Pregnancy scare

[cherrycola300]

hi guys, i had non penetrative sex with my bf on april 4th, and I had egg white cervical mucus from april 9-14th (i assumed i ovulated that week). we were just rubbing naked and he didnt put it in (im a virgin) but there was precum involved. realistically what are the chances of getting pregnant? im 7 days away from my predicted period but I had some pink discharge today. im scared

[CaitlinEve]

Hi cherrycola300, welcome to Scarleteen!

What you describe cannot result in pregnancy, as there was no penis-in-vagina penetration! Pink discharge is not abnormal, especially leading up to menstruation! Please check out this article for more information.

[cherrycola300]

im also feeling some pain in my vagina like cramps that come and go, is that normal?

[CaitlinEve]

Vaginal cramps aren't uncommon and aren't associated with pregnancy, but they can be attributed to menstruation (among other things)! If the the pain interrupting your daily life I would recommend talking to a doctor.

[Jacob]

Hi cherrycola300!

I'm not sure if Cat misread your initial question, but when there is direct genital contact, which I think is what you're describing, there is a risk of a risk of pregnancy starting this way. It is a lower risk than intercourse, but is a risk still. I'm sorry that we missed this!

The variations in your cycle could be just that, variations, however we wouldn't be able to confirm that for you.

Depending on the specific test, you would now be approaching the window where most pregnancy tests would begin to give you a positive result if you were pregnant (the results they give are more accurate the longer you've been pregnant). Are you able to access a pregnancy test to give you a clearer idea? Would it be helpful for us to help you find options?

Once you've established if you are or are not pregnant we'd also be happy to offer more advice and help, both in pregnancy options, or avoiding this in future.

If this turns out to just be a near-miss, hopefully a pregnancy test can also give you some reassurance with a negative result.

In future, I'd also look into using condoms for any activities where there is genital contact (good for preventing unwanted pregnancy AND avoiding STI transmission), and explore your other birth control options.

But for now, how about that pregnancy test?

[cherrycola300]

yes thank you, there was direct contact. I want to ask again, if I had egg white discharge from 9-14 april (assuming I was ovulating) I couldnt have ovulated the first day I had the discharge right? on april 9th

[Heather]

So, we can't possibly say when you could or couldn't have ovulated with any certainty, and yes, people can be ovulating the first day they see discharge that is ovulatory (if and when it is, in fact, that discharnge). But since this also already happened, it doesn't really matter because even if that was the case, the window has passed for using emergency contraception, so there isn't anything to do about this risk now but wait until you get your period and/or until you can take a pregnancy test.

But what we *can* do is help you reduce your risks moving forward, since it sounds pretty clear you don't want to become pregnant. Would you like our help with something like letting your partner know they need to use condoms for any contact between their pernis and your vagina or with exploring other birth control options?

[cherrycola300]

yes I understand that there’s nothing I can do, but im just trying to ease my mind before I take an actual test because I also dont want to take it too early. im trying to convince myself that its unlikely so I stop stressing and delay my period.

I was assuming that If I did ovulate on the first day of having that discharge (april 9th) I shouldnt have had more egg white discharge for the rest of the week because I would be no longer fertile no?

[Heather]

The thing is, it's not really the right use of our time and energy to help you convince yourself of something. The way that worry and other kinds of anxiety work also means that usually facts don't do as much as things like taking care of yourself in ways we can when we're stressed, or distracting yourself. How about you try focusing on something else until you can test?

When people are ovulating, ovulation mucus usually lasts about 1-3 days, and the window for fertility around ovulation os around a week. But I'd also discourage you to focus on this at all unless you feel pretty darn sure that you know what you're doing when it comes to charting your fertility. A lot of people try and get a sense of this with just when periods happen (or apps basing estimates on only periods) and discharge, which can be pretty easy to confuse. In my experience with this with a lot of people over the decades, I feel like casual fertility estimating like this more often only CREATES stress for people, or gives them reasons to worry when they might not even have any, rather than helping.

If I'm off-base there and you have been doing actual charting that can be pretty accurate (which would ask you to note and track discharges every day over at least six months to start, and, ideally, also basal body temps or top of periods), then your idea of when you ovulated may be more accurate than usual. But still, I think both your and our time and energy is going to be a lot better spent on preventing any risks moving forward than continuing to focus on this risk that has already happened, otherwise I feel like you're just going to wind up back here and scared again, you know?