sperm – Blue Lotus Fertility

Your Cervix Is Amazing!

November 11, 2014December 26, 2015Leave a comment

Ladies and Gentlemen! Has anyone ever told you how amazing a woman’s cervix is?

A woman’s anatomy is hidden inside, causing it’s sophistication and perfect design to go unnoticed but I am here to tell you, the cervix is one of the coolest parts of our body!

The cervix is an incredible and intelligent gateway between the vagina and uterus. Throughout the month the cervix opens and closes as we become fertile and infertile, allowing sperm to travel up into the uterus with its agenda of implanting an egg.

When we are infertile our bodies view sperm as possible bringers of infection so our cervix remains tightly closed and sperm die in our vaginas within 30 minutes due to the naturally acidic environment.

When we are fertile our cervix (which I like to think of as a grand hotel with a nice solid door) opens and cervical mucus is released providing small rivers and channels for sperm to swim up. The cervix has small indentations in its walls called cervical crypts, which can be thought of as little hotel rooms. The cervix is so intelligent, it traps sperm that are shaped imperfectly or swimming oddly in the lower crypts while sperm that are healthy and superior are ushered with specific cervical mucus into the upper crypts of our cervix, right next to the uterus.

A woman can be fertile and secreting fertile cervical mucus for up to seven days, the fertile mucus and cervical crypts hold the optimal sperm, feeding them glucose until the moment we ovulate which is a 24 hour window at the end of our fertile cycle. With the sperm released the cervix begins to close back up, our cervical mucus dries up, our fertility leaves and our vaginas become protectively acidic once again.

This dance happens (for women who are ovulating) once a cycle regardless of sexual activity. There are ways to chart the comings and goings of our fertility and use the knowledge to avoid or achieve pregnancy. Once we master our bodies language of fertility we can monitor our fertility regardless of age or what is happening in our lives (breastfeeding, menopause etc.).

Our cervix is also responsible for keeping itself closed while we are pregnant, protecting the uterus from any infections and helping us hold our babies inside until we are ready to give birth. Once we give birth the uterus opens to 10cm to allow our babies to pass down into our vaginas and into the world and then closes up once again, it is an incredibly busy part of our bodies that deserves recognition.

Lets hear it for our cervixes!

Sperm Simplified

February 17, 2012December 26, 2015Leave a comment

Sperm Simplified

What are sperm? How long do they live? Are they male and female? How do they implant in a womans egg?

The term sperm is derived from the Greek word (σπέρμα) sperma (meaning “seed”) and refers to the male reproductive cells.

The sperm cell consists of a head, a midpiece and a tail. The head contains 23 chromosomes which will join the 23 chromosomes of the female egg, there are also enzymes used for penetrating the female egg. The midpiece contains a filamentous core which helps the sperm metabolize (recharge) during the journey through the womans cervix, uterus and fallopian tubes. The tail helps propel the sperm forward for the journey up to the womans fertile egg.

Study findings have showed a range of 42 to 76 days from the time of sperm production to ejaculation in normal men. Men are born with a set number of underdeveloped sperm cells which are not technically sperm, yet. These cells eventually mature at puberty and they will create the reproductive type cells. Healthy males will create sperm their entire adult life from these underdeveloped cells.

The process is called spermatogenesis.

During spermatogenesis the underdeveloped cells make exact copies of themselves. Each cell will make four copies that will then mature into reproductive cells. A woman’s egg will always carry the X chromosome (female chromosome), it is the males sperm which determines the sex of a child. Sperm can carry either X or Y chromosomes. Sperm carrying the Y chromosome (male) are able to swim faster than those with the X chromosome, but also die off faster. A couple trying for a male baby who know the womans peak time of fertility could make love as ovulation occurs to give the male sperm the best chance at reaching the egg first. A couple trying for a female baby could make love in the days leading up to ovulation while the woman is fertile and abstain the day of ovulation to give the slower hardier female sperm a chance to reach the egg as it becomes ripe.

