Possible to get pregnant on 8-day old sperm?

[sarahmck]

DH and I only had sex on day 12 and day 17 of this cycle. I ovulated on day 20.

TMI, but the sex on day 17 was poorly positioned for conception and it really seemed like he was barely in there when he ejaculated. A big blob immediately came out, but I did roll over to let what little was left in make its way in further.

Day 12 was rather perfect for conception. Deposited right at my cervix and then I stayed put for a while.

DH is concerned that we have conceived with the day 12 sperm and that they will have been old and feeble by the time they found their egg and will result in a baby with problems. He says he heard a theory years ago that Catholics have kids with more birth defects because they use the rhythm method and then sometimes accidentally conceive with old sperm.

I have no idea if
1) it's true that Catholics have more kids with birth defects
2) it's even possible to conceive with 8-day old sperm
3) if sperm get "bad" while remaining viable before they die

Anyone have any input?

[Jazzmin]

I have never heard those theories that your husband speaks of. They don't seem to make sense to me.

I bet that your CD17 session was the one that did it. Just because a "big glob" came out doesn't mean that the initial shot didn't make it up there. DH and I were using the withdraw method when I became pregnant.

[fairydoula]

it is extremely likely that you got pregnant with the 17day sperm. It does NOT matter that you only got a little in there, or that a big blob came out. What matters more is that you were fertile, that you had fertile cervical fluid that helped the sperm that were there swim up and were ready for when the egg popped!
It is extremely UNlikely that you got pregnant with the first "batch" of sperm!
So, don't worry! Enjoy your pregnancy! All sperm die off within 5 days of being released, so there is virtually NO way the first sperm were still alive to fertilize your egg on the 20th. 8 days is about 3 days too long.
Hope that helps!
- Jen

oh, and weak sperm or defective sperm are very much less likely to fertilize your egg... the race goes to the swift and strong in this case!!!

[onlyboys]

I agree. It's much more likely that day 17 sperm, even if there were just a couple hundred were more likely to fertilize your egg than the day 12 sperm. It only takes one, after all, and they are usually pretty good swimmers.

[sarahmck]

Thanks for the replies. I've told him that of course people can get pregnant without the man even ejaculating on the inside, but he feels like WE can't get my pregnant without decent positioning since it took us 5 months to conceive DS and the first 3 of those had me on top 100% of the time with decent timing and multiple attempts per cycle. So we were convinced that we eventually succeeded because I went on the bottom.

Anyway, thanks for the input. I will continue to try to ease his fears.

[hannybanany]

First, 5 months is NOT a long time! That's perfectly average.

Second, one most definitely can get pregnant even if the man does not ejaculate inside - like a pp mentioned - plenty of people get pg using withdrawal.

Last, I've never heard something so silly as saying Catholics have more children with "birth defects"! I'm Catholic and know tons of Catholic families and they are not any more likely to have a child with "birth defects" than eny other person.

[sarahmck]

A quick search found this link about the rhythm method and its advantages and disadvantages and it contains this quote:

It has also been suggested that pregnancies resulting from method failures of periodic abstinence methods are at increased risk of miscarriage and birth defects due to aged gametes at the time of conception. Newer research suggests that timing of conception has no effect on miscarriage rates, low birth weight, or preterm delivery.

Maybe DH heard something about this now-contested theory. It was long ago and he has no recollection of where he heard it.

As for the 5 month thing, DD, our first child, was conceived on the first try. So 5 months seemed like a long time with DS, our second child. I was nursing at the time, but I'm nursing now, too.

[Anouk]

You should have him watch a program by National Geographic called "Sizing up Sperm" - find listings at: http://channel.nationalgeographic.co...-4921/Overview

It is quite a humorous documentary, but also I learned quite a bit, which I didn't think was possible given how much charting and research I've done. One thing I learned is that after the sperm have been whittled down by having to climb the fertile CM into the uterus, then having to run away from the uterus's protection cells, then having to find the fallopian tubes, there is a "gate check" at the fallopian tubes! If the sperm that reach that spot don't look or move right, they aren't let through! Then, once through the gate, sperm can choose when to "activate" - if they don't activate, they can hang out a number of days, but once they activate they die within 12 hours. They receive an electrical signal telling them when the egg is coming, but some choose to activate right when they get there, and others wait around awhile. Interesting, huh?

[livinzoo]

I agree it was your day 17. When we did our IUI, my hubby had a count of 91.56 million! And it only takes one so if your hubby has anything similar you should have had plenty left.

[sarahmck]

That program looks really interesting, Anouk. I am going to try to find somewhere to download it from so that we can watch it today.