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Do you have the ability to
make love for as long as you
want until you choose
to ejaculate? Or do you
ejaculate with no control
before you or your partner
is ready?
As
we move deeper into the female body, we move
away from what can be seen from the outside
or felt during intercourse. The uterus,
Fallopian tubes and ovaries are essential
for female hormone production and fertility. (To
read more on the outer parts of the
female sex organs go to the page on the
vulva,
vagina and G-spot.)
The
uterus
The
uterus (or womb) is the organ that houses
and nourishes a growing baby inside a
woman's body. It is roughly the size and
shape of a pear, which sits upside down in
the body between the bladder and the final
parts of the digestive tract at the back.
The top of the uterus is dome shaped and is
called the fundus. The main section,
which slowly narrows down, is called the body
and the end, which connects uterus and
vagina, is the cervix. The uterus is
held in position in the body by various
ligaments which pull it to the back of the
body during sex. Some women experience
uterine contractions during orgasm.
The
uterus is built up of layers of tissues with
the uterine cavity in its center. Three layers of muscles constitute most of
the uterine wall. They are arranged in
circular and longitudinal consecutive
layers, making the uterus a powerful,
muscular organ. The inner layer, or
endometrium, is rich in blood vessels, which
are able to bring nourishment to the fetus
as it grows through pregnancy. During each
menstrual cycle the outermost layer of the
endometrium thickens and builds up in
preparation for a possible pregnancy. If no
egg is fertilized and "nests" in
the uterine wall, this layer is shed by the
body, resulting in the bleeding which
constitutes a woman's menstruation.
The
uterus also functions as a passageway for
sperm to reach an egg which is traveling
from the ovaries down the Fallopian tubes on
its way to the uterus. An interesting detail
is that there are special cells at the
cervix, the part where the uterus connects
with the vagina, which secrete cervical
mucus. This mucus builds a natural barrier
like a plug, which does not allow sperm to
enter when no egg needs fertilizing.
However, after ovulation (i.e. when an egg
cell which could be fertilized has been
released) the mucus becomes supportive to
sperm motility and survival. As you can see,
the female reproductive system is a finely
tuned system, optimizing for fertilization
when that's possible, but protecting its
owner from infection or contamination from
the outside world at other times.
The Fallopian
tubes
The
Fallopian tubes are the next element in the
reproductive system beyond the uterus. They
are a pair of 10 cm long tubes linking the
uterus with the ovaries, where the egg cells
are produced. The Fallopian tubes join the
uterus at its side towards the top. At
first, the tubes are fairly narrow, but then
they widen more over two thirds of their
length. This section is called the ampulla.
At the end, the tubes do not attach
themselves seamlessly to the ovaries;
rather, they terminate in a ring of
fingerlike protrusions which surround the
ovary, but also leave the tubes open to the
pelvic cavity. The protrusions, or fimbriae,
move and are normally able to sweep an
egg cell which is released from an ovary
into the tubes. If the egg does not enter
the tubes successfully but is still
fertilized, a fetus can start to grow in the
pelvic cavity, which results in major health
risks for the mother and baby.
Once
an egg cell has entered a Fallopian tube it
is slowly pushed along by small hair-like
structures on the inside of the tubes.
Normally, sperm will meet an egg cell in the
tubes and fertilization will take place
there and then. The whole journey for an egg
cell to the uterus takes about seven days.
Another point of interest is that healthy
Fallopian tubes are essential for a woman to
get pregnant. As the tubes are long and thin
it's hardly surprising that they can get
blocked. This is often the result of scar
tissue which forms after a woman has
acquired the sexually transmitted infection
known as Chlamydia. Once a tube is blocked
it cannot be unblocked again, and if both
tubes become blocked the woman in question
will be infertile, unless she resorts to IVF
treatment.
The Ovaries
The
ovaries are paired glands, which are the
centerpiece of the female reproductive
system. They are small and oval shaped and
are located to the side of and above the
uterus, behind the bladder. The ovaries
release egg cells and hormones during the
fertile years of a woman's life. The
formation of an egg cell from primordial
germ cells is highly complex. When a girl is
born her ovaries will contain between
200,000 and 2,000,000 precursor
cells that can produce eggs; only 40,000
will make it to puberty, and the others will
die off progressively. In fact, out of the
40,000 left at puberty only 400 will mature
successfully and be released for potential
fertilization.
Each
potential egg cell is surrounded by
supportive cells constituting a primordial
follicle. Some of these follicles start to
grow and develop into cells surrounding a
potential egg cell in the middle. This
structure is then called a primary follicle.
It develops further into cells surrounding a
tiny liquid-filled bubble with the egg cell
in the middle, a secondary follicle. Each
month the pituitary gland in the brain
releases hormones which stimulate the
development of follicles and prepare the
genetic material in each egg cell so it can
merge with a completely different set of
genes from the sperm cell.
Each
month, one of the follicles matures (after
which it's known as a Graafian follicle),
ruptures, and releases its egg cell, which
is then swept into the Fallopian tubes. This
process is called ovulation. Normally, only
one mature follicle ruptures each month, but
if two happen to do so at the same time,
there is the potential for non-identical
twins. This will of course only happen if
both egg cells are fertilized and grow into
healthy babies. Once the egg cell has been
released from the Graafian follicle, this
tiny bubble in the ovaries changes into a Corpus
luteum, a cluster of cells, which
releases progesterone and estrogen, the
female sex hormones. The hormones
control the condition of the tissues lining
the uterus, which is waiting for a
fertilized egg to nest in it. If no egg is
fertilized, the Corpus luteum dies. As it
stops producing hormones the tissue in the
uterus is shed, which results in
menstruation.
The
whole interplay of female sex hormones every
month is highly complicated and superbly
coordinated. If you want to know more,
please go to
Female
sex hormones and reproductive cycle.