Sperm can live for up to five days during a womans fertile time of the month when she is producing favorable cervical mucus to protect the little swimmers. This means they can be resting inside of a womans cervix 5 days in advance of ovulation and still fertilize the egg. The egg, unfertilized, has a life span of only about 24 hours. If a woman is infertile the sperm are able to live for a maximum of thirty minutes the vagina. If left in the air sperm have an even shorter life span of a few minutes.

If the sperm does indeed reach a fertile egg it will meet the egg in a specific portion of the tube, called the ampullar-isthmic junction, it rests for another thirty hours.

Fertilization — sperm union with the egg — occurs in this portion of the tube (shown to the left as being cut for a tubal ligation). The fertilized egg then begins a rapid descent to the uterus. The period of rest in the tube appears to be necessary for full development of the fertilized egg and for the uterus to prepare to receive the egg.

A membrane surrounding the egg, called the zona pellucida, has two major functions in fertilization. First, the zona pellucida contains sperm receptors which are specific for human sperm. Second, once the membrane has been penetrated by the sperm, it becomes impermeable to penetration by other sperm.

Following penetration, a series of events set the stage for the first cell division. The single-cell embryo is called a zygote. Over the course of the next seven days, the human embryo undergoes multiple cell divisions in a process called mitosis. At the end of this transition period, the embryo becomes a mass of very organized cells, called a blastocyst. It’s now believed that as women get older, this process of early embryo development is increasingly impaired due to diminishing egg quality.

What are the best ways to cultivate healthy sperm?

* Eating a proper balanced diet

*Reduce stress. Stress interferes with reproductive hormone production

*Exercise regularly. The body works as a whole. Exercise brings oxygen and nutrients to the entire body

*Maintain healthy body weight. Too much or too little body fat interferes with the production of necessary reproductive hormones

It is best to avoid:

*Chemical toxins of every kind

*Recreational drugs and prescription Drugs. They both have the same harsh effects and consequences on the reproductive system and body as a whole

When thinking of the components of the reproductive system, male or female it is worth while to look at our lives and ask what building blocks we are surrounding ourselves with that have effects on our bodies and minds. The reproductive system is a great marker of our overall health, if you are interested in conceiving a child consider cleansing and properly building up your body so the strongest and healthiest of sperm, egg, uterus and state of mind can be present during conception to give your future child a healthy running start in this life.

Happy Loving!

Credit for some content in this article goes to UCSF Medical Center.

Avoiding Pregnancy

December 31, 2011January 4, 2012Leave a comment

Avoiding Pregnancy

Are you looking for a method of birth control that is chemical and device free? Charting your fertility is a great solution. This is not the rhythm method, it does not involve temperature taking, day counting or internal checking.

Fertility is determined each cycle by the sensation felt throughout the day at the vulva (lowest opening of the vagina) and mucus discharged which you can see when you wipe with toilet paper. A quick recording of what you felt/saw throughout the day is added to a chart and soon you will begin to see your natural patterns of fertility. Once you can correctly identify your pattern of fertility through the help of your teacher you can begin to use that information to have sex on the days that you are infertile without fear of becoming pregnant.

Women are only fertile during one time in a cycle; during this time sperm can live inside of our bodies for up to five days. When we are infertile, sperm can only survive inside of us for three hours. The time we are fertile is when we ovulate, there are a few days leading up to ovulation and a few days after that you should avoid having sex to keep yourself from becoming pregnant. Once you have correctly identified your peak time in the month (ovulation) you can have sex any time of the day without fear of pregnancy until your next bleed when you start looking for signs of fertility again.

The few days that we are fertile can be different every cycle; the only reliable way of knowing when those days are is through the correct observations of your fertility that you and your teacher will discover through charting. The rhythm method (assuming that you ovulate on the 14^th day of your cycle) is incorrect and puts you at risk for pregnancy because every cycle is different, even if you bleed every 28 days.

It is possible to be fertile during the last few days you are bleeding and it is only through understanding your signs of fertility that you could prevent pregnancy should early ovulation occur and you have unprotected sex on the last few days of your bleed.

Our bodies are actually remarkably simple and give us multiple clues as to when we are fertile so we can make educated decisions every month about whether or not we want to get pregnant. There is no need to be taking hormones, chemicals or inserting IUDs once we know how our bodies operate.