ABOVE LEFT: a front view of the uterus. The uterus is shown as if cutin half, so you can see the thickness of the walls compared to a smallamout of empty space inside.
ABOVE RIGHT: a side view of the uterus and other nearby organs.
Your vagina is passage way between the inside of your body and the outsideof your body, but it is not a simple hole. It is made of serious muscleswhich can pull and push. When you are not using it for anything, your vaginais quite narrow, and about four or five inches long. If you put a fingerin it, you can feel its strong muscles hugging your finger. It will holda tampon in place, but it might become deeper when you are sexually excited,or stretch wide enough to let a baby pass through it. Your vagina isn'tstraight up and down. It leans toward the small of your back. At the endof it, if your finger is long enough, you may feel a little round bump,like the end of a nose. This is your cervix.
Your cervix is the narrow end of your uterus (or womb), which is atthe far end of your vagina. There is a little hole in its center calledthe os. The os will let menstrual fluid out, and sperm in, but it willnot let a tampon in. If you give birth, the os will open wide enough tolet the baby's head through.
Your uterus is smaller than you might guess. It is about as big as yourfist. You might imagine it as an upside down pear. If you cut a uterusin half, like a pear, you would see that there is almost no empty spaceinside. It is a ball of very strong muscles. This little thing has to beflexible enough to grow with a fetus, and strong enough to push out thefinished baby. Your cervix is the narrow end of your uterus (or womb),which is at the far end of your vagina. There is a little hole in its centercalled the os. The os will let menstrual fluid out, and sperm in, but itwill not let a tampon in. If you give birth, the os will open wide enoughto let the baby's head through.
The inside lining of the uterus is called the endometrium. This liningtriples in size every month in case a fertilized egg needs to plant itselfthere. It is full of blood vessels and other nourishment to support anembryo. When you have your period the lining disintegrates, passes yourcervix and runs down your vagina.
THE FALLOPIAN TUBES
At the top of your uterus are two horns. These are called the Fallopiantubes. They are about as wide as drinking straws, and about five incheslong. They work like escalators to bring your eggs down from your ovariesto your uterus.
At the end of the Fallopian tubes are little fingered things that looklike sea plants. These are called the fimbria. They actually hang abovethe ovaries and draw the released eggs into the Fallopian tubes.
The ovaries are are where your eggs are made. They also produce hormonesthat regulate your whole cycle. They are attached on either side of youruterus. If the Fallopian tubes are the "horns" of the uterusthen the ovaries are definitely "ears". They are wrinkly andabout the size of a walnut. During each menstrual cycle one of the ovariesshould release one egg. Sometimes, though, two eggs are released, and ifthey are fertilized then you have fraternal (not identical) twins.