THE MORNING AFTER PILL OTHERWISE KNOWN AS - OH MY GOD THE CONDOM BROKE:

Samantha woke up with a pounding headache. She groaned loudly and shifted around under the covers until something hard and warm met her touch. She quickly pulled back the blankets to see her very naked ex-boyfriend lying next to her. 
"Oh goooood what did I driiiiink??" she murmured into her hands as she tried not to laugh at the badly drawn penises and unibrow on the guy's face. She herself had 'BEST PARDY EVA' written on her abdomen. She shoved him awake and said, "Jack, listen, did we have sex last night?" He looked confused and then, "Oh yeah, that was great, we should do it again sometime," he said, lying back with a grin.
"I don't make mistakes twice! Anyway, you used a condom right?" she sighed, reaching for her clothes. "No," came the answer. She stopped dead and said, "WHAT?!" He put his hands up and looked worried. "You're on the pill so it doesn't matter!" She felt like punching him. "No I came off it when we broke up! Are you saying we used absolutely NOTHING to stop your boys swimming upstream??" 
"Yeah...," he said slowly. She hit him with a pillow and put on her clothes in stony silence. "So what are you gonna do?" he asked meekly. "Get the morning after pill obviously," she said, still pissed off at him and promising herself she'd never touch drink again.

                     
The emergency contraceptive pill is taken after unprotected sexual intercourse or contraceptive failure, to try and prevent pregnancy from occurring. It can work up to 72 hours after unprotected sex. Millions of women around the world have used emergency contraceptives effectively. However, this is an emergency form of contraception and does not replace effective methods of regular contraception.

It needs to be taken as soon as possible so don't be waiting round making french toast, get your ass to the chemist! The earlier you take it, the better. It works best if you take it within 12 hours of sex. You should swallow it with water as soon as you get it, in fact the chemist will probably give you a glass of water to take straight away! It's less effective the more you wait so don't treat them like assignments and get them outta the way!

YOU HAVE TO GET THE MORNING AFTER PILL IF:

• You've had unprotected sex, no contraception of ANY kind; and no, praying to Jesus is not a viable barrier method

• The contraception has failed, such as a condom breaking! You might  not notice during sex so make sure to check for holes in the boat afterwards!

• You experience pill failure: If you forgot it or didn't take it on time or you got violently sick from all the jagerbombs, you're better safe than sorry!

If you're already up the duff, the morning after pill has no effect, zero, zilch, nada! And if you have diarrhea or throw up after you've taken it, chances are it wasn't absorbed so you'll have to take another one!

It's now available over the counter and it's getting cheaper in certain chemists than it was when it first came out! Don't be tempted to use it as a contraception method though, I have a friend who does that and it can't be good for her to have her hormones constantly up and down all over the place! Plus she acts like she's on her period almost all the time!

PREGNANCY - THE FACTS, THE MYTHS AND THE SCARY STUFF YOU DON'T EXPECT:

You may be told as a child how the stork lands with the baby on the parent's front porch, but let me delve into it with a bit more detail. Pregnancy occurs when a male and a female engage in sex, coitis, intercourse, the dirty, call it what you will. The man ejaculates and semen is released into the woman's vagina. The sperm in the semen (About 300 million sperm are released in an ejaculation.) all swim towards the egg in order to fertilise the ovum (egg) with a single sperm (it only takes one!) This eventually leads to the development of the embryo. The term embryo is used to describe the developing offspring during the first 8 weeks after conception, and the term fetus is used from about 2 months of development until the birth. 

TEENAGE PREGNANCY:

This is a pregnancy of a girl under the age of 20. It generally refers to a female who is unmarried and usually refers to an unplanned pregnancy (AVOID THE PULL OUT METHOD! BABIES HAPPEN!) A pregnancy can take place at any time after the first menstrual period, normally taking place around the ages 12 or 13, (though you probably shouldn't be having sex at this age anyway...) and is the stage at which a female becomes potentially fertile.

Teenage pregnancy depends on a number of societal and personal factors (meaning if you're still waiting on your baby teeth to fall out, you shouldn't be having sex!) Teenage pregnancy rates vary between countries because of differences in levels of sexual activity, general sex education provided and access to affordable contraceptive options. (Actually, you can find Durex condoms in some of the chains of Euro2 for only €2! They still work the same! But I'm assuming they fell out of the back of a truck for that price!)

In developed countries, teenage pregnancies are associated with many social issues, including lower educational levels, higher rates of poverty, and other poorer "life outcomes" in children of teen mums. Teen pregnancy in developed countries is usually outside of marriage, and carries a social stigma in many communities and cultures. The United Kingdom has the highest level of teenage pregnancy, while Japan and South Korea have the lowest.

WARNING!

Here is a video of a woman giving birth, but it has VERY GRAPHIC CONTENT so if you're squeamish don't watch it! 

