Say It Aint So!!!

Updated on June 14, 2011
S.R. asks from Saint Charles, MO
15 answers

Yesterday my friends mother told me a friend of hers (same age) got pregnant after she went through menopause!

I was in shock and upset to the point of tears after telling my husband this! (i was probably overreacting because of pms, lol)

anyway, that got me thinking. what exactly does menopause do to our bodies? are we able to get pregnant even after menopause? if so, why? if not, why?

somebody please tell me she was playing an awful trick on me!

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N.G.

answers from Dallas on

If she got pregnant, she wasn't through with menopause. After menopause, we stop ovulating. Without ovulation, you cannot get pregnant. Clearly, this woman ovulated. Which means she was not in menopause.

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B.G.

answers from Los Angeles on

It is just like when a daddy "gets fixed"... He can still get his wife pregnant for a little while after getting snipped.

This is how you know God has a sense of humor.

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T.C.

answers from Dallas on

Menopause stops our fertility and child bearing abilities (hormones change, cycle stops, etc). I'm pretty we have a TON of eggs and menopause doesn't come because we run out them. We have way more eggs than we could have periods or children. I think it's just an age thing and the body does it...kind of like when our periods start. It just happens at a certain age. Same with menopause.

I don't believe this woman was finished with her fertility phase. Menopause takes years to go through. She likely had started the process but wasn't finished yet and ovulated and got prego like normal.

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M.B.

answers from Austin on

The problem with menopause, is......

you don't know WHEN your last period really will be! Often they become very irregular, but occasionally you still ovulate.

That is probably what happened..... one time of unprotected sex right at the point she was ovulating, even though it might have been several months since her last cycle.

It probably is a lot more common than we realize.

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P.G.

answers from Dallas on

I googled and read that you're officially menopausal when you have not had a period for a year. So perhaps she was peri-menopausal, which is pre-menopause when things are winding down but not done yet?

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S.S.

answers from Daytona Beach on

basically women are born with a set number of eggs in their ovaries. once those eggs are gone, you go thru menopause. we are born with 1 million eggs. by the time we hit puberty we have about 300,000. 10-15 yrs before you go thru menopause, it drops off even quicker. menopause is a result of estrogen levels lowering and lessening of eggs. if you don't have any eggs, you can't get pregnant. however, while you are going thru menopause, there is a chance of getting pregnant. used to happen all the time back in the day when there was no such thing as BC and such. They are called late life babies.

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C.P.

answers from Provo on

Menopause can very tricky sometimes. My guess is that she only thought she was through.

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R.K.

answers from Appleton on

I heard from a nurse that a woman can get pregnant up to 5 years after her last period. I doubt if she would be able to carry to term because of low horomone levels. As we are going through menapause we can skip periods for a few months at a time then get another period so we are still ovulating.

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L.F.

answers from San Francisco on

She most likely was in perio-menopause. She wasn't officially menopausal. In that instance, she could still concieve because she still would ovulate.

M

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P.M.

answers from Portland on

I grew up before most modern forms of birth control were available. I recall hearing murmurs several times about "Change of Life Babies." Or sometimes just "Surprise Babies." Seems they were common enough that there were names for this event.

As the ovaries wind down their activity, the remaining eggs, a few of which could still be viable, emerge at less regular time periods. This can become very spotty for some women. Most months, if an egg hasn't ripened in the ovary, the whole cycle skips, or bleeding might be unusually heavy or light. But as the occasional egg works its way to the surface of the ovary where it can be released (and possibly fertilized), a woman can still have a period, and can still become pregnant. While fairly rare, this can sometimes happen well after she thinks she's finished menopause.

I had extremely irregular periods for a couple of years during menopause. I was glad my tubes were tied.

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C.C.

answers from Los Angeles on

The term menopause has two definitions:
1. The ceasing of menstruation.
2. The period in a woman's life (typically between 45 and 50 years of age) when this occurs.

Most women will say they are in menopause when their cycles start to become irregular and they are experiencing the symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, moodiness, loss of sleep, etc. However, they would technically be considered premenopausal by the medical community until they have stopped having a menstrual cycle.
So the answer to your question is that it would be impossible to get pregnant if you no longer had a menstrual cycle. The menstrual cycle is required to build up a thick uterine lining and without the thick lining, implantation would be impossible.
If your friend was meaning that the person was experiencing perimenopause, then yes, she may have gotten pregnant. As long as a person is cycling, they can get pregnant.

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E.M.

answers from Honolulu on

She M. or M. not have. My mom had periods once every 2 years for a while (4 years I think) so something was going on. Menopause is defined as 1 12 month period with no period, so my mom was there...Until you have a full 12 months you are pre-menopausal, which is what I am at (I am 28 years old... so prime time!)

My mom had the menopausal transition going on for 12 years so it isn't over night.

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D.P.

answers from Pittsburgh on

It ain't over til it's over! LOL

Yep--the definition of "no pd. for a year" can take YEARS of almost happening to actually happening and then, I'm guessing that maybe God didn't read that law anyway and there's probably some wiggle room!

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J.D.

answers from Los Angeles on

Every woman should have a copy of Dr. Christian Northrups, Women's Bodies Women's Wisdom. It is an amazing source of information on everything related to the woman's body, Western and Eastern ways to 'fix' and understand as well.

V.C.

answers from Dallas on

I would not believe that. Maybe she was mistaken about being through menopause. Had she gone at least one year without a period?

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