Educate

I know there are some very insensitive people in the world, but I have come up with a simple theory to explain some people's crude remarks.

At the wet market today, a lady my mother's age said to me in not so many words, "no baby yet? what's taking you so long?" and I grinned but only because I was imagining myself doing a mean kick a la Chun Li of Street Fighters... Maybe a few Kame Hame Has too.

A few months ago, a very distant relative who lives in a very remote village asked me practically the same question.

My husband on the other hand has to deal with old, canteen ladies teasing him over his 'performance' and how he has failed as a man to get his wife pregnant.

That's just to name the few memorable ones. Others I swallow like a bitter pill.

But on all these occasions I have noticed a recurring pattern, and no, I'm not talking about gossipy old ladies. I have put it down to a lack of education. These women, probably did the deed and was instantly, miraculously pregnant, which is good for them, of course. What they don't know is how they got pregnant.

Many don't understand, that making babies require excellent timing, because you can only get pregnant if the eggs are released from their follicles from one or both ovaries. This/ these eggs live approximately 24 hours and sperm must get there in time or else it will be too late. Sperm can live up to 5 days so if you've had sex within five days prior to ovulation, there's some chance you could get pregnant.

But there are many reasons why a sperm can't get to egg and it is not simply because the man does not know how to do it right.

For one thing, maybe the timing is a little off as explained earlier.

Maybe the sperm count is low or the sperms are not, in laymen terms, strong swimmers.

Maybe the sperms are not healthy.

Maybe, like in my case, the tubes are congested, hence creating a roadblock for his swimmers to get to the eggs. Regardless of how strong those swimmers are, the sperm must meet the egg somewhere in the Fallopian tubes. The eggs that goes out of the tubes have either been penetrated and morphed to a ball of cells that will later become an embryo and then a fetus or it has already passed its 'expiration date' and results in us getting our menses.

Maybe also, the ovaries are not functioning and therefore, there are no eggs for the sperms to meet in the first place.

It could also be because of the cervical mucus in our uterus which could kill sperms.

Those are just some of the possibilities, and there's probably more that I don't know of. At least I have done my reading because I am obsessed with this baby making business.

Maybe, just maybe, if people can be just as well versed, maybe, I'll get less insensitive comments. Maybe.