It can take between 11 and 14 days after conception to get a positive pregnancy test. At-home pregnancy tests check for human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a hormone released by the placenta. Your pee must have enough hCG to get a positive pregnancy test.
Within 3 weeks, the cells begin to grow as clumps, and the baby's first nerve cells have already formed. A pregnancy hormone known as hCG is in your blood from the time of implantation. This is the hormone detected in a pregnancy test. Some home pregnancy tests can detect hCG as soon as 7 days after ovulation.
You won't feel when an egg gets fertilized. You also won't feel pregnant after two or three days. But some women can feel implantation, the process in which the fertilized egg travels down the fallopian tube and buries itself deep within the wall of the uterus.
As for timing, implantation usually happens between days 6 and 10 days after fertilization. Symptoms you may experience are mild and include things like cramping and light spotting. Some women may notice no symptoms at all, however.
A released egg lives for less than 24 hours. The highest pregnancy rates have been reported when the egg and sperm join together within 4 to 6 hours of ovulation.
The sperm must be able to invade the cervix via the cervical mucus by virtue of their own swimming ability. Nothing about the sexual act will help those sperm get into the cervix. They simply have to swim into the mucus on their own, and this requires a great deal of coordinated, cooperative activity on their part.
The first sign of implantation is implantation bleeding which occurs 6-12 days post conception. If the implantation is successful, spotting or light cramping can be experienced. If unsuccessful, your period will start.
The Fertilization Process
The actual estimated time that it takes for the sperm to travel to the egg and fertilize is around six days after intercourse. Once it becomes fertilized, the egg will attach itself to the uterine wall, which can take anywhere between six and ten days.
Day 1 and 2: The blastocyst hatches out of its shell and begins to try to attach itself to the uterus. Day 3: Implantation begins as the blastocyst moves deeper into the uterine lining. Day 4 and 5: Implantation continues and becomes complete. The cells that will be the placenta and fetus begin to develop.
-For the nearly 5,000 sperm that make it into the utero-tubal junction, around 1,000 of these reach the inside of the Fallopian tube. -For the 1,000 sperm entering the tube, only around 200 actually reach the egg. -In the end, only 1 lucky sperm out of this group of 200 actually penetrates and fertilizes the egg!
Fertilization and Embryo Development
Following ovulation, the egg is capable of fertilization for only 12 to 24 hours. Contact between the egg and sperm is random. Once the egg arrives at a specific portion of the tube, called the ampullar-isthmic junction, it rests for another 30 hours.
Only 1 in 14 million of the ejaculated sperm will reach the Fallopian tube, but once there the sperm should pick up chemical signals from the egg to help them find their way forward. The sperm finally near the egg and push towards its shell (called the zona pellucida).
Think lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, good quality proteins, nuts and seeds, healthy fats and whole grains. The key here is blood sugar control to support implantation and early embryo development, so limit the junk and focus on real, nutrient-dense food.
4. Lay down and relax for a few minutes after sex. Standing up or going to the bathroom after sex may pull sperm away from their destination. So, lying on your back for 15 minutes or so after sex may help keep sperm moving in the right direction.
Cervical mucus after conception
After implantation (when a fertilized egg attaches to your uterus), mucus tends to be clear, thick, and gummy. Some people experience implantation bleeding, or spotting, which can occur 6 to 12 days after conception. This bleeding is typically lighter in color than menstrual blood.
In most cases, implantation spotting only lasts from a few hours to a couple days, but some women report having implantation spotting for up to seven days. You may experience some light cramping and soreness during implantation. For this reason, women often mistake implantation spotting for their regular period.
You can also get pregnant using different kinds of alternative insemination or in-vitro fertilization. During alternative insemination, semen is inserted into your vagina or uterus using a syringe or other device. You either put the semen in at home by yourself or with a partner, or with the help of a doctor.
Loss of seminal fluid after intercourse is perfectly normal, and most women notice some discharge immediately after sex. Many infertile couples imagine that this is the cause of their problem.
The bottom line is that it's perfectly normal if some amount of semen (and sperm) leaks from the vagina after penis-in-vagina sex. And you don't need to worry about trying to "keep" it inside, either. "You don't need to lie in bed with your legs up after intercourse to get pregnant," says Dr. Hakakha.
The sperm rapidly swim up and into the cervix, where they can survive in the mucus for up to five days before an egg is released.
Ideally, you want to have sperm ready and waiting for the egg. This is why most ovulation signs appear in the days before the egg is released. The two to four days before you ovulate are your most fertile time.
At a minimum, have sex every other day during the fertile period (the week to 10 days after ovulation). It takes one to two days for sperm to regenerate, and you don't want it to be older than four to five days.
It can take anything from 45 minutes to 12 hours for a sperm to reach your fallopian tubes, which is where conception usually happens. However, sperm can survive inside your body for up to seven days, so conception can happen at any point in the week after unprotected sex, if you're ovulating.