Fertility. 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. The effect of age on men's fertility is less clear.
30% of couples trying to conceive did so in the first month. 75% of couples conceived within 6 months. 90% of couples conceived within 1 year. 95% of couples conceived within 2 years.
Just over a third of healthy couples will conceive in the first month of trying1. If you're under 35 and in good health, it's perfectly natural for it to take up to a year.
According to infertility research, the likelihood of getting pregnant in the first month is around 30% . For people without fertility issues, the approximate chances of conception are: 75% after 6 months. 90% after a year.
It's important to know what is considered normal, so you don't worry if there is no cause for concern. 90% of couples will conceive within 12 to 18 months of trying. If you are 35 years of age or older, doctors will start evaluating your fertility after six months of unsuccessful attempts at pregnancy.
The Odds of Getting Pregnant
For most couples trying to conceive, the odds that a woman will become pregnant are 15% to 25% in any particular month.
One possible problem is that ovulation may not occur every month. If you've recently stopped taking hormonal contraception, ovulation may be delayed or irregular for a short time. If you've been using a contraceptive injection, ovulation may be delayed or irregular for up to a year.
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.
There are lots of reasons pregnancy doesn't always happen right away. Some common reasons include stress, not timing baby-making sex with ovulation, residual effects of hormonal birth control, and certain health conditions.
While some pregnancy symptoms start very early, most of the time, you won't notice anything right away. Anything that happens immediately after having sex, like spotting, increased discharge, or feeling tired or nauseated, is usually unrelated to pregnancy.
Sometimes women don't ovulate regularly and consistently. Sporadic menstrual cycles can be caused by conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), hormonal imbalances or obesity. Ovulation can also be impacted by excessive exercise, stress or low body weight.
The days before and during menstruation are the least fertile days of the menstrual cycle. People with a menstrual cycle that is shorter than 28 days could ovulate within days of their period ending. Menstrual cycles may shorten with age, particularly after the age of 35 years .
your cervical mucus – you may notice wetter, clearer and more slippery mucus around the time of ovulation. your body temperature – there's a small rise in body temperature after ovulation takes place, which you may be able to detect with a thermometer.
It is possible to become pregnant during or after your period. This is because there can be irregularities in your menstrual cycle and ovulation days. As you get older, it becomes more difficult to pinpoint precisely when you are at your most fertile.
Pseudocyesis, or false pregnancy, is when a person thinks they are pregnant when they are not. People with pseudocyesis have pregnancy symptoms, but tests will confirm there's no pregnancy. Healthcare providers believe psychological and hormonal factors may cause it.
Usually, the sperm reaches the egg within 15 to 45 minutes of ejaculation. However, the process could be much longer than that if you haven't ovulated yet by the time you have sex, because sperm can live inside a reproductive tract and wait for an egg for up to five days.
The Fertilization Process
The actual estimated time that it takes for the sperm to travel to the egg and fertilize is around six days after intercourse. Once it becomes fertilized, the egg will attach itself to the uterine wall, which can take anywhere between six and ten days.
Some experts do recommend staying in bed anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour after intercourse to keep the sperm pooled at the top of the vagina. A woman can put her knees up to accentuate this position, or she can place her feet on the wall with her hips on a small pillow, which works even better.
The sperm must be able to invade the cervix via the cervical mucus by virtue of their own swimming ability. Nothing about the sexual act will help those sperm get into the cervix. They simply have to swim into the mucus on their own, and this requires a great deal of coordinated, cooperative activity on their part.
Pre-cum doesn't usually have any sperm in it. But some people may have a small amount of sperm in their pre-cum. If there is sperm in someone's pre-cum, and that pre-cum gets into your vagina, it could possibly fertilize an egg and lead to pregnancy.