It is possible to get pregnant soon after your period ends depending on how long your bleeding lasts, and when in your menstrual cycle you ovulate. If your periods are long, by the time it ends you may have few or no days left before your fertile days begin if you ovulate during the average days 12 to 14 of your cycle. Bear this in mind if you have unprotected intercourse right after you stop bleeding. If your periods are short, you have more days to go before you get to your fertile days and ovulation.
The Fertile Days in the Menstrual Cycle
The days of fertility in a menstrual cycle are fairly fixed and depend on when you ovulate rather than on whether your period has ended. The most likely day to get pregnant (fertilize an egg) is on the estimated day of ovulation. However, according to an important study reported in 1995 in the New England Journal of Medicine, you have five other fertile days before ovulation when you can get pregnant, making it a total of six fertile days in a menstrual cycle.
What the Additional Five Days Mean
The additional five fertile days mean that if you have intercourse during the five days before ovulation and sperm survives, you can still get pregnant, even if you don't have intercourse on the day of ovulation. This is because the sperm can survive in the reproductive tract for an average of three to five days and wait for the egg, according to Clinical Gynecologic Endocrinology and Infertility. Sperm may even survive for seven days. Because the egg can survive up to 24 hours after ovulation, it is also possible, though less likely, to get pregnant a day after ovulation.
The Fertile Days in the Menstrual Cycle
What the Additional Five Days Mean
The additional five fertile days mean that if you have intercourse during the five days before ovulation and sperm survives, you can still get pregnant, even if you don't have intercourse on the day of ovulation. This is because the sperm can survive in the reproductive tract for an average of three to five days and wait for the egg, according to Clinical Gynecologic Endocrinology and Infertility. Sperm may even survive for seven days. Because the egg can survive up to 24 hours after ovulation, it is also possible, though less likely, to get pregnant a day after ovulation.
