You knwo when the egg is released during ovulation...how long does it stay ok for?

[bigbumum]

You know, how long do you have to get the bugger fertilised?

Not long - only a few hours. That's why you need to get the sperm there before you ovulate, as the sperm live for up to 5 days so they'll wait patiently!

abut 8 - 12 hours I think but likefree says sperm can live up to about 5 days so best to get a load in before

hmmm,the plot deepens.

hmm interesting, i need to tell my friend this i think

Just doubled checked Zita West book she says 8 - 12 hrs

My gynae who is fantastic and very highly thought of has told me up to 2 days! I queried this and said I'd heard 12 hours and he said it's much longer as it is in your tubes or something!

8-12 hours sounds very short. Nobody would ever get pregnant surely?!

It starts to deteriorate very quickly indeed. You can probably be pretty sure that by 12hrs it's deteriorated to a point where it's no longer of any use. But they do advise a couple of days because if you're practising natural family planning you need to be utterly sure and rarely it can be fertile for longer.

And you get pregnant because as other have said, sperm lives for up to 5 days so you're fertile for a few days before ovulation and the sperm just hangs around waiting for the egg to be released.

This is so depressing! No wonder it's so hard! But HOW do so many people get pg from one 'unlucky' one night stand and suchlike!!!!

Because if sperm can live for up to 5 days then your actual window of fertility is days rather than hours.

I do think it should be pressed upon people more exactly how their reproductive cycles work. We shouldn't be shocked about what happens in an ordinary cycle.

Isn't there doubt around whether a 5 day old sperm can actually fertilise an egg though?

I read there was a a 5% chance of a 5 day old sperm been viable enough to reach the egg and with each day the chances go up 5% up to 25% which is the best odds you're going to get.

I feel like how does anyone manage to get pregnant! Timing has to be good and the odds are quite low even when all is perfect.

I was told that having sex 36hours before ovulation is the peak time - gives the sperm chance to get to the tubes and to lie in wait. But that's all well and good but that programme the other night on the BBC said that out of 200 million sperm, you would be lucky to get 10 or 15 sperm to the tubes. the whole thing seems totally impossible!

Watch this www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01102yg/Inside_the_Human_Body_Creation/ it was on tele a couple of weeks ago, once the sperm get in the right place they go to sleep. The releasing of the egg wakes them up, fascinating. Also shows the importance of ewcm, apparently it acts like a ladder for the little guys to swim up

yes orangehead I saw that too-it's really helped me understand the whole thing much more clearly now I can picture it all. I have been raving to everyone about that episode (although the bit about faces joining under the nose still has me squirming....)