Conception Cap
A conception cap can assist to protect semen from the vaginal cavity and allow semen to pool against the cervical os. Around the time of ovulation, a conception cap or cervical cap is filled with semen and placed on a woman's cervical os for several hours to maximize the time the semen is available to fertilise a waiting egg. Cervical caps are designed for conception and are different from the cervical caps used for contraception, although these may also be used as conception devices.
A conception cap may also be used after intercourse or artificial insemination by e.g. a needle-less syringe, and serve to keep the semen in place against the cervix.
Cervical caps are increasingly being used as a delivery system for semen from private sperm donors. They have the advantage over the use of needless syringes in that it is not necessary to wait until the semen liquifies before inserting the cap into the vagina, and the donor may ejaculate straight into the conception cap. However, a variation is a conception cap to which a narrow tube is attached through which liquefied or frozen and thawed donor semen is inserted by means of a catheter. The narrow tube is then removed. The advantage of this type of device is that it is inserted empty into the vagina and can be positioned around the cervix without risk of seepage of sperm. This device is growing in popularity because its use ensures that the donor's semen is deposited as close as possible to the cervix, and it can be kept there while the woman goes about her normal activities for several hours to aid conception.
Read more about this topic: Conception Device, Artificial Insemination
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