Where do Eggs come from? Part 1

Inspired by various images of dyed eggs, it occurs to me that most of the women that I encounter in my acupuncture clinic do not know how their physiology works.  Where do eggs come from?  How are they made?  What exactly happens every month?  Most women don't research this until they are interested in getting pregnant, or until they are having difficulty getting pregnant.  I'd like to provide a simple overview of what happens during a woman's monthly cycle, I remember when I learned this that it was really interesting to me.  

A textbook perfect normal menstrual cycle lasts 28 days.  (There is a normal variation of +/- three days on either end, but each cycle should be the same number of days.)  Day 1 is the first day of menstrual bleeding.   This blog post is about anatomy: what parts are involved, how big are these things, and where are they?  Knowing the anatomy makes understanding how things work easier.  

In a typical female reproductive system, the focus is usually on the uterus, located about three or four inches below the belly button, inside the abdomen.  It's usually around the size and shape of an average chicken egg.  It's attached to two ovaries, each about the size & shape of an almond.  An ovary is composed of many finger-like follicles, like a sea anemone.  Each ovary connects to the ovary via a fallopian tube.  Each of those are about 3-5 inches long and 1/2 inch in diameter, similar but shorter than a licorice stick candy.  

I hope you forgive me for my reference points, but they are the best way to clearly picture what the anatomy looks like.   Knowing normal anatomy and physiology is a required in order to understand when something goes wrong, like infertility, ovarian cysts, or ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome.  These are all conditions that I  treat in my acupuncture clinic.  If you'd like more information about any of those conditions and acupuncture care, please visit www.AcuSpaWellness.com.