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Your first menstrual period is called menarche. It usually happens around age 12
but may start as early as age 9. Menarche is a sign you are growing up and
becoming a woman. Along with starting your period, your body is changing. You've
begun to develop breasts, pubic hair, and underarm hair, and your hips have
begun to widen. Menarche also means that if you have sex, you can get pregnant.
You can even get pregnant in the month before your first period starts.
Women’s body is much more sophisticated than
any other fertility / ovulation calculators, estimation. Fertility, pregnancy,
ovulation calendar is not viewed by scientists as substantial method for
detecting fertile days. Please use only scientifically proven, effective means
of tracking fertility, ovulation period, for the sake of preserving your health and saving
your time. Only the tester for saliva activated ovulation detection,
has the most proven accuracy, and substitutes a number of different calendars
and calculators, as well as devices of peculiar quality and other unsafe
techniques.
Starting your period
In the days before you start your period you may feel tense or emotional. You
may gain water weight and feel bloated. You may have pain (cramps) in your
abdomen, back, or legs that lasts a few hours or more. Your breasts may be
tender, and your face may break out.
When you start your period, you'll notice a spot of blood on your underwear or
when you use the bathroom. The flow of blood from your vagina is usually light
at first and may get heavier for a few days before tapering off. The blood may
be a brownish color at first and then turn brighter red. Your period will
usually last 3 to 7 days each month.
Ask your mom, a health professional, or a woman you trust for advice on using
feminine products for the bleeding, such as tampons or pads. Tampons fit inside
your vagina and are good to use when swimming or doing other physical
activities. Pads have adhesive strips on them that menstrual cycle cycleyour underwear, and
you'll need to change then regularly. Having a period won't prevent you from
doing any of the activities you normally do, and no one will be able to tell
when you're having one.
If you have cramps with your period, regular exercise, a heating pad, a warm
bath, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen,
ketoprofen, and naproxen may help. If you are younger than 20, do not take
aspirin. Aspirin increases the risk of Reye's syndrome, a disease that affects
the brain and liver. If these treatments don't help, talk to your doctor about
prescription medications.
Your menstrual cycle
Your period is part of your menstrual cycle—the time from the first day of your
period to the first day of the next period. A normal menstrual cycle can be
anywhere from 21 days to more than 35 days, but most girls have a period every
25 to 30 days.
For the first year or two, your cycle may not be regular, and you may not have a
period sometimes. If you are underweight because of dieting or exercise, have a
lot of stress in your life, or are overweight, your periods may be hard to
predict.
Your menstrual cycle makes it possible for you to get pregnant. Sometime around
the middle of each cycle you will ovulate, which means one of your ovaries has
released an egg. You may have a slight discharge from your vagina or some
spotting of blood when you ovulate.
You are most likely to get pregnant on the day of ovulation and the five days
before it, but it is very hard to predict which day you will ovulate. If you
have sexual intercourse during this time, sperm from a boy's penis can fertilize
the egg.
Once an egg is fertilized, it attaches itself to the uterus, a hollow
pear-shaped organ in your lower abdomen. Within the uterus is a lining of tissue
and blood that acts like a nest for the fertilized egg, but if the egg is not
fertilized, the lining is shed. Shedding this lining of tissue and blood is your
period.
Keep a calendar and mark the day you start your period each month. This can help
you predict when you'll have your next period and is also useful when talking to
your doctor.
Pregnancy facts
You should assume you can get pregnant any time of the month. The timing of
ovulation is different for everyone, especially those who have periods that
don't start at the same time every month.
Don't rely on your friends' advice about how and when you can get pregnant. Talk
to a health professional—your doctor, school nurse, or nurse practitioner—and
parents, if possible, for reliable information about preventing pregnancy and
sexually transmitted diseases.
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