Women's Health

Could she be pregnant?

11/13/2007

Question:

I am a 25 year old male and my spouse is 21 years old. She has three day cycles and we use protection every time we have intercourse. The last time being 2 or 3 days after her menstrual cycle with a condom that came off inside her after i ejaculated. She had a doctors appointment 3 days after where she did a pregnancy test tht came back positive. Can she really be pregnant? Is the pregnancy hormone already present? I thought that the earliest detection is 5 days before a missed period. Am i wrong about this?

Answer:

Not every vaginal bleeding is a menstrual bleeding popularly referred to as period. What matters most, and sheds light at what type of bleeding is/was ocurring, is its timing. That is, in relation to other bleedings and ovulation.

Also of importance are concurrent symptoms: some women can tell whether and when they are having a menstrual bleeding, at times even before its onset. It is most likely that your wife's last bleeding was not menstrual - quite possibly implantational, where the fertilized ovum reaches the uterus and burrows into its lining. Although implantational bleedings are normally lighter than menses, a woman whose menses are light or short to begin with may not be able to distinguish.

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Response by:

Shalva V. Kakabadze, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor
Department of Family Medicine
College of Medicine
The Ohio State University