What your period says about you, & fertility (4)

Chapter Four

What your period says about you.

If you didn't already know, teenagers are more likely to get pregnant than adults. Why is this?

Well here’s a bit of science for you.

A menstruation cycle lasts roughly 28 days. Day 1 is the first day of your period. And day 28 is the last day before your next cycle.

Ovulation is the day your ovaries release an egg down the fallopian tube and it it able to be fertilized. (i.e baby making day.) This day usually occurs 14 days before the last day of your cycle. (so 15 days after the first day of your period)

The 2 days before ovulation start your fertile time window, when you are more likely to get pregnant then any other time of the month. HOWEVER, you can still become pregnant ANY day of the month (which I will explain later). So just because you are not in the fertile window does not mean you are safe!

Sperm can live inside a woman for 3, sometimes even 5, days after sex. Especially because during the fertile window, the vaginal discharge becomes ready and more inhabitable for the sperm. Where normally the vagina kills sperm and makes it difficult for them to survive. During Ovulation and the fertile window, the vagina makes itself the right temperature, consistency, and PH levels to help the sperm.

24 hours after the egg is released, if it does not meet a sperm, it will die and pass into the uterus to be passed during menstruation. This is the end of ovulation and the fertile window and you *can't get pregnant until the next cycle. (Please see below because *this is kind of a lie!)

Unfortunately, because ovulation is based off the last day, and not the first day, it can sometimes be hard to know for sure which day it is occurring. Especially if your cycles are not all 28 days long, every single time, consistent, like clock work. (which no one’s really is!)

The best thing you can do is get a period tracker app on your phone. And as you document all your cycles it will gather data and adjust your calendar to be specific to you and your unique cycle. Then it can calculate, and warn you in advance, not only when your next period will be, but when your fertile window occurs. If you don't have a smartphone, start calculating and recording your cycles and predicted ovulation days on a calendar. Even if you use alternative forms of birth control, it is important to know.

It is important to avoid having unprotected sex on these days! No matter what! It can wait. Sadly, because of the hormones released during ovulation, this is also the time that you want sex the most.

If you do have sex during this time, always wear a condom. Even if you are on the pill. And even better-use BOTH.

*There are over a dozen factors that can affect when, and how often a woman ovulates. And especially within the first 3-5 years a woman gets her period, the cycle is not a consistent pattern.

Imagine your body is a business. And when your period starts all the employees and workers are new. None of them know exactly how to do their job right. So things don't always go smooth and efficiently. You might have a 16 day cycle, then a 30 day cycle, then an 18 day cycle… you never know exactly which day is which.

You might even have ovulation on the totally wrong day (including during menstruation) or multiple times a month (which means more ovulation days and bigger fertility windows) because our ovaries have no idea what they are doing.  It takes quite a while to get everything sorted out. And once everything is consistent and predictable- it can get all messed up again due to pregnancy or hormonal factors.

So the reason teenagers get pregnant more frequently is because they are usually more fertile, and it is very hard for them to know when they are fertile.

And another reason is because no one gives them all the details- or helps them get the proper protection.