Condom mishap results in perimeter spill. How worried should I be?

September 26, 2010 11:13 AM

Condom mishap results in perimeter spill. How worried should I be?

We delayed a little while after ejaculation, and my partner's condom slipped off as he pulled out. This resulted in ejaculate spilling down alongside my vaginal opening. I washed thoroughly, but let's assume an enterprising sperm or few survived and ended up on inner mucosa (if not in the vaginal canal itself). I know chances are incredibly low that I will get pregnant, but how low are they? Are they one in a gazillion-billion, this-is-laughably-paranoid? Can I put my mind at ease for the next few weeks?

Exciting factor: I'm ovulating right now, and we are both quite fertile.

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (19 answers total)

I don't know what the odds are, but is there a reason you wouldn't just take Plan B ("morning after pill") and put your mind at ease?
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:19 AM on September 26, 2010 [8 favorites]

Are you in a place where Plan B is readily available? In the States, it's not very expensive and it's available over the counter at a lot of drugstores. Just call around until you find a place stocking it, and buy it. Even if you have to shell out the $60, it's worth it for peace of mind. Even a 1 percent chance that you might get pregnant is too much of a chance if you don't want to get pregnant.
posted by shamash at 11:20 AM on September 26, 2010

With the special addition of the exciting factor--you know you are ovulating right now--I wouldn't take the chance. If you have access to Plan B, go get it.
posted by Uniformitarianism Now! at 11:23 AM on September 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Thirding the Plan B. The only reason I can see against it is if it's been too long since the incident for Plan B to work (I'm assuming that this mishap happened in the last 24 hours? Your question doesn't say.)

I could regale you with anecdotes about non-penetration but ejaculation leading to pregnancy but I won't. If you want peace of mind, get yourself some Plan B ASAP.
posted by ambrosia at 11:27 AM on September 26, 2010

This is the reason Plan B was developed.
posted by Sara C. at 11:27 AM on September 26, 2010

Let me put it like this: in the past, and even on MeFi, I have called my dad to ask hypothetical questions or questions for friends. (He is an OB-GYN.) I do not call him with questions relating to my own personal life. It keeps us both in a happy state of denial and intellectual abstraction about these subjects.

Were I in your shoes, and I did not wish to risk pregnancy, not only would I be trying to access Plan B, I would make an exception to the rule that has served us so well for so many years. That is the amount I would not f around with risk.
posted by Uniformitarianism Now! at 11:32 AM on September 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Everybody is suggesting Plan B, but isn't the mechanism for Plan B that it stops ovulation, which is what has, in fact, just happened?
posted by moira at 11:34 AM on September 26, 2010

According to Planned Parenthood, in perfect use about 2 percent of women will become pregnant in a year; in typical use (eg leaving it in too long and getting leakage) that jumps to about 15 percent.

To my inexpert eye, that's a big enough gap that I'd want to fill it with Plan B, and in the future either try to keep things drip-free in the future, or maybe add in a backup method (eg diaphragm, pill, etc).
posted by Forktine at 11:36 AM on September 26, 2010

Plan B can stop implantation and fertilization as well as ovulation.
posted by chelseagirl at 11:39 AM on September 26, 2010

When I was in university, a friend of mine got pregnant this way. It was a traumatic experience for her because she did not want a baby. If you and your partner do not want a child right now, I strongly recommend (especially since you are ovulating right now) that you get Plan B/emergency contraception immediately. You have to do it within 72 hours.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:40 AM on September 26, 2010

I'm having a little trouble parsing the information on this web page from Princeton, which says on the one hand, "The risk is highest on the days right before you ovulate (when your ovaries release the egg), reaching a maximum of nearly 30%," but on the other hand, "After the first two days [of the average menstrual cycle], the risk starts to rise steadily, reaching 9% on or about day 13. Then it begins to decline." At any rate, you don't have to be in the U.S. to use emergency contraception after unprotected sex or condom failure. If you cannot get a purpose-made EC pill, you can take a combination of regular birth control pills.

We delayed a little while after ejaculation, and my partner's condom slipped off as he pulled out.

I'm not scolding you, and you may have already figured this out, but: this is why proper condom usage requires that he withdraw immediately after ejaculation. You might want to review the instructions that come with the condoms or look at some safe sex websites.
posted by Orinda at 11:41 AM on September 26, 2010

Plan B can stop implantation and fertilization as well as ovulation.

Well, nobody knows if this is entirely true.

However, it's also unlikely that OP knows for sure that she is definitely ovulating right this instant. Most likely she means that she's in the part of her cycle when she is pretty sure she ought to be ovulating. Which, again, exactly what Plan B is for.
posted by Sara C. at 12:40 PM on September 26, 2010

Get Plan B. Usually you have to ask at the pharmacy counter but you don't need an RX. And get a pack of Dramamine, or something else to help with the nausea.
posted by radioamy at 2:17 PM on September 26, 2010

If you're in the UK, you can get the morning-after pill (Levonelle) for free with a prescription, effective within 72 hours of intercourse. Walk-in clinics, family planning clinics or GPs will prescribe it, or you can buy it from most pharmacies for £22.
posted by teraspawn at 2:27 PM on September 26, 2010

The condom was Plan A. You need Plan B.
posted by bluedaisy at 2:37 PM on September 26, 2010

If you're worried about taking Plan B, I have taken it and was very pleasantly surprised at the complete lack of side effects. Please don't let a concern over nausea or cramping dissuade you.
posted by kate blank at 2:39 PM on September 26, 2010 [3 favorites]

partners have taken plan b 2x with me over the years and both seemed to not have a very strong reaction from it. Both were situations like this. Honestly, I think the chance of you being pregnant is infinitesimally small, but it's either Plan B or a month of feeling insanely freaked out and worrying about your future.
posted by sully75 at 4:10 PM on September 26, 2010

Plan B! I have taken it twice. Other than some moodiness, which could very well have been psychosomatic, I don't think I had any side effects. And SO worth $50 to not worry about it all month.

If you're on or near a college campus check there, our health center sold it at a 50% discount to students. I thought about stocking up before I graduated but figured walking out with a haul would raise eyebrows.
posted by ista at 7:09 PM on September 26, 2010

This happened to me - I was under 25 at the time so went to Brook Advisory local to where I was staying and got the morning-after pill for free. (I am in the UK - if you are the same age and locale then definitely do this). It made me very slightly nauseous, but nothing I couldn't handle. I needed to do this to stop myself worrying.

If it's too late for that now, you can get an IUD fitted.
posted by mippy at 7:56 AM on September 27, 2010