laughter?

The fertility comment wasn't directed at you, sorry if it came across that way. It was directed at some of the other replies.

What on earth is wrong with your MIL?!! Why would she message you such an intimate question? Does she know about the unprotected you are having with her son?

Your question sounds more like a general query and not because your period is already late. So yes, it's possible but not likely, just like every cycle. It needs to have coincided with ovulation which has a small window of 6-12 hours. Give or take the life span of sperm, it would probably be 1-3 days where a pregnancy is theoretically possible.

It's quite scary she's like a seeress lol, she somehow knew I was pregnant before I did. She asked me because she dreamt it

I want to get a copper coil, I'm not doing hormonal... I called ASAP but the earliest appointment they could give me is an assessment phone call next week to then book the actual appointment. If I don't get my next period in a couple of weeks I'll take a test before I have that appointment...

Theoretically is quite safe if done right, the actual average safety rate is around 78% and I'm waiting to get an appointment for a copper coil so I thought the chances of a pregnancy happening in the meantime were tiny, I've used this method before to space my children for over a year and a half between DC1 and DC2 (I wanted a short gap so they could grow together)

I'm absolutely fine, I didn't experience any issues with lack of libido and I had a very easy birth. We went to an aquarium just 5 days after giving birth and I was carrying the baby on a sling the entire trip lol

78% of what?!

Tell that to the NHS... I've been waiting to be given a bloody phone call appointment for over a month! I really don't want to get in hormonal contraception

Tell that to the NHS... I've been waiting to be given a bloody phone call appointment for over a month! I really don't want to get in hormonal contraception

You know you can buy condoms really quickly in the meantime, right? If your DH moans that they're uncomfortable look at My.Size. They do different widths and my DH says the difference is night and day to the standard durezlx

When a woman
(1) tracks her temperature. (There's a slight change around ovulation time. I will bet a fiver you never monitored your temperature)
(2) has regular periods. (You can't say that, because you had literally just given birth. You had not yet re-established a regular cycle)
(3) abstains from sex five days before ovulation and five days after ovulation

THEN

Using a calendar/pull out method still leaves two women out of ten pregnant.

I know generally most women get their periods much later than that but personally I got my periods around that time, just after 4-5 weeks after DC1 was born I started having periods that came regularly every month from then on. I'm pretty sure that was a period

Or your husband told her you had had unprotected sex.

That means that if 100 women in a room had unprotected sex using the pull out method within a year 78 of those women wouldn't get pregnant and 22 would get pregnant. I've used this method before to space my children the gaps that I wanted as I wanted them close together and I had managed not to get pregnant in over a year and a half between DC1 and DC2, and 1 year between DC2 and DC3. So pretty confidently I thought it would be pretty unlikely to get pregnant using the same method in between now and when I finally get an appointment for BC. The original question is I had a bleeding which I'm pretty sure was a period as it's around the same time I had my periods previously after having DC1 and DC2 and that's the only time DH ejaculated inside, if it's possible to get pregnant WHILE on a period, which I didn't think it was. I know you can pregnant shortly after having a baby BEFORE you get your period

Tracking cycles is called natural birth planning and this is not pull out method. Some women combine both methods to make it more effective though

Oh yes you can!

No he didn't tell her anything, she messaged me because she said she dreamt it and the only other time she asked me if I was pregnant was a few days before I knew for sure I was pregnant with DC2

OP there's barely any difference between that and the pregnancy rate of people who track their ovulation and just don't have sex on what they think are their fertile days.

Even a woman who has completely unprotected sex three times a week for a year and the man ejaculates inside her each time will not necessarily get pregnant.

Like you, I didn't want to use hormonal contraception or get a coil between my pregnancies so we used condoms, which are actually a valid form of contraception. Pulling out is just unprotected sex.

Yes totally possible!

Can I just congratulate you lol and those who are active after birth, I thought you had to wait a certain period of time. But the fact people generally want to do it and not just their partner.
I never felt like that, for so many reasons plus I shouldn't have been with the person who I was, so that is another huge reason for feeling like that.

Glad I separated and not had any issues since lol.

I used that method before between having my children, which I wanted them close together, without getting pregnant until I wanted to. So that's why I haven't used condoms (it's not the same) for the little time frame while I wait to have an appointment aware that was a possibility. When I had unprotected sex with the pull out method I had my period so I'm not asking whether pull out method is a guarantee or not, during my period (lasting 7 days and heavy for 5 of those days) one day I had unprotected sex and DH ejaculated inside, so the question I'm asking is if a woman can be fertile while on her period

OK well it's unlikely but not impossible. It all depends how long your period is and what day of your cycle you ovulate.

Also, do you understand that even if you pull out, there are still sperm present, just not as many as in ejaculate.

Update: pregnancy test came back positive 😬