Can You Get Pregnant On The Last Day Of Your Period?

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Since the evolution of mankind, human beings have always procreated. For that to have happened, it is obvious that women got pregnant. As all of us are well aware, all of this was possible as people engaged in sexual acts.

Thus, while people might not have known the ways and means to do this since eternity, every generation would have figured it out how to engage in sexual activities. After all, the desire for sex is a natural human instinct for both the sexes.

Although engaging in sexual conduct is something that men and women would have figured out on their own, the other details of the process of birth was pretty much a mystery to them. They left a major chunk of the process involved to chance.

In some faiths, the trust was laid on a deity or idol or things of that likes. The lack of scientific temperament was the primary reason for the high childbirth mortality rate that existed in the society back then.

Today as we stand at the threshold of the 21st century, things have changed. Medical science has empowered us in such a fashion that all our queries about pregnancy and child birth are answered.

In the past there was a lot of confusion among women over weather one can get pregnant in the last day of their periods. While some women argued that this was not at all possible, others claimed to have got pregnant that way.

Equipped with the advances in medical science, this article aims to throw light on this highly debated subject and tackle the same in a scientific manner.

1. The Science Of Ovulation
2. The Range Of Fertility Period
3. Changes In Ovulation
4. Misunderstandings
5. Understanding The Possibility

• The Science Of Ovulation

The human reproductive cycle is one that is filled with mysteries. The way it functions is magical to say the least. A woman ovulates once a month during which the ovary releases an egg. The eggs stay in the fallopian tubes for about a day following which it makes its way to the uterus.

As the egg navigates its way, simultaneously the uterus prepares a lining that will form a healthy growing environment for the baby. If the egg meets a sperm during ovulation, it implants itself in the uterus and you are pregnant.

However, in the absence of any encounter with sperms, the female body gets rid of the egg as well as the lining. That is when you have your periods.

• The Range Of Fertility Period

Now it is important for us to realize that although the egg stays in the fallopian tube for only about 24 hours during ovulation, it is not that engaging in sexual activities in any other day will ensure that you are not pregnant (although the same during that day will increase the possibility of getting pregnant manifold).

A sperm that enters a woman's body during sexual activities can stay there for 4 to 5 days. The exact duration of stay depends on the sperm's health and the woman's body. Factors like age also come to play a role here. Thus, it is possible that a woman can get pregnant in any of the five days before her day of monthly ovulation or even a day after that.

• Changes In Ovulation

Having understood the importance of ovulation in the process of conceiving a child, it is important to realize that not every woman has the same ovulation period. It is often seen that Indian women have a menstrual cycle that is as short as that of 21 days.

In other cases it may go up to 37 days. If such a thing happens, by the time the reproductive system is shedding the uterus lining, the ovulation has already started. In layman's terms, this means that the next month's egg is ready even though you are actually bleeding from that of your last month.

Thus, when you are on periods for the previous month, you may end up getting pregnant with the egg from this month. While having a menstrual cycle that is this long is pretty rare, it is not entirely impossible.

These days, it is becoming all the way more common. That is how we see women who are on their periods (especially in the last days of their periods) getting pregnant.

• Misunderstandings

As per reports 1 in every 3 Indian women has irregular periods. In such a case, it may so happen that there may be some other forms of bleeding that you may mistake for periods. For women with light bleeding, it may so happen that you would have calculated the starting point of your periods incorrectly.

In such a case, what you are experiencing may be a period like condition but it is not a true period. Thus, you may actually be at your most fertile self when you think that it is the last day of your periods. Chances of getting pregnant are very high in such cases.

• Understanding The Possibility

The average menstrual cycle is taken to be of a duration of 28 days for an Indian woman. In such a case, ovulation will be on the 14th day since the end of her periods. What this typically means is that the day when she is most likely to get pregnant is about a week after the end of her periods.

The assumption that we have taken here is the fact that the woman will bleed for about a week during her periods with the 6th or 7th day being the last day of her periods. However, as discussed earlier, the menstrual cycle of every woman need not be of the same length.

For women with much shorter menstrual cycles, the duration between the last day of periods and that of ovulation decreases. In extreme cases, this may cause a woman having sex on the last day of her periods to get pregnant. Thus, it is indeed possible for a woman to get pregnant on the last day of her periods.