It all depends on the cervix – the ‘mouth’ at the bottom of the womb that tips into the top of the vagina. This ‘doorway’ guards the womb, mostly preventing unwanted bacteria and other infection-causing nasties from getting in. The cervix is like a valve that closes tightly to do this. In addition, the highly specialised cells lining the cervix create a special mucous ‘plug’ that stop bacteria (and even sperm) from getting into the womb.
Sperm are barred from the womb for most of a woman’s cycle, because, being a foreign protein, constant exposure can lead to sperm allergy. This can interfere with conception. Sperm allergy may very occasionally happen in women who use the contraceptive device. The string through the cervix may interfere with the cervical plug allowing sperm use the string as a ‘rope-ladder’ to reach the womb.
When the woman’s body is preparing to ovulate, which is about mid-cycle, the cervix softens and opens very slightly. The chemistry of progesterone, the hormone that assists with and maintains conception, moistens and loosens the cervical plug, so that it can come away. This now slippery mucous lubricates the vagina and changes the once ‘hostile-to-sperm’ environment into a ‘sperm-friendly-zone’. This ‘fertility-mucous’ also mimics semen, nourishing and protecting sperm and keeping millions of them alive in the comfort-zone of the cervix for as many as five days.
How does this make your baby a boy or a girl?
If you have sex before you ovulate, there is no egg waiting in the fallopian tube. Y-sperm or boy-sperm that are lighter and swim faster than X or girl-sperm, race ahead. When they reach the fallopian tube, there is no egg waiting for them, so they simply disintegrate. The girl sperm in the meantime, use this opportunity to ‘holiday’ in the cervix. Over the next few days, the millions of sperm gradually make their way towards the fallopian tube. Depending on whether an X or Y sperm fertilise the egg, the baby will be a girl or a boy. When fertilisation happens later, the baby is usually a girl. When the egg is fertilised on the day of ovulation, the baby is usually a boy.
Irrespective of whether your unborn baby is a boy or a girl, he or she is a unique and individual human being who will be loved for who they are, and will become, over a lifetime.
