This document discusses the process of human reproduction, including defining key terms like fertilization, conception, and pregnancy. It explains how pregnancy occurs in three steps: 1) ovulation, where an egg is released from the ovaries; 2) fertilization, where the egg and sperm unite; and 3) implantation, where the fertilized egg attaches to the uterus lining. The document also discusses the health risks of early pregnancy in adolescents and complications that can arise due to the mother's young age.
This document discusses the process of human reproduction, including defining key terms like fertilization, conception, and pregnancy. It explains how pregnancy occurs in three steps: 1) ovulation, where an egg is released from the ovaries; 2) fertilization, where the egg and sperm unite; and 3) implantation, where the fertilized egg attaches to the uterus lining. The document also discusses the health risks of early pregnancy in adolescents and complications that can arise due to the mother's young age.
This document discusses the process of human reproduction, including defining key terms like fertilization, conception, and pregnancy. It explains how pregnancy occurs in three steps: 1) ovulation, where an egg is released from the ovaries; 2) fertilization, where the egg and sperm unite; and 3) implantation, where the fertilized egg attaches to the uterus lining. The document also discusses the health risks of early pregnancy in adolescents and complications that can arise due to the mother's young age.
This document discusses the process of human reproduction, including defining key terms like fertilization, conception, and pregnancy. It explains how pregnancy occurs in three steps: 1) ovulation, where an egg is released from the ovaries; 2) fertilization, where the egg and sperm unite; and 3) implantation, where the fertilized egg attaches to the uterus lining. The document also discusses the health risks of early pregnancy in adolescents and complications that can arise due to the mother's young age.
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THE PROCESS OF
REPRODUCTION When you finish reading this chapter, you should be able to: • 1. define fertilization, conception and pregnancy • 2. explain how pregnancy occurs and its prevention; and • 3. identify the complications of early pregnancy in the growing adolescent.
Lesson Objectives: Although human beings are fully sexually differentiated at birth, the differences between males and females are accentuated at puberty. This is when the reproductive system matures, secondary sexual characteristics develop, and the bodies of males and females appear more distinctive. Female puberty usually begins at about 8-13 years of age; the reproduction maturation of boys lags about two years behind that of girls. The physical changes of female puberty include breast development, rounding of the hips and buttocks, growth of the hair in the pubic region and the underarm, and the start of menstruation.
Introduction The major landmark of puberty among females is the onset of the menstrual cycle, the monthly ovulation cycle that leads to menstruation (loss of blood and tissues lining the uterus) in the absence of pregnancy. The menstrual cycle is from the first day of a period until the day before the next period starts. Normally, it lasts around 28 days, on the average, but can be as short as 21 or as long as 40. Whatever the length, ovulation will happen about 10-16 days before the start of the next period.
How does one ovulate?
How does pregnancy occur? Before pregnancy can begin, two important steps need to take place. An egg must be released during ovulation and it must be fertilized by a sperm cell. From a medical point of view, pregnancy begins when a fertilized egg implants into the wall of the uterus. Pregnancy continues as that egg grows in to an embryo and then a fetus. 1. Ovulation: The ovary releases an egg • Hormones associated with the menstrual cycle (period) cause eggs inside the ovaries to mature. Every 28 days or so, one mature egg is released from the ovary. This is called ovulation. After the egg is released, it moves into the fallopian tube where it stays for about 24 hours. If the egg is not fertilized during that time, the egg disintegrates (breaks down) and menstruation (your period) begins 11-16 days later.
The Three Steps of Pregnancy
2. Fertilization: Sperm meets egg • The mature egg is fertilized when it is joined with a sperm cell. This usually happens after a penis* has ejaculated semen inside a vagina*. Sperm is contained in the semen which travels up the vagina, through the cervix and uterus and into the fallopian tubes. If an egg is less than 24 hours old, it can be fertilized by a sperm. • Fertilization sometimes (but rarely) happens when semen has been ejaculated outside but near the entrance of the vagina. Technology can also be used to fertilize an egg, either by inserting semen into the female’s body (artificial insemination) or by fertilizing an egg outside the body and then placing it into the uterus.
