Talking with Kids about Sex and AIDS
Jeannette Gaffney and Mickey Kavanagh
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Give FeedbackFertility
(Using props from the anatomy lesson). This section is designed for girls who have their periods or for older middle school and high school students.
How can a girl know when she is fertile? Every woman can learn to recognize signs that an egg has stated to ripen in her ovary. A feeling of wetness around her vagina or on her underpants which is not her period is a signal which she can learn to understand. When the egg starts to mature in the ovary, it sends a hormonal message to the cervix to begin production of fluid. The fluid (discharge) can be like hand lotion or hair conditioner or clear like water or stringy like egg whites or sticky like paste, depending on which part of the menstrual cycle she is in. The texture of the discharge indicates the stage of egg development. Some girls may experience a few dry days after their periods before they begin to notice the wetness which is a sign that the egg is beginning to ripen in the ovary. The discharge begins as a clear watery fluid, which can last a few days. The fluid turns cloudy and thick, like hand lotion or creme rinse as the egg gets closer to ovulation. There is never very much fluid; it is easily wiped away with toilet paper or absorbed by cotton underpants. At the time of ovulation, the fluid becomes clear and stringy like raw egg white. None of these discharges have a bad odor. They are perfectly normal and healthy. If a girl should notice a bad smell or an itching or burning sensation, it tells her that something is wrong and she should have it checked. The “egg white” discharge only lasts for one or two days. When it is gone and ovulation has been completed, some women notice a thick paste like discharge for a couple of days. This is following by dry days. From the “egg white” days to the beginning of the next period is almost always 14 days. There is a lot of variation from woman to woman and there can be variation in the same woman from month to month. Not everybody has every kind of discharge. The number of days from period to period (the menstrual cycle) varies immensely. Some things which are fairly constant in ovulating (fertile) women are the raw egg white elastic discharge or mucus at the time of ovulation and the 14 day time between ovulation and the first day of the next menstrual period (bleeding).
All of these discharges are made in and by the cervix and come out through the vagina. Their purpose is to assist and nourish sperm to enter the uterus on its way to fertilize the egg. Any time sperm is near the vagina during these slippery days, it is very likely that it will meet an egg.