Information Overload

[Jitterbug206]

Hi,

Last month, my boyfriend and I had protected sex (we used a condom, plus he did not ejaculate), and the next day I got my period. It was completely normal flow wise and lasted its usual six days. I was completely fine until about five days ago when all of a sudden I went into panic mode at the thought that I might be pregnant. I know it was ill-advised, but I scoured the internet and all these sources had different ideas on whether or not a woman could become pregnant during her period or if it was only possible when ovulation took place directly after her period, meaning she technically would become pregnant after the fact. My period tends to be pretty regular and comes every 28 days, meaning that it was due to arrive today. Since I know stress can delay menstruation, I took a pregnancy test this morning to ease my mind and it came back negative. Do I still have to be worried?

Thanks,
Jitterbug206

[Heather]

A late period, in medical terms, is a period that is five or more days late than the LATEST it was expected. So, I get that for a while you've been used to your periods being every 28 days on the nose, but that's actually pretty uncommon, so what might be happening here is a shift to the more common standard devision for cycles (which is between 2 and 3 days for those with regular cycles).

By all means, people can technically become pregnant due to intercourse at any time of their cycles, but you know that you used a condom, and I assume you did so properly. So, pregnancy isn't very likely. And since you just took a test and it was negative, you can know it's not an issue for you this time.

Do you feel comfortable using condoms alone -- which is fine, if you do -- or do you think you'd feel better backing up with a second method, as that's what does the best job when it comes to pregnancy prevention?