Menstruation and Pregnancy
Menstruation is the most visible phase of the menstrual cycle, and corresponds closely with the hormonal cycle, and is therefore used as the limit between cycles; Menstrual cycles are counted from the first day of menstrual bleeding, a point in time commonly termed last menstrual period (LMP). The time from LMP until ovulation is, on average, 14.6 days, but with substantial variation both between people and between cycles in any single person, with an overall 95% prediction interval of 8.2 to 20.5 days.
During pregnancy and for some time after childbirth, menstruation is normally suspended; this state is known as amenorrhoea, i.e. absence of the menstrual cycle. If menstruation has not resumed, fertility is low during lactation. The average length of postpartum amenorrhoea is longer when certain breastfeeding practices are followed; this may be done intentionally as birth control.
Read more about this topic: Menstruation
Famous quotes containing the words menstruation and/or pregnancy:
“If men could menstruate ... clearly, menstruation would become an enviable, boast-worthy, masculine event: Men would brag about how long and how much.... Sanitary supplies would be federally funded and free. Of course, some men would still pay for the prestige of such commercial brands as Paul Newman Tampons, Muhammed Ali’s Rope-a-Dope Pads, John Wayne Maxi Pads, and Joe Namath Jock Shields—”For Those Light Bachelor Days.””
—Gloria Steinem (b. 1934)
“Back in the days when men were hunters and chestbeaters and women spent their whole lives worrying about pregnancy or dying in childbirth, they often had to be taken against their will. Men complained that women were cold, unresponsive, frigid.... They wanted their women wanton. They wanted their women wild. Now women were finally learning to be wanton and wild—and what happened? The men wilted.”
—Erica Jong (b. 1942)