Irregular cycle, blood found after relations
17 May, 2016
Question:My period is not regular. The cycle has ranged from 25 days to 32 days. As I do not have an established veset kavua, I do my bedikah on the onah beinonit, haflagah, and yom hachodesh.
Due to the unpredictability, the flow came this month on the 27th night. I was cohabiting with my husband and stains of brown discharge were found on his body immediately after relations. When I was cleaning up, brown discharge was found on the white tissue. The full flow began 3 hours later.
Is this a halachic problem? What should we do now?
Answer:A couple is fully permitted to engage in relations when the wife is tehorah and is not observing an onah.
If a woman finds blood during intercourse or immediately afterwards, or if blood is found on the husband's organ, she is rendered niddah and has encountered the halachically complex situation of bleeding during intercourse. In some situations she would be required to perform bedikot before and after intercourse the next time she engages in relations. In this case, since your flow began only three hours later, you may assume that the blood found after intercourse was in fact the beginning of your period. Therefore, there is no concern that relations cause you to bleed and you do not have to perform a special series of bedikot the next time you have intercourse.
Going forward, if your cycle is very irregular, as you get closer to the point where you may get your period and are concerned about this situation repeating itself in the future, you may wish to check for bleeding before engaging in intercourse. You should wipe externally with a tissue (not after urinating) to check for any staining. If the tissue is clear, go ahead with intercourse. If there is staining, you are not rendered niddah from the stain but we do advise abstaining from intercourse for 24 hours so your status may be fully clarified.
Additionally, you should not look for any blood after intercourse. Wait a few minutes before getting up and wiping off/cleaning yourselves. Be sure to use colored towels or tissues to wipe yourselves and don't look! Make sure your bed linens are colored as well.
Please feel free to get back to us with any further questions.
B'hatzlacha!
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