This may be a dumb question but I am yet still learning of NFP. My Husband ejaculated 5 days after ovulation; does this mean I'm in the clear? To my knowledge it only takes one teeny sperm, but because of tracking your most fertile and ovulating days does it mean that my husband is FREE to ejaculate after 5 days of ovulation? I just want to have assurance that he can or CANNOT! lol. Please Help me understand preventing pregnancy yet enjoying my marriage naturally!
Hey Happywife,
This is just my opinion, not based on medical fact's. I was always very aware of when I was fertile, my periods are irregular so I had to rely on signals my body was giving off as well as one of the wheel's you can get which track your cycle - The type you see a DR use when you are pregnant to count the weeks. There are also, ovulation prediction kit's you can buy, but they are very expensive, especially if it's something like Boot's the chemist (UK) used to make one called 'Persona' the start machine that you clip the stick's into cost about £50 (I think that $80) Then each month you need to buy the sticks to wee on, I think they were about £15 ($30/35) This was a loooong time ago so you can probably double that now. As you know these can help women plan a pregnancy.
I too used this method to avoid one, not the persona machine but avoiding ovulation times and near to that time, along with jumping in the shower right away and using really cold water to try kill the sperm. In all honesty it was probably sheer luck I never became pregnant over the years (about 8-9) I used this method, as you can become pregnant at any time of the month even during your period. It's just much more likely to be successful around the time of ovulation.
I totally understand why you want to try and do this in a long term relationship you might not want to use condoms, The pill may not be for you and all the other methods of contraception to me anyway always seemed invasive, messy and not too reliable, admittedly much more reliable than a splash of cold water though. If this is the method you are going to use I would suggest you arm yourself with as much factual information as possible. Look up things like, how long can sperm live inside a warm body, how long can an egg live, is it possible to release two or more eggs days after each other, how can I tell I'm ovulating. As many of these types questions you can get answers to will help you decide if you want to take the chance, and if so when. Also remember even if you think you have it worked out, you need to account for spur of the moment sex, and if this happens when you think you may be fertile, what then? Would you seek emergency contraception for those times - again this is what I did. Look into where you would get this, cost and how long you have to get the treatment. You also have to ponder what would you do if all this fails and you do become pregnant as it really is a highly hit an miss method to prevent a pregnancy. As a last note I used this method to actually get pregnant for my two children, the first took a few months the second I was successful the second month of trying, so I think I must have been getting something right, I will always believe that was more down to knowing my body than counting days as this is really not a guaranteed method to avoid a baby.
I hope this has helped you