The biggest risk for teen mothers is delaying prenatal care or worse, no care at all. Don't be stupid, tell your mum and dad (nobody will die, yes they'll be angry but at least you're not telling them you want to drop out of school to fulfill your lifelong ambition of prostitution!) The reason for lack of prenatal care is usually delayed pregnancy testing (All it takes is a bit of pee!), denial or even fear of telling others about the pregnancy. A survey by the ISSHR found that the age of 'first time sex' has fallen in Ireland: for 18-24 year olds the average age of first sex is 17; for 35-39 year olds the average age is 19 for women and 18 for men. 

PREGNANCY MYTHS:

Myth 1: During the full moon phase more women go into labor than other times. Looking at the facts shows that this isn't true. (Women are not werewolves, unless they haven't shaved in a while!)

Myth 2: Spicy food induces labor. Again, there is no scientific logic to this. It can however cause intense diarrhoea depending on how much you consume, so I wouldnt recommend spicy food if you're about to give birth seeing as women generally poop during labour anyway. 

Myth 3: Sex brings on labor - this also isn't based on fact and there is no evidence to show that it is true. It's no harm though! So if you're horny go for it!

Myth 4: It is commonly expressed that stretch marks are a natural resultant of pregnancy. The truth is there are women who don't get them at all. (Lucky girls... bet they're the ones with perfect pore-less skin too!)

Myth 5: Being pregnant makes you crazy. Your hormone levels change when you are pregnant, which may cause you to react more strongly to things. However, you will still be yourself. You will still have your likes and dislikes, fears and concerns. What changes is your ability to "hide" the real you. Your high hormone levels encourage you to show your reactions on the outside too. (Tip for men: hibernate)

Myth 6: If your mother had an easy pregnancy and delivery, so will you. The size and position of the baby, your diet, lifestyle and attitude all play greater roles than hereditary in determining the ease or difficulty of your pregnancy and delivery. 

UPCOMING WORLD AIDS DAY 2011:

The United Nations' World AIDS Day is held on December 1st of each year to honour the victims of the AIDS pandemic and to focus attention on the prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS related conditions.

On this day each year, many national and international leaders and pioneers encourage the support and treatment of people living with HIV and AIDS and stimulating research into the treatment of these conditions.

What is HIV?

The immune system can’t get rid of viruses out of your body in the way that a healthy immune system could, like after you get a cold. Scientists are still trying to find out why. A deficient immune system can't protect you. HIV weakens it by destroying important cells that fight infection and disease.

How does HIV lead to AIDS? I thought they were the same thing?

There is a key part of your immune system that fights disease and infections, HIV uses cells to make copies of itself and then destroys them. After a long period of time, HIV can destroy so many of your cells that your body can no longer fight diseases or infections at all, and this is when HIV can lead to AIDS.

·       

What is AIDS ?

·     AIDS is the final stage of HIV infection. People at this stage of HIV disease have badly damaged immune systems, which put them at risk for opportunistic infections such as pneumonia, other parasitic, viral and fungal infections, and some types of cancers. AIDS is a condition which results from the damage done by HIV to the immune system.

AIDS is a syndrome, rather than a single disease, because it is a complex illness with a wide range of complications and symptoms. You get AIDS when your immune system is "deficient," or isn't working the way it should. AIDS is not something you inherit from your parents. You acquire AIDS after birth but you can be born with HIV, which really sucks.

·     

How is it transmitted?

HIV can only be transmitted between people through direct contact of a mucous membrane or the blood stream with a bodily fluid. Basically, vaginal fluids, blood and semen.There's been a lot of stigma around the spread of HIV and people living with HIV and AIDS. Especially the incorrect notion that only homosexuals can get AIDS which, ridiculously, is still the thought of some uninformed and paranoid people.

Other Information:

You can buy a World AIDS Day bracelet supporting the cause of this website: http://utac.org/order It's the little steps that can make the huge difference. The more people that get involved with the cause and help spread the word to raise awareness is a step in the right direction. 

The 1993 American drama film, Philadelphia, was one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to acknowledge HIV/AIDS, homosexuality and homophobia. It was ground breaking in bringing the audience's attention to the attitudes of people towards the condition and the serious abuse and injustice done on towards human beings with the syndrome. Anyone who is interested in getting a very realistic view of how someone is inflicted with AIDS, is persecuted from having the illness and how it progresses this is the perfect movie to watch. It also features Tom Hanks, whose excellent performance won the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Scary Statistics:

• Since the start of the epidemic, almost 60 million people have been infected with HIV and 25 million people have died of HIV-related causes.
• 33.3 million people are living with HIV/AIDS and 7.5 percent of those millions are children under the age of 15.
• HIV/AIDS is a "young people disease" with approximately 40 percent of new infections each year occurring among people aged 15 to 24.
• In the United States, by race, new infections occurred among African Americans at 45%, 35% in whites and 17% in Hispanics.
• While African Americans represent about 12% of the U.S. population, they account for 46% of people living with HIV in the U.S., as well as 45% (nearly half) of new infections each year. 
• The results of a study show that at some point in their life, approximately 1 in 16 black men will be diagnosed with HIV, as well as 1 in 30 black women.

References:

www.until.org

http://www.worldaidsday.org/