What’s the Chance of Getting Pregnant If You Had Unprotected Sex

When you are having sex, pregnancy is always a real possibility. Sex, like other fun activities, comes with certain risks if you are not using protection, with STI’s and unwanted pregnancies being the most obvious ones.

If you want to know what’s the chance of getting pregnant if you had unprotected sex you have come to the right place.

Like others, you will hear many rumors about where and when you could get pregnant. For some women, the thought of getting pregnant is met with great joy and anticipation, while for others it’s a cause of worry.

This is why most women in the reproductive age or the ones who are trying desperately to conceive will have many questions or doubts about their chances of conceiving.

We will look further at this below to help you understand more about unprotected sex and pregnancy.

What’s the Chance of Getting Pregnant If You Had Unprotected Sex

There is a good chance that you could get pregnant nearly any time that you engage in sexual intercourse without using an effective birth control. This scenario is familiar to most women.

Pregnancy usually occurs around the ovulation period, the time when your ovary releases egg in the fallopian tube. If you are having regular periods, ovulation will take place midway between your menstrual periods.

Ovulation usually happens midway between the first-day of 2 consecutive periods, but this can vary from the eight day to the twentieth day of a 28-day cycle.

Researchers calculate the average risk at varying times in a monthly cycle of a woman, but you should know that your risk can be lower or higher.

You cannot know the definite time of your ovulation, which is why the researchers use the monthly cycle of a woman when calculating the average risk for pregnancy.

Figuring Out the Chances of Getting Pregnant If You Had Unprotected Sex

You are more likely to conceive if you have unprotected sex during the middle 2 weeks of your cycle. The time varies, but many women ovulate about day 14.

You will have the highest risk of pregnancy by having unprotected sex one or two days before your ovulation starts; when the ovary releases the egg.

This is a 30% chance. The risk of having unprotected sex and getting pregnant three days prior to ovulation is 15%. You will have a 12% chance on the ovulation day. [1]

In the real world, large studies show that women who engage in unprotected sex during mid-cycle have a much lower chance of getting pregnant as the risk is around 5.8%.

This is because you will have a much lower risk of getting pregnant if you engage in any sexual relations on the ovulation day and any day besides the three days prior to.

Not Getting Pregnant After Having Unprotected Sex for Months

There are times when having unprotected sex is not enough for you to get pregnant. You could be doing this for months with no luck.

Thankfully, there are certain things that you could do to increase your chances if it’s taking longer than expected for you to conceive.

This includes doing thinks like monitoring your ovulation, using an ovulation predictor kit, charting your basal body temperature, as well as checking and observing your cervical mucus.

When you have an idea of your ovulating time, you can start to time your sexual activities around that period. If you are using this method, you must ensure that you are having sex 2 days before your ovulation day or every other day during the week of your expected ovulation. This will boost your chances of conceiving.

If it’s a case where you have been engaging in unprotected sexual activities for more than six months without success, you could visit your doctor or ob/gyn to know about the alternative treatments that you could use for fertility problems. There are several solutions available and they are very effective.

How to Know When You Get Pregnant

The most common sign of pregnancy after unprotected sex is missed period. However, this missed or late period is not a sure sign as there are many other things that can cause it besides pregnancy.

This includes using birth control that contains hormones, stress, sickness, improper eating habits, or too much exercise.

It is pretty common for teens to have periods which come later than normal or missed periods because it could take several years for them to have a regular cycle.

So, the best way for you to know if you are pregnant is to do a pregnancy test. These are easy to get nowadays because they are available at drugstores or health centers.

It is important to note that the home pregnancy tests are ninety-nine percent accurate if taken after you miss a period.

Hopefully, you will now know what’s the chance of getting pregnant if you had unprotected sex.

Do you have a question about your period, ovulation, pregnancy or other related topic? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Wondering if you’re pregnant? Try our Online Pregnancy Quiz and get a rough estimate of your chance of being pregnant.

Read this post to learn more about when is the right time to take a pregnancy test.

References

1. http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/content/womens_health/art3356.html