Your body goes through a lot of changes during pregnancy. During this time, you shouldn’t get a period at all. However, you may wonder, can you ovulate while pregnant?
Today we will discuss if it’s possible. What happens to your ovulatory cycle at this time?
Keep reading for everything you need to know.
Can You Ovulate While Pregnant?
Women will not ovulate while pregnant. But many people wonder if this is true. They’re very rare cases where women can experience superfetation.
Before we get into the rare phenomenon of superfetation, we should explain what exactly ovulation is and how it affects your period and pregnancy.
What Is Ovulation?
Every woman experiences a menstrual cycle. For most women, it lasts an average of 28 days.
Ovulation occurs right in the middle of the menstrual cycle, on average 14 days into it. The only time a woman can get pregnant is when she’s ovulating.
When ovulation occurs, an egg will be dropped from your ovary and go down through your fallopian tube. During this time, it will stay in your body for 24 hours. If it gets fertilized with sperm, then you can become pregnant.
On the days leading up to your period, your body will create extra tissue in your uterine lining. If the egg released from ovulation isn’t fertilized, your body will release this extra-uterine lining during your next period.
During ovulation, your body will only release one egg. There are never cases when a woman’s body releases two eggs or more during her reproductive cycle.
Pregnancy & Your Menstrual Cycle
Your body will no longer get a period once you become pregnant. Some women may experience slight bleeding, but this isn’t a period. This is what’s known as implantation bleeding.
Once you have conceived, your body will go through a nine-month cycle for pregnancy.
During these nine months, your body will no longer ovulate or have a menstrual cycle. Instead, it will work to create a healthy environment for the baby to grow and prepare your body for breastfeeding.
So how does your body know it will no longer have a period?
During pregnancy, your hCG levels begin to rise at a rapid rate. They will continue to increase until you’re roughly 12 weeks into the pregnancy.
Along with this, your estrogen and progesterone levels will also increase rapidly. This will continue until after you’ve given birth.
Can You Still Ovulate in the Early Stages of Pregnancy?
If you’re pregnant, you will no longer ovulate. Since your body has a rise in pregnancy hormones, ovulation will not occur.
There is also no reason for your body to ovulate because there is already a fertilized egg in your uterus.
You may have heard stories about women conceiving a second child during pregnancy. This is a very rare phenomenon called superfetation, which we’ll discuss further below.
While superfetation is very rare, another occurrence is a little less rare, causing women to think that they are pregnant with a second child.
If you take an ovulation test while pregnant, you will likely get inaccurate results stating that you’re now ovulating. This is because a flush of hormones is going for your body right now, and it can trigger a false reading on the ovulation test.
How Common Is Ovulation During Early Pregnancy?
If a mammal is pregnant, it is still possible for another embryo to form. This means it’s not completely off the table for a human woman to get pregnant with a second child while she’s already conceived. However, it’s an incredibly rare occurrence.
It’s so rare that we can’t even give you an accurate percentage of how many women this could happen to. There have been only ten recorded cases of this occurring throughout history.
Can You Ovulate and Be Pregnant at the Same Time?
The chances of you conceiving a second pregnancy are extremely rare. As mentioned above, there have been very limited cases of superfetation occurring.
A superfetation results in two embryos at different ages.
So, does a woman need to ovulate during pregnancy for this to occur?
After becoming pregnant, a woman’s reproductive cycle gets put on pause. The hormonal and physical changes make it nearly impossible for a woman to ovulate during pregnancy.
For a superfetation to occur, something must happen to disrupt the natural barriers that prevent ovulation from taking place during pregnancy.
Is It Possible For a Woman to Have 2 Uteri?
One theory that some believe is a reason why superfetation occurs is that women can have two uteri.
Now, a woman can have a double uterus (uterus didelphys). This is a rare condition that can occur at birth.
If the tubes of the uterus in the fetus don’t join, they can develop two separate uterus organs.
Approximately 1 in 25,000 women have a double uterus. With this condition, women can still have successful pregnancies. However, they are at a greater risk of premature births or miscarriages.
Now, you may be wondering if women with uterus didelphys are more likely to have superfetation pregnancies.
This condition isn’t the cause of a second pregnancy. However, it does mean the woman may be able to have twins (1 in each womb).
Difference Between Twins and Superfetation Pregnancy
Superfetation and twins are entirely different forms of pregnancy.
Let’s explain how pregnancy works to give you a better idea of this.
We mentioned above that during ovulation, your ovaries will release an egg that needs to be fertilized by sperm.
Once sperm is ejaculated in the woman’s body, it can survive up to 5 days. This gives couples planning a pregnancy more of a window to work with.
That being said, it also means that people with a history of twins have a chance of conceiving twins.
There are two ways in which twins can be conceived. It happens if a fertilized egg splits in two or two sperms fertilize two separate eggs.
Twins conceived on the same date will be the same age with the same father.
With superfetation, the pregnancies will occur on different dates.
It’s also possible for the babies to be from different fathers.
One rare occurrence happened to a woman who got pregnant by surrogacy for another couple. Under exceptional circumstances, she conceived a baby with her partner while already pregnant with the other couple’s baby.
Superfetation Explained
Superfetation is when a woman conceives two babies at separate times.
A double pregnancy is extremely rare. It’s so rare that very little scientific research has been done on the phenomenon.
While there are possible reasons why an already pregnant woman can conceive a second child, at this point, everything is just speculation.
Some of the reasons that are considered for the cause of superfetation are:
- Rare occurrence where a woman ovulates while already pregnant
- The sperm made it past the cervix and traveled through the fallopian tubes in the uterus
- The embryo takes longer than normal to implant in the uterus, causing the hCG hormones to produce at a slower rate
- Fertility treatments
How This Works
As mentioned above, the fetuses will be at different ages. One thing to know about this is that it won’t be a drastic age difference.
For example, you won’t be already pregnant with a 5-month-old fetus and then conceive a second baby.
There is a very short window in which a double pregnancy can occur. It will happen within 2 to 4 weeks of conceiving the first baby.
In most cases of superfetation, the mother won’t have two different delivery dates. They can schedule a delivery close to the birth dates of the two babies.
Are There Any Risks or Concerns of Superfection?
More scientific research and medical literature must be performed before doctors can say whether or not there are any risks or health concerns of a double pregnancy.
There have been too few cases of superfetation for any real research to be done.
As long as pregnancy has no complications, babies should be healthy and developed.
However, there can be reproductive health risks if there is a gap of more than 2 to 4 weeks in the babies’ gestational age.
Final Words
When a woman becomes pregnant, her reproductive cycle will go on pause.
Pregnancy will cause a higher level of human chorionic gonadotropin hormones (hCG pregnancy hormones) in the woman’s system. This means she won’t ovulate or have a menstrual cycle throughout her pregnancy.
Do you have any more questions about ovulation during pregnancy? Let us know in the comments below.