The Three Steps of Pregnancy
3. Implantation: The fertilized egg attaches to the lining of the uterus and pregnancy begins. • Most eggs are fertilized by sperm while still in the fallopian tube. The fertilized egg then travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus. This can take 1-2 days. When the egg reaches the uterus, it may attach itself to the uterine lining (the endometrium) and pregnancy will begin. Many fertilized eggs are never implanted and are flushed out of the body with the next period.
The Three Steps of Pregnancy
A normal pregnancy lasts 38-42 weeks (nine months). This is measured from the first day of the last period. Pregnancy is discussed in terms of trimesters (three-month periods), referred to as a fetus. Useful Tip Even though an egg can only be fertilized within 24 hours of being released, sperm can live inside the body for up to five days. That means that you can have sex when you’re not ovulating and still become pregnant. In other words, sperm that was ejaculated on Monday could fertilize an egg released on Friday. What can be done to prevent teenage pregnancy? Teen pregnancy has a tremendous impact on the educational, social, and economic lives of young people. Early parenting reduces the likelihood that a young woman will complete high school and pursue the necessary post-secondary education needed to compete in today's economy. Although there is a decline in teenage pregnancy rates it has been steady over the past two decades. Teens are still engaging in sexual activity and teen girls are still getting pregnant. Is there a time in your cycle when you can’t get pregnant?
How can you avoid becoming pregnant?
There are serious health risks associated with early pregnancy because a young woman's body is not mature enough to handle bearing a child. When a woman is under 20, the pelvic area (the bone surrounding the birth canal) is still growing and may not be large enough to allow the baby to easily pass through the birth canal. This can result in what is called an "obstructed labor". Obstructed labor is dangerous to both mother and child and requires the help of trained medical professionals. Under the best circumstances, the young woman will have an operation called a "caesarean section in which a cut is made in the abdomen and the baby is removed directly from the uterus.
What are the health effects of early pregnancy
in the growing adolescent? A major contributor to high maternal mortality rates is adolescent pregnancy. If a young woman is not physically mature, the uterus may tear during the birth process, and she may die because of blood loss. If she is lucky and survives the delivery, she might face fistula due to prolonged labor. A baby's head can also tear the vagina causing a hole between the vagina and bladder or between the vagina and the rectum, resulting in what is known as a fistula. Unless she has an operation to fix her problem, for the rest of her life, she will not be able to hold her urine or feces and this will make her a social outcast.
What are the health effects of early pregnancy
in the growing adolescent? In addition, younger women who become pregnant face a higher risk than older women in developing a number of other complications. These complications can be any or a combination of the following manifestations: • excessive vomiting; • severe anemia; • hypertension; convulsions; • difficulty in breast feeding (if the girl is too young to produce milk); • premature and low birth weight babies; • infection; prolonged labor; • and high maternal mortality or death.
What are the health effects of early pregnancy
in the growing adolescent? The risk of having serious complications during pregnancy or childbirth is much higher for girls in their early teens than for older women. Ages of 20-30 years are the safest period of women's life for child bearing. The major difference between girls in their early teens and older women is that girls aged 12-16 years are still growing. The pelvis, or the bony birth canal, of a girl can grow wider by as much as 20% between the time she begins menstruating and the time she is 16 years old. This widening of the pelvis can make the crucial difference between a safe delivery and obstructed labor. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that obstructed labor, due to disproportion between the size of the infant's head and the mother's pelvis, is most common among very young mothers. The consequences of such obstructed labor may be death due to numerous complications or lifetime crippling conditions of vesico-vaginal fistula.
What are the health effects of early pregnancy
in the growing adolescent? Reproduction involves the ova and sperm to fuse. Their union can lead to the creation of a new life through pregnancy. This has explored the process of pregnancy and the changes that happen during pregnancy. We have discussed the various ways of preventing pregnancy so that the growing adolescent would be empowered to choose to avert from early pregnancy that can lead to various life-threatening complications.
SUMMARY Discuss and research on advantages and disadvantages of the following contraceptives.
CONTRACEPTIVE ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Group 1 Condom Group 2 Calendar method Group 3 Birth Control Pills
GROUP ACTIVITY 1. What do you often hear about sex? 2. Draw a mind map showing the ways to avoid the pressure to have sex.
