Having sex means mentally preparing yourself for all manner of potentially messy situations. One possibility? A condom getting stuck or lodged inside you after intercourse.

While your first instinct may be to panic, staying calm and knowing what steps to take is a better response. HuffPost asked experts to share what you should do if you ever find yourself dealing with a stubborn condom.

If it’s stuck in your vagina and you think you can reach it …

It’s probably difficult, but the first thing you should attempt to do is relax, said Alyssa Dweck, a New York-based gynecologist and author.

“If you tense up your vaginal muscles, it’s going to be uncomfortable to insert your finger and try to get it out,” she said.

Dweck added that you may even want to get into a warm shower or bath to help relax your body. Then, after checking that your hands are clean and your fingernails aren’t too long, use an index finger to feel around and sweep the back wall of the vagina. When you find the condom, try to hook your finger into it and pull it out, Dweck said.

Whatever you do, don’t use any tools like tweezers to reach it. With tweezers, as well as long, sharp fingernails, you could knick yourself. Since the vagina and vulva are very vascular, Dweck said, cuts in that area will bleed more. Your partner can absolutely assist with this, so long as they follow the same hand maintenance rules.

If it’s stuck in your vagina and you can’t reach it …

Once again, don’t panic. Dweck said it’s possible that the condom is bunched up closer to your cervix and out of reach of fingers, or it’s lodged in one of your vaginal fornices, which are pocket-like structures near your cervix.

This is a fairly common occurrence, and Dweck said she finds herself “fishing for condoms frequently” at her practice. During daytime hours, you could call your gynecologist to see if they can squeeze you in, but an urgent care center would be equipped to handle a condom retrieval as well.

The procedure would be somewhat like a pap smear, Dweck noted. A doctor would use a speculum to open your vagina and remove the condom with a small instrument.

If a condom is stuck in your anus …

If you can reach it, the same rules apply as above, according to Joseph Frankhouse, a Portland, Oregon-based fellow of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons and leader of the Colon and Rectal surgery program for Legacy Health.

“Your first goal would be to see if using some fingers, you can find the edge and pull it out,” he said.

If that doesn’t work, your body has a pretty good backup plan. In all likelihood, you’ll pass it with your next bowel movement, and if not that one, probably the one after that, Frankhouse said.

And if it’s still in your anus …

Since the condom itself doesn’t present serious health risks, Frankhouse said, you can give it another try with a gentle, over-the-counter laxative like Miralax.

And if it’s really, really not coming loose, your next step would be to see a colorectal surgeon or a gastroenterologist. “We can put a speculum in your bottom and we could see if it’s visible. It might very well be easily grasped and retrieved in that fashion,” Frankhouse said, “or one could use an endoscope or colonoscope to look in there and make sure everything’s OK and remove it.”