* Does bleeding always take place in a virgin during the first intercourse?
** Many men are often foolish in their ideas about the hymen. The fact that a man seldom is sure whether a woman has or does not have a hymen. Some women have intercourse regularly and retain the hymen. In such cases the hymeneal membrane is large and pliable and merely pushes into the vagina ahead of the male member. Doctors have sometimes found this membrane in pregnant women.
The hymen is absent at birth in many females. In many others it simply atrophies (shrinks) and disappears. It is also destroyed in various ways, including intercourse. In the case of a thin hymen, it often dilates without bleeding.
For these reason, a husband should not misinterpret a lack of bleeding as proof of lack of chastity.
* How can the location of the testicles be determined? What would be effects of surgery?
** There is no way to determine the development of undescended testicles except by palpation (examination by hands) or surgery. If the testicles are in the inguinal canal,
There location may be determined by the doctor by palpation. If they are not in the
Inguinal canal, they may be anywhere in the abdomen, surgery is required for diagnosis in such cases.
It is possible for a surgeon to successfully bring a testicle from inguinal canal into the scrotum. There is a difference of opinion among doctors about treatment. Some believe that nothing should be done until the age of 21, since testes often spontaneously come down that late. Others believe in early hormone treatment and surgery is necessary. Only when an undescended testicle gives trouble will the average surgeon operate.
The spermatozoa cannot live in the temperature of the abdomen or the inguinal canal. A man with two undescended testicles may be potent, but is sterile. If one testicle is in the scrotum and the other is in the abdomen, the man may be fertile.
* I am interested in obtaining material on the rhythm method of child - planning. I would like to know how this method works when the menstrual period is from 24 to 26 days rather than the regular 28 days. How can the date when the ovary releases the egg be determined?
** Most medical scientists today have discredited the rhythm theory as a reliable method of calculating the woman's fertile and sterile periods. Actually, rhythm cycle method produced millions of babies during so called sterile time and failed to result in conception during fertile times.
The main idea of rhythm cycle theory is that every menstruating woman has a definite moment during her menstrual cycle when her ovary rejects an egg, or ovum, into the fallopian tube. At all other times she is sterile.
It has been found, however, that some women can become pregnant thirty days out of thirty. Others can only become pregnant a few days a year. Each woman has her own sterile and fertile periods, very often completely unrelated to the time when ovulation occurs.
The temperature of a woman changes during the period of ovulation. Some doctors have recommended that a careful record of temperature changes be kept during the month on special charts to determine when it occurs. However, this method has proved unreliable.
