Question

Karen walked into the crowded café and looked around the room until she spotted her friend, Ann. Ann had found a table for two towards the back of the room. She was bent over the university newspaper as Karen approached her. “Hey! Here’s my favorite newlywed,” proclaimed Karen. Ann looked up from the paper and nodded a hello. Karen stared at her friend, her eyebrow slightly raised. “I know you’ve been married for two months, and hence the honeymoon is over,” she smirked, “but come on, it can’t be bad yet,” Karen half stated, half asked. “We’re fine,” Ann mumbled softly. “Then why the long face?” asked Karen. “Having a hard time in one of your courses?” she suggested. “No,” sighed Ann. “I’m doing really well in my courses, and it’s nice to come home and be with John,” said Ann as she gazed at her wedding ring. “Sooo...?” asked Karen. Ann looked straight at Karen. Karen thought she could read confusion and panic in Ann’s strained face. “I’m late,” blurted out Ann. “Is there any way I could be pregnant?” “Well... you are married, to the man you love, birds and bees, that sort of thing... I guess that means you could be,” stated Karen. “When were you, umm, guys together?” asked Karen. “It’s called sex,” said Ann rolling her eyes. “Since when have you been shy around me? The thing is we’ve not had sex a lot this month. John went to a meeting, and we want to start taking precautions because we want to be married for a while and finish school before we start our family. So, in the last month we really only had sex once and that was, I think, in a ‘safe’ part of my cycle.” “Did you use some form of protection that one time?” asked Karen as she leaned closer to Ann. “Well, no,” replied Ann. “I told you, I thought it was safe. It was on day 16 of my cycle. So there is no way, right?” Karen looked at her friend. “What?” asked Ann. “You’re the biology major. You’ll tell me there is no way, right?” Karen pulled out a sheet of paper from her notebook. “I need to ask you a few questions,” Karen said. 1. If you were Karen, what questions would you ask? 2. Ask a friend who is not taking hormonal birth control how long is her menstrual cycle. Write it here and have it ready to share in class.

Answer 1

1. Ann would like to get pregnant. I would like to know some more things so that I can suggest the ways to become pregnant. So the questions to be asked include the following

• 1. What is the duration between your periods? This is to find out the regularity of the menstrual cycle. Normal cycle occurs between 24 to 32 days with an average of 28 days. Ovulation occurs 2weeks or 14 days before the start of next periods.
• 2. Do you have severe pain during periods? Reason for painful periods include endometriosis, fibroid in the uterus, cervical stenosis, pelvic inflammatory disease etc. All of the condition may delay pregnancy or results in infertility.
• 3. Does your husband use too much alcohol? Alcohol may damage sperm.
• 4. Does your husband having diseases like diabetes , autoimmune disease or hormonal disorders? All these conditions may affect male fertility.
• 5. Any of you or both of you are in use of any medication? Exposure to some medications, chemotherapy and radiation may affect fertility

2. Menstrual cycle of a person not taking hormonal birth control may vary. Menstrual cycle is a natural change that occurs in a female. The length from the first day of one period to the first day of the net period varies from 21 days to 35 days, with an average of 28 days.