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Question:
Hello, I would like to ask a question which I am very, very worried about and its caused me anxiety for quite a while now. I masturbated wile my mother was asleep. Then afterwards I went to the toilet to wash my hands. I washed my hands twice but I thought I could still smell a little semen from my hands. Then my mother asked me to help her up from the couch. I helped her out and I pulled on her hands. About 30 minutes later we arrived at a Bathhouse, this was when I was starting to get worried. By chance, while my mother was showering or etc, is it possible for her to fall pregnant? I am very concerned about this and I would appriecieate it if it was answered ASAP. Thank you very much.

Answer:
by Scott Gross: (06/29/2005)
Hi and thanks for your question. First, just to put your fears to rest, there is absolutely no possible way that your mother could have gotten pregnant in this situation. Sadly many, many people are unaware of how pregnancy really works, and one of the main topics of confusion is about sperm and semen. Sperm (the microscopic carriers of a man's genetic tissue) live and swim in semen when outside of a man's body. Sperm, however, are INCREDIBLY fragile. They don't live long in open air (one or two minutes) and die instantly when in contact with something like soap. Here there are a couple of things on your side. You washed your hands. Twice. Once would have been enough to kill the sperm, but I understand why you washed them again. Then you helped your mom up from the couch. Already the sperm (had there been any alive by this time) would be dead from the air contact as I imagine it must have been a few minutes from the time you washed your hands to go and help her up. Then you drove 30 minutes to a bathhouse. If the soap and extended air contact hadn't killed all of the sperm by now, a 30 minute car ride certainly would and I don't think touching a steering wheel is good for sperm either. You don't need to worry about this anymore. If you have other questions or need help in other ways, please don't hesitate to ask. We're here to help. Take care, Scott Gross

Reviewed by: Patricia Fawver Ph.D. in Sexology

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