Most couples will get pregnant within a year if they have regular sex and don't use contraception. But women become less fertile as they get older.
Generally, a woman who's trying to get pregnant has between a 15% and 25% chance of doing so each month. Despite those odds, most couples conceive within the first year of trying.
“Even if you have [unprotected] sex on the right day of the month, there's still only a 20 percent chance of conceiving [from that session].” Since sperm can live in your uterus for a few days, she recommends “getting some in there in advance” of ovulating.
If you're under 35 and in good health, it's perfectly natural for it to take up to a year. It can take longer if you are older, however; for women aged 38, 67% who have regular unprotected sexual intercourse will only get pregnant after two years of trying2.
Most couples will get pregnant within a year if they have regular sex and don't use contraception. But women become less fertile as they get older.
You can estimate your own ovulation period here using our ovulation calculator. If they are having regular unprotected sex: more than 8 out of 10 couples where the woman is aged under 40 will be pregnant by 1 year. more than 9 out of 10 couples will get pregnant by 2 years.
Have sex regularly. The highest pregnancy rates occur in couples who have sex every day or every other day. Have sex near the time of ovulation. If having sex every day isn't possible — or enjoyable — have sex every 2 to 3 days a week starting soon after the end of your period.
If your menstrual cycle lasts 28 days and your period arrives like clockwork, it's likely that you'll ovulate on day 14. That's halfway through your cycle. Your fertile window begins on day 10. You're more likely to get pregnant if you have sex at least every other day between days 10 and 14 of a 28-day cycle.
Super fertility has been classified as a monthly fecundity (the ability to get pregnant) rate of 60% or greater. A regular menstrual cycle and high antral follicle count are signs of high fertility. Perimenopause, fibroids, and endometriosis can make conceiving and sustaining pregnancy more difficult.
There are some relatively controllable factors that may be slowing down a couple's ability to conceive. For women, they include being too overweight or underweight, eating disorders, excessive exercise, smoking and drinking.
"In general, every other night around the time of ovulation helps increase your chance of getting pregnant," Goldfarb says. Sperm can live up to 5 days inside your body. The best suggestion is to have sex regularly -- when you're ovulating, and when you're not.
The bottom line is that it's perfectly normal if some amount of semen (and sperm) leaks from the vagina after penis-in-vagina sex. And you don't need to worry about trying to "keep" it inside, either. "You don't need to lie in bed with your legs up after intercourse to get pregnant," says Dr. Hakakha.
Aiming for the man to ejaculate as deeply as possible into the woman's vagina. This means that the smallest amount of semen escapes and is retained as close to the cervix (the neck of the uterus) as possible. The woman can try lying on her back with her lower back elevated on a small pillow for around 20-30 minutes.
The results: After one month of trying, 38% were pregnant. After three months of trying, 68% were pregnant. After six months of trying, 81% were pregnant.
How many sperm do you need to get pregnant? It takes just one sperm to fertilize a woman's egg. Keep in mind, though, for each sperm that reaches the egg, there are millions that don't. On average, each time men ejaculate they release nearly 100 million sperm.
According to the Human Reproduction Journal, you are least likely to get pregnant on day 4 of your cycle, which suggests a 2 percent possibility of pregnancy. This aligns with the idea that your period offers the lowest chance of pregnancy [7].
Some common reasons include stress, not timing baby-making sex with ovulation, residual effects of hormonal birth control, and certain health conditions. As much as we may try, pregnancy really can't really be planned—but you can increase your chances by being aware of common pitfalls.
However, there are many possible reasons why you aren't conceiving, including ovulation irregularities, structural problems in the reproductive system, low sperm count, underlying medical problems, or simply not trying enough.
Mild pelvic or lower abdominal pain
Called Mittelschmerz, ovulation pain can feel like a sharp or dull cramp on the side of your abdomen where the ovary is releasing the egg. This ovulation side effect can last anywhere between a few minutes and a few hours.
Fast-swimming sperm can reach the egg in a half an hour, while others may take days. The sperm can live up to 48-72 hours. Only a few hundred will even come close to the egg because of the many natural barriers that exist in a woman's body.
A person is at their most fertile during ovulation, which occurs around days 10–14. A person can calculate the exact days of ovulation each month by counting from the first day of their period.