Although pregnancy and birth is a miraculous and beautiful part of the whole human experience, it doesn’t always happen at the best of times! If you and your partner lean more towards the pro-life side of the debate, and you’re sexually active, then avoiding a pregnancy is pretty important to say the least! There are a lot of effective contraception measures out there, but unfortunately there’s also a lot of misinformation. To make sure you don’t have to deal with all the hardship that comes with an unplanned pregnancy, here’s a list of some of the most common birth control myths.
First of all, one for the couples who already have one child, and are just about able to manage. It’s unfortunately common for people to go along with the myth that if a woman is breastfeeding, she can’t get pregnant. It may be true that breastfeeding can postpone a woman’s ovulation. However, this isn’t a guarantee you can rely on, and ovulation can certainly still happen when the woman is breastfeeding. If your partner is a nursing mother, then you need to ensure she’s using birth control to avoid getting pregnant.
Another alarmingly common misconception is that the woman can’t get pregnant if she doesn’t achieve orgasm. For some men, this won’t be too much of a concern! If you’ve been feeling pretty safe because your wife or girlfriend rarely has orgasms, then this needs to change pretty soon! A pregnancy occurs whenever a sperm cell from a man fertilizes an egg from a woman. It’s in no way necessary for a woman to have an orgasm to become pregnant. Ovulation occurs once a month as part of a woman’s natural menstrual cycle, regardless of how good a time she has in the bedroom. Even if it’s uncommon for your partner to have an orgasm, you still need to be using condoms, the contraceptive pill, or taking some other measure.
Another dangerous misconception is that you don’t have to take protective measures if you and your partner are only having sex during the “safe” time of the month. Similar to the breastfeeding myth, this common misconception hinges on the false belief that a woman is only fertile one day of the month. It’s also rooted in a massive misunderstanding of how the menstrual cycle works. There are four major hormones which come into play in the menstrual cycle. These are luteinizing hormones, follicle stimulating hormones, progesterone and oestrogen. The balance of these hormones regulates a woman’s ovulation. If the egg isn’t fertilized in one cycle, then menstruation occurs. By and large, a woman’s cycle stays pretty regular and predictable. However, the delicate balance of these hormones can be offset by a variety of factors. These include age, stress, weight, and any medication the woman is using, among other things. Because of this, it’s near impossible to pinpoint when ovulation will occur. This means that you don’t have any real way of marking you and your partner’s “safe days” on the calendar.
A lot of people believe that women won’t get pregnant provided they’re on top during sex, or they’re standing up. Despite what some people believe, having sex in a certain position cannot force the sperm out of a woman’s vagina. The position you and your partner prefer will have absolutely no impact on whether or not fertilization happens. When a man ejaculates, spermatozoa is shot deep into the vagina. Following this, the sperm naturally begin to swim up the cervical canal, and will fuse if and when they come into contact with an egg. By the same token, it’s not true at all that you’ll avoid getting your partner pregnant by pulling out when you ejaculate. Yes, pulling out can reduce the chances of fertilization occurring marginally. However, it’s certainly not a foolproof method of contraception. Some ejaculate is released long before you begin to reach orgasm. Although this pre-ejaculate has a much lower concentration of sperm cells, they’re still present, and have just as much potential to cause a pregnancy as your actual ejaculation. Aside from that, some men will find it hard to pull out in time, whether that’s by accident or simply getting caught in the moment. If you’ve been relying on the withdrawal method, swap it out for some more reliable contraception now!
I hope this article hasn’t made you panic order a pregnancy test. If you’ve been going along with these misconceptions for a while, then there need to be some changes in the bedroom!
