pregnancy

Who's Afraid of Sperm Cells?

Judging from the number of users I see experiencing pregnancy scares on the Scarleteen message boards, particularly from situations besides genital intercourse, you’d think sperm cells were some magical weapon of mass fertilization, powerfully wiggling their way through clothes/towels/fabric, and leaping off hands to impregnate every person around them within a 50 mile radius. Look out for scary sperm! Get outta the way! They're coming right for you! (pun intended)

As a volunteer for Scarleteen, I'm here to tell you none of this is physically possible. It just isn't. As a former laboratory technician at a fertility clinic, having worked directly with sperm and semen (and without having ever gotten pregnant doing so, no less!), I want to tell you why.

Sex, Etc.

A for-teens, by-teens site dealing with birth control and pregnancy, STDs and testing, relationship matters, LGBTQ issues, and sexual politics. Sex, Etc. also publishes a teen-written magazine which accepts reader contributions.

DRY HUMPING FREAKOUT!

…was the major overall theme yesterday in our anonymous texting service’s inbox here at Scarleteen! 

Fear of pregnancy? Ready for sex?

Hannahcarissa95
asks:
I am almost 18. My long distance boyfriend is 22. I have decided he is the man I want to lose my virginity to. Seeing as he is 1500 miles away means that he is not going to be doing it anytime soon. However, I am going to where he lives for Thanksgiving and we are planning on doing it then....

Pregnant & Posting: 39 weeks & Delivery

I worked right up until the day before I delivered my baby. In hindsight, I wish I'd had some time off beforehand. It would have made life easier and less stressful. However, we don't always have ideal situations.

I spent the last week of my pregnancy talking to baby a lot about making sure she waited until our scheduled date and time. Or, at the very least, if she was going to come early to try to do so during regular business hours on a day where my OB was working so that I didn't have to worry about being delivered by someone else.

Pregnant & Posting: 33-38 weeks

May I suggest that if it can be avoided, moving to a new home while in one's third trimester during the hottest summer on record and trying to work at the same time should be avoided if at all possible? Because it should.

Pregnant & Posting: 31 & 32 weeks

I've been feeling pretty good lately, other than being hot beyond all belief. I know now why everyone kept telling me last time that I was "lucky" not to be pregnant during the hottest part of the year here. Trying to keep my body temperature regulated is a constant struggle.

So I feel like it's finally time to talk about this birthing thing on the blog.

Pregnant & Posting: 25, 26, & 27 weeks

My strep throat infested family has recovered. We're still in the process of buying a house, so that's been crazy. And then my family took a vacation to a place where there was (gasp) no easy Internet access. I know, hard to believe such places exist, but they do and I loved every minute of being almost completely unplugged!

In terms of how I'm feeling, the last few weeks have been decent. The heartburn has continued to be awful. During my last pregnancy, my partner used to laugh that we should take out stock in Tums because I chewed my way through so many bottles.