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Facts on Ovulation
Although you have two ovaries, they do not take turns to ovulate. The ovary with the dominant follicle is the ovary to release an egg that month. Your ovaries are your egg-banks. Do you know that you have about two million eggs or oocytes (immature egg cells) at birth! Yes, this is an amazing fact! However, by the time you reach puberty, only about 400,000 to 450,000 oocytes remain in each of your ovary. These oocytes remain inactive, ready for action, until your first menstrual cycle. Ovulation has to occur before conception can take place. Typically, only one oocyte in either of your ovaries will mature and be released in each ovulation cycle, which is about a month. Your mature egg then travels toward your uterus through the fallopian tube, where it has the potential to be fertilized. Your unfertilized egg can only live for about 24 to 48 hours after it leaves your ovary. Conception can occur any time during this period. However, it usually happens within the first few hours of ovulation. Your eggs will dwindle as time passes. You are able to produce eggs until about age 45 to 55. Then, your menstrual cycles will become increasingly infrequent and one day, it will stop altogether. This is when you reach menopause. The completion of menopause marks the end of your childbearing years. Just how many eggs will you release altogether? In the course of your lifetime, you would have produced about 400 to 450 mature eggs in your fertile periods. What happens to the other immature eggs? They will dissolve or degenerate and subsequently absorbed by the body. Statistics have suggested that you should avoid a late pregnancy. It is better to get pregnant at a younger age so that you can conceive when your eggs are younger. A woman’s total egg supply is formed in fetal life, to be released decades later. A man’s sperm is produced continuously during his reproductive life. An older woman’s egg is thus more vulnerable to mutation and division problems than an older man’s sperm. Observations reveal that babies of older mothers have higher rates of chromosome abnormalities than those of older fathers.
If you are highly sensitive to your body, you may be able to know when you are ovulating. You will experience a ‘middle pain’, something like a slight prick on one side or another of your body as your ovary releases your egg. The next time you go "Ouch" for no apparent reason, simply explain to your puzzled bystanders, "Excuse me, I have just released an egg", and graciously make your exit.
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