Withdrawal method

[WillYouStopBloodyMithering]

If, in theory, I had had sex two days before my last period, but used the withdrawal method, and I then went on to have a period, could the sperm have taken a week to implant?

Because my next period is now 4 days late.

We have not had unprotected sex since then so just wondering if I could be pregnant? (and yes, I know I could take a test, but don't have one in the house so am just idly wondering if it is fairly unlikely or whether I should maybe buy one).

To get pregnant the sperm has to meet an egg. If there is no egg there, the sperm need a fairly fertile environment to survive in and then to meet an egg within days. 2 days before your period you are in your luteal phase presumably which is the time between ovulation and period. Assuming you ovulate roughly in the middle of your cycle and you have an average-ish cycle, no there's no chance as there's no egg for the sperm to fertilise.

Of course, all contraception has a failure rate, so you could have conceived the next time you ovulated despite using contraception.

Or ovulation many have been delayed and therefore your period is delayed.

Hooray for someone who understands all this stuff

Shall not bother buying test then, suspect DH will be relieved!

What contraception are you using? They're not 100% reliable obviously but chances are you're not pg.

Period being late (when not pg) is usually down to delayed ovulation (caused by stress or illness- think back a couple of weeks, any bugs or stressful happenings), or sometimes an anovulatory cycle where you don't ovulate (normal, happens occasionally).

Have just looked at calendar and it wasn't two days before my last period, it was eleven days before my last period. Which I presume changes things, but then if it was that long before my period then if the egg had been fertilised I wouldn't have come on, would I?

Condoms the rest of the time btw.

Eleven days sounds like there's a chance you could be pregnant. Are your cycles usually very regular? Might be worth testing in a few days if you still haven't bled.

Yes, shall chill out and wait a few more days. It wouldn't be a disaster to be pg, in fact i am sure there was some drunken mumbling about more babies that night from DH (he would deny it now I'm sure)but he must have lost his nerve.

Yes distinctly possible 11 days before your period.

Some women do have what looks like a period at the normal time but it isn't in fact a period. It's just hormonal breakthrough or implantation bleeding or similar.

Is also possible that you conceived this month.

We used condoms, very careful, no mishaps. Got pg.

Good luck, either way!

ShowOfHands and pilttheteaagain you need to read all the messages to understand the situation... If you've had sex 11 days before one period, which duly arrived, and now the next one is late ie a who;le month later there's no way that OP conceived last month.

Please see many, many threads on here fortyplus. LadyInTheRadiator being a classic example. Had a period a month ago, no sex since, is pregnant. Had unprotected sex the month before. The period wasn't a period.

Many, many, many women have what they think is a period when they are in fact pregnant. It happened to me. Had a period but then started feeling nauseous a few days after the period finished. I was pregnant. It was a successful pregnancy. Scans confirmed I conceived the month before the 'period'.

Oh I agree you can still bleed to a certain extent - but you'd have to have very light periods normally not to be able to differentiate this from a pregnancy bleed

V possible you could be pregnant - do a test.

BTW, it has been documented that women have conceived at any point in their cycle... I know, I know, how is is possible in the middle of a period? But apparently has happened.

Withdrawal is NOT a method of contraception - IMO it is akin to TTC , v v high failure rate.

If you are interested in Natural Family Planning look at Billings Method, much much more reliable.

Do A Test - If you are pregnant you'll not need contraception for the next oh 7-9 months .

Nope, periods here 5 days long, medium flow, bright red, with clots. Even when I was pg. Had another bleed 4 weeks later, again with clots but lighter and a light bleed 4 weeks after that. Trust me, it happens.

There are people that don't even know they're pregnant because they're still having periods. Not just light ones either.

You can conceive at any point in your cycle, true. V rare to conceive 2 days before your period though. Extremely unfortunate. Used NFP for years and count 2 days before my period as 'safe'.

Yep, I bled monthly for 3 months with DS2 - twigged I was pregnant @ 16 weeks .

Can I just say again, NFP much much more reliable than simple withdrawal (sorry about going on, bee in my bonnet...)

Hope you get the answer you hope for.

Well, had really sore boobs last Sun, Mon and Tues, thought I was about to come on, then.... nothing! then Thurs and Fri had cramps, but again nothing!
So weird. DH working away this weekend too so I can't get a pg test tonight now DD in bed, but desperately want one!

actually have analysed my feelings today and I would be disappointed not to be pg.

If am not pg, I may get DH pissed and seduce him start waxing lyrically to DH about the high success rate of the withdrawal method

I used to keep a stash of cheapo pg tests, just to put my mind at rest, usually I do the test and immediately come on, I think it was the relief. In fact, I should probably go and buy some, DD2 is going to start on food soon, so my periods will start, and so will the CONSTANT worrying about pregnancy! (I know I could get pregnant now, but I don't have the "half a day late so start fretting" thing)