Pregnancy can take one try for some women and years for others. Both parties involved, a man and woman, may have their own medical-related issues that can cause pregnancy to be more difficult. A male may have a low semen count which hinders pregnancy or a woman may have issues that cause pregnancy to be a challenge – or impossible in some circumstances.
How long does it take to get pregnant?
This answer is simple: Six whole days. But it is a little more complicated than that.
How Long Does It Take to Get Pregnant After Sex?
Intercourse is required to get pregnant unless you have medical intervention. When naturally getting pregnant, it will take up to six days for the joining of the egg and sperm. Even when they’re first joined, the formation of the fertilized egg will need to occur.
Essentially, the sperm remains in the reproductive organs just waiting for the woman’s egg to arrive.
And sometimes it doesn’t arrive. But when pregnancy occurs, the egg will arrive. Once the egg and sperm “meet,” it will take another six to ten days for the fertilized egg to attach to the lining of the uterus.
When the egg attaches to the lining, this is when a successful pregnancy has started.
Technically, it can take up to six days for the egg and sperm to join and another six to ten days for the fertilized egg to attach to the uterine wall. In total, it will take you 12 – 16 days from the moment of ejaculation to become pregnant.
How Long Does It Take to Get Pregnant After Depo?
You’re a busy woman, you don’t want kids and you don’t have time for kids. All of a sudden you meet Mr. Right and your outlook changes. Now you want kids, but you’ve been taking depo to ensure you don’t get pregnant.
What is Depo?
Depo is short for Depo-Provera. This is a progestin injection, or a hormone, that is injected into a woman that stops a woman from ovulating. Essentially, Depo is a form of birth control that is highly effective.
Depo shots are required once per three months to act as birth control. So, you won’t be able to conceive for at least three months from your last ejection. But it may take even longer for you to get pregnant. Many women that have been on Depo will need to wait several additional months from the initial three months before they start ovulating and a normal period returns.
According to a doctor at Columbia University Medical Center, it can take up to a year after a woman’s last depo injection before they have a regular period.
Studies have also been conducted on pregnancy after Depo with studies indicating that it takes at least 10 months, on average for a woman to get pregnant after her last injection.
So, to recap: how long does it take to get pregnant after Depo?
- At least 3 months.
- Typically, 10 months.
- As long as 12 months.
If you believe that you’ll want to get pregnant in the near future, it’s recommended that you use a different form of birth control – and there are many. Only 3% of women that are on birth control use Depo. You can also choose to use condoms or oral birth control so that you can stop yourself from getting pregnant and get pregnant much faster if you do decide that you want to conceive.
6 Statistics of How Long It Takes to Get Pregnant
There are seven billion people on the planet, so there are a lot of statistics at our disposal to determine how long it should take for a woman to get pregnant. The good news is that the majority of couples will be able to get pregnant in as little as three months (90 days).
The following statistics are true:
- 30% of women get pregnant within one month.
- 59% of women get pregnant within three months.
- 80% of women get pregnant within six months.
- 85% of women get pregnant within one year.
- 91% of women get pregnant within three years.
- 93% – 95% of women get pregnant within four years.
If you’re trying to get pregnant and it takes longer than one year, it is time to visit a fertility specialist. The vast majority of couples will be able to conceive in as little as one year (85%). There is still a chance that fertilization will occur, but there is likely an underlying fertility issue that may be causing you difficulty getting pregnant.
You may also be wasting valuable years of your life trying to get pregnant while your biological clock continues to tick down.
Any woman that is older than 35 years old will naturally have a harder time getting pregnant. If you’re 35 years of age or older, you’ll want to set up an appointment with a fertilization specialist after 6 months. Why? Your biological clock is ticking down, and you don’t want to wait too long to get pregnant.
The older you are, the harder it is to conceive and the higher the risk of pregnancy complications.
[Read more about Get Pregnant]
6 Statistics On Age and getting pregnant
You can’t control your age. Many women have babies later in life for very valid reasons like not feeling stable enough to support a child (with money or housing), not wanting to have a child before or not having a partner.
We know, however, that fertility declines with age and that this decline speeds up after the age of 35. This is because the number and quality of eggs decreases. Male fertility also declines with age, but not as much.
According to one study, couples having regular unprotected sex:
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around 7 out of 10 women aged 30 will conceive within one year
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around 6 out of 10 women aged 35 will conceive within one year
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around 4 out of 10 women aged 40 will conceive within one year.
After 40, it’s harder to conceive and fertility treatments may be offered.
How to Improve Your Fertility
There are many things you can do to improve your fertility and increase your chances of getting pregnant. Some of the most effective strategies include:
- Maintaining a healthy weight: Being overweight or underweight can affect fertility, so it’s important to maintain a healthy weight.
- Eating a healthy diet: A healthy diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein can help improve fertility.
- Managing stress: Stress can negatively impact fertility, so it’s important to find ways to manage stress, such as through exercise, meditation, or counseling.
- Avoiding harmful substances: Smoking, alcohol, and drugs can all negatively impact fertility, so it’s important to avoid these substances.
- Seeking medical help: If you have been trying to get pregnant for more than a year and have not been successful, you should speak with your doctor about getting a fertility evaluation.
5 Ways to Get Pregnant Faster
If you’re wondering “how long does it take to get pregnant,” and you’ve wasted months trying, you can try these 5 tips to get pregnant faster:
- Cut out soda. Studies show that one cup of soda per day can lower fertility by 16%.
- Sleep 7 – 8 hours. Fertilization specialists recommend that women sleep 7 – 8 hours a night to increase their chance of pregnancy,
- Dental hygiene. It sounds funny, but gum disease can cause a woman to take 2 whole months longer to get pregnant.
- Exercise. Women that exercise 5 hours a week or more are 42% less likely to get pregnant. The goal is to exercise 30 minutes a day to boost your health but not too much.
- Make him get off the couch. Men are responsible for pregnancy just as much as a woman. A Harvard study showed that men that watch 20 hours of television a week have a 44% lower sperm count. So, make him get off the couch and start exercising.
If you’re struggling to get pregnant, be happy to know that most couples will conceive within 3 months and over 85% of couples will get pregnant after 12 months of trying.
