arcanegirl
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2005
- Messages
- 922
- Reaction score
- 0
While you relax, the sperms' job is just beginning
If conception is going to happen, it will be in the first few hours after sex. At this point you can't do much except cross your fingers and hope, though some experts say the woman should stay on her back (with a pillow under her bottom) for at least 20 or 30 minutes so gravity can help the sperm get to the waiting egg.
While you and your partner are enjoying a relaxing post-romp cuddle, a great deal of activity is taking place inside your body. Those millions of sperm have begun their quest to find your egg, and it's not an easy journey. The first obstacle is the acid level in your vagina, which can be deadly to sperm. Then there's your cervical mucus, which can seem like an impenetrable net except on the one or two days you're most fertile and it miraculously loosens up so a few of the strongest swimmers can get through. The sperm that survive still have a long road ahead. In all they need to travel about seven inches from the cervix through the uterus to the Fallopian tubes. When you consider that they travel at a rate of roughly an inch every 15 minutes, that's quite a trip. The fastest swimmers may find the egg in as little as 45 minutes, while the slowest can take up to 12 hours. If they don't find an egg in the Fallopian tubes at the time of intercourse, the sperm can wait there in a resting stage for up to 72 hours.
The mortality rate for sperm is so high that only a few dozen ever make it to the egg. The rest get trapped, lost (perhaps heading up the wrong Fallopian tube) or die along the way. For the lucky few who get near the egg, the race isn't over. They have to work frantically to penetrate the egg's outer shell and get inside before the others. When the hardiest of the bunch makes it through, the egg changes instantaneously so that no other sperm can get in. It's like a protective shield that clamps down over the egg at the exact moment that first sperm is safely inside.
If conception is going to happen, it will be in the first few hours after sex. At this point you can't do much except cross your fingers and hope, though some experts say the woman should stay on her back (with a pillow under her bottom) for at least 20 or 30 minutes so gravity can help the sperm get to the waiting egg.
While you and your partner are enjoying a relaxing post-romp cuddle, a great deal of activity is taking place inside your body. Those millions of sperm have begun their quest to find your egg, and it's not an easy journey. The first obstacle is the acid level in your vagina, which can be deadly to sperm. Then there's your cervical mucus, which can seem like an impenetrable net except on the one or two days you're most fertile and it miraculously loosens up so a few of the strongest swimmers can get through. The sperm that survive still have a long road ahead. In all they need to travel about seven inches from the cervix through the uterus to the Fallopian tubes. When you consider that they travel at a rate of roughly an inch every 15 minutes, that's quite a trip. The fastest swimmers may find the egg in as little as 45 minutes, while the slowest can take up to 12 hours. If they don't find an egg in the Fallopian tubes at the time of intercourse, the sperm can wait there in a resting stage for up to 72 hours.
The mortality rate for sperm is so high that only a few dozen ever make it to the egg. The rest get trapped, lost (perhaps heading up the wrong Fallopian tube) or die along the way. For the lucky few who get near the egg, the race isn't over. They have to work frantically to penetrate the egg's outer shell and get inside before the others. When the hardiest of the bunch makes it through, the egg changes instantaneously so that no other sperm can get in. It's like a protective shield that clamps down over the egg at the exact moment that first sperm is safely inside.
