Quote:
Originally Posted by twistedmosaic
threadjack:
Are you factoring the time sperm can survive into your calculations, in addition to the more general buffer zone?
From Mayo Clinic:
"The life span of sperm after they're ejaculated depends on the environmental conditions. Sperm ejaculated into a woman's vagina remain alive in the mucus of the cervix and are able to fertilize an egg for three to five days"
. . . /threadjack
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A good question. I was factoring that in as "three days" before ovulation, but the source you cite says 3-5; I'll have to take a look at that.
I thought the cervical mucus thing might be TMI
, but since you bring it up -- basically the rule is, as soon as "fertile" cervical mucus shows up, you have to consider yourself fertile because the sperm can survive in it (as you say) for a number of days, meaning you can get pregnant if you have sex a couple days before ovulating and fertile CM is present.
Different women have different standards on what constitutes fertile cervical mucus, based on what they observe over time in their cycles -- CM can have various consistencies. Typically, at the beginning of the cycle no CM is present, and then you get a type of CM that is not hospitable to sperm. Next you typically get what they call "eggwhite" -- which is VERY hospitable to sperm in its pH and consistency, and easy to distinguish from the other kind. I usually get eggwhite about 4 days before my temperatures confirm that I've ovulated. So I don't have unprotected sex when that stuff is present, and in fact, to be on the safe side I abstain when I detect any CM at all (before ovulation). With my short cycle, this pretty much means the pre-ovulatory infertile period is brief or non-existent... but better safe than sorry.
Apologies if this is TMI for anyone. If anyone's contemplating trying this method, read "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" -- there is more to learn than the broad outline I've sketched out. Bottom line is, this method takes careful attention, but if you want to avoid hormonal BC and hate condoms, it may be worth looking into.