How to get pregnant

MenstruationMenstruationThe loss of blood once a month through a woman's vagina. Menstruation lasts…Read more: start of the cycleCycleNumber of days between the first day of a woman's menstruation and the first…Read more

You can get pregnant each month on particular days of your cycle. Your cycle starts on the first day you lose bloodBloodRed fluid that has important functions in the body, for example: carrying oxygen…Read more through your vaginaVaginaPart of the inner sexual organs of a woman. The vagina connects the…Read more. This is called menstruation.

Your cycle lasts about 28 days.

• Some women have a shorter cycle and others a longer one.
• The cycle lasts between 25 and 35 days.
• Some women have an irregular cycle. Every month, their cycle differs in length.
• The length of a woman’s cycle can change during her lifetime. During pubertyPubertyPeriod during which a child's body changes. Children become fertile during puberty. Puberty…Read more, the cycle is often more irregular.

OvulationOvulationMoment at which a ripe egg cell is released from 1 of the…Read more

About 14 days before your next menstruation, ovulation takes place. This is when the egg cellEgg cellFemale sex cell. A woman is born with many egg cells in her…Read more leaves the ovaryOvaryOrgan in a woman's body in which egg cells ripen. A woman has…Read more.

After ovulation, the egg cell is transported to the uterusUterusOrgan in a woman's belly in which a foetus can grow.Read more via the fallopian tubeFallopian tubeOrgan connected to the uterus. A woman has 2 fallopian tubes, 1 on…Read more. About 4 to 5 days after ovulation, the egg cell arrives in the uterus. The uterus gets ready for implantationImplantationWhen a fertilized egg cell attaches to the mucous membrane of the uterus.…Read more of the egg cell.

Fertilisation of an egg cell

You can get pregnant if a sperm cellSperm cellParticle in a man's semen that can fertilize a woman's egg cell. When…Read more fertilises the egg cell. This can happen through sexual intercourse with a man. When a man ejaculates during sexual intercourseSexual intercourseSexual act in which the penis penetrates (enters) the vagina or anus.Read more, sperm cells can enter your vagina. You get pregnant if:

• One sperm cell enters the egg cell and fertilises it, and;
• the fertilised egg cell is able to implant in the mucous membraneMucous membraneA very thin layer of skin (membrane) on which there is a thick…Read more of the uterus and start to grow there.

Before he ejaculates, a man may already lose a bit of fluid that might contain sperm cells. Withdrawing the penisPenisMale sexual organ. The penis is used for sex (ejaculation) or to urinate.Read more before a man ejaculates is therefore a less reliable method of contraception.

If you are pregnant, you do not menstruate. However, some women may lose some blood in the first months of pregnancyPregnancyThe time when a woman is expecting a baby. The pregnancy begins when…Read more.

You can get pregnant around 6 days each month. The egg cell lives for 1 day and a sperm cell lives for 5 days. You are fertileFertileIf you are fertile, you are able to have a baby (if you…Read more for about 5 days before ovulation and 1 day after ovulation. In the following days, up to the days before your next ovulation, you are not fertile. However, it is difficult to determine when ovulation will take place and therefore difficult to know when the fertile days are.

ContraceptionContraceptionMeans and methods of preventing pregnancy. Condoms and the contraceptive pill are examples…Read more

If you do not have a wish to have children at the moment, use contraception.