Hiya - quick question

[Sophiadreamingpink]

Hi everyone,

I'm glad I have found this website... After looking around it seems very informative and supportive!
I've previously posted on the Ingender site as I was introduced to that by a friend a few months ago. I never seem to get many responses on there though, sometimes I don't get answered at all.

I just have a quick question that I would like to ask you guys..

I am TTC a girl, and this cycle I had what I believe to be a 3 day cut off, and then had an attempt 48 hours after first positive OPK so perhaps a 0+12 timing, or may have been very late on ovulation day itself.

Anyway, I just wondered, would the sperm waiting more likely to have gotten to the egg? Do the ones waiting in the tube make a move the second they sense the egg has been released?

[atomic sagebrush]

Hi and welcome, Sophia. I answer all swaying questions personally within 3-5 days max and if you don't hear back from me in that time, please just "bump" your post because I sometimes get interrupted by kiddos in the middle of answering.

We don't always advise the same things as IG, so if something doesn't add up, please ask. Always happy to explain and we do have reasons behind every difference.

IF you were correct in pinpointing ovulation, the odds would be that the cutoff sperm would get to the egg first. The reason for this, is that sperm take about 4 hours or longer to capacitate (this means they lose their protective caps and only after that, can fertilize an egg). So since you ovulated and did not have another attempt until well after egg was released, the egg would have been fertilized long ago by the sperm that were waiting. Additionally, let's say for the sake of argument that all those sperm from the cutoff attempt were already dead. Eggs only live 12-24 hours at the very most (and many of them are more like 8-12 hours) and are probably unfertilizable at the end of their lifespan. So to expect that you may have ovulated, then had attempt 12 hours after that, and then they had to capacitate and find the egg - it's a longshot. Now it's very possible to mistime your attempt and misjudge O Day and in that case your "O+12" attempt may have been right before O - and in that scenario all bets are off.

As you may detect I am NOT a fan of O+12 and you can read about that here. http://genderdreaming.com/forum/tryi...9-no-12-a.html

[Girlieplease]

Sophia welcome, you will find this site so useful. Agree with atomic about your attempt, good luck and fingers crossed for pink.

Sorry to hi jack the post but wondered if anyone knows the average length of time sperm lasts? I read that they can live up to 5 days but wondered what the usual was, I think I read somewhere 1 - 2 days? Many thanks

[Sophiadreamingpink]

Thank you so much!! This site is great.

Atomic sagebrush - so if I had miscalculated, would obviously the later sperm win above the cut off? Or merge together with them? I'm sorry if I sound dumb lol.

Girlieplease, I also wondered how long, I keep reading upto 5 days but I have never ever gotten pregnant with that cut off.

[atomic sagebrush]

Sophia welcome, you will find this site so useful. Agree with atomic about your attempt, good luck and fingers crossed for pink.

Sorry to hi jack the post but wondered if anyone knows the average length of time sperm lasts? I read that they can live up to 5 days but wondered what the usual was, I think I read somewhere 1 - 2 days? Many thanks

It depends on the environment they are in. If it's a bad environment they'll die right off the bat, but if the climate is right they can live 5-7 days. The thing is though, just because a scientist retrieved living sperm 7 days after ejaculation occured that does not mean that that sperm is going to be ready, willing, and able to fertilize an egg.

Most pregnancies occur within a 3-4 day window of O-3 thru O day and really, O-1 and O-2 are by far the best odds.

I just read a study that proved that the odds of getting pregnant with a 5 day cutoff were like 1 in 1000. All those people who say they did it ovulated earlier than they thought they did. And the very old studies that claimed to have that finding, did not use modern technology to pinpoint O - they were mostly based around the idea (incorrect) that all women O on CD 14 so they had people BD on CD 9 or 10 - but many people O on CD 11,12, 13 so not as long a cutoff as they believed.

[atomic sagebrush]

Thank you so much!! This site is great.

Atomic sagebrush - so if I had miscalculated, would obviously the later sperm win above the cut off? Or merge together with them? I'm sorry if I sound dumb lol.

Girlieplease, I also wondered how long, I keep reading upto 5 days but I have never ever gotten pregnant with that cut off.

If there are two batches on hand and both have had time to capacitate when the egg arrives, both batches should have an equal chance of getting to the egg. Neither batch has any preference.