This 25 year old woman has never given birth and has no history of STIs. Each photo was taken at approximately 10:00 pm every day starting the first day of her menstrual cycle. For the duration of this project, she used condoms as her birth control method so as not to introduce semenal fluid into the photoshoot. She did not use tampons or mooncups during her menstruation either.
This cycle is of normal/average length for her, about 33 days. Her cycle’s follicular phase (variable number of days preovulation) lasts until about day 20 or 21. Her fertile phase lasts from days 13 to 21 with ovulation on day 20. Her luteal (postovulation) phase is 13 days long (12-16 days is the norm and is not variable in a normal cycle).
Above is a graph of her basal body temperature for this cycle. As you can see, after ovulation on about day 20, her temperature began to rise due to the heat-inducing hormone progesterone produced by the corpus luteum. This temperature shift signifies that ovulation has already occurred. Check out more information about the Fertility Awareness Method of birth control to learn more about cyclical temperature changes.
You may notice on the right side of some photos, some jagged looking skin, which is the remnants of her hymenal ring. Her os (opening in the cervix) is round because she has never given birth; the os becomes more of a slit after childbirth. On the sides of the photos, you can see her vaginal rugae, which are the ridges that make the elastic muscular canal of the vagina able to open/expand dramatically during arousal and childbirth.
She also tracked the depth/movement of her cervix in her vagina. These gradual shifts are not really distinguishable in the photos, but was a tangible change as the depth she needed to reach a finger inside to touch her own cervix varied slightly each day. She also noted the firmness of the cervix and openness of the os – again a change she was feeling with her finger.
Her uterus is tipped backward (retroflexed), so you may notice that the cervix is pointing upwards in some photos. This is an anatomical variation that is present in about 20-30% of the population, and is most often a genetic trait. It means that the body of the uterus lies more towards her back than over her bladder.
Day One
Blood – red , clotty and heavy flow
Cramps – mild
Breasts – de-swelling
Feeling – very sexual and tender
Day Two
Blood – Dark red, medium/light flow
Breasts – normal
Basal body temperature – 97.2 F (and remains between 97 F and 97.4 F until day 20)
Day Three
Blood – Brown and watery dark red, low flow
Day Four
Brown Spotting with some dark red flecks (note fresh blood at os)
Day Five
Light brown discharge; very low flow
Tender, heart-achey
Tired
Day Six
Very light brown discharge
Sticky cervical fluid when touched between fingers
Day Seven
Cervix in low closed position
Cervical fluid sticky
Day Eight
Cervix, low and closed/firm
Cervical fluid white and sticky
Day Nine
Cervix low and closed
Dry sensation
Day Ten
Cervix low and closed
Notice blood spot near os and brown clot near cervix (right). Possibly from vigorous intercourse earlier that day (not mittelschmerz as I am not ovulating yet)** Since posting this last idea that the blood may have been from intercourse, I have since been diagnosed with an endometrial polyp that occasionally causes bleeding mid-cycle, usually unrelated to intercourse. I am treating it with holistic measures and hope it clears up soon.
Day Eleven
Cervical fluid is creamy
Day Twelve
Cervical fluid white and wet, milky
Feeling particularly sexual
Day Thirteen
Copious watery cervical fluid
Cervix softening and moving upwards
Day Fourteen
White/clear watery cervical fluid, dripping
Day Fifteen
Cervical fluid changed to more eggwhite texture
Cervix is soft, open and high
Day Sixteen
Cervical fluid alternately wet and eggwhite consistency
Cervix soft and high
Day Seventeen
Cervical fluid is very gelatainous (here seen covering os) and streaked with whitish yellow
Sensitive, sensual breasts (not painfully tender)
Stringy Fluid when stretched between fingers (above)
Day Eighteen
Eggwhite fluid
Day Nineteen
More white-tinged eggwhite fluid
Very stretchy and strong Fluid (above)
Day Twenty
Mild back pain and cramp on left side (mittelschmerz)
Ovulation suspected!
Feeling very sexual
Cervical Fluid gelatinous and egg-white (right)
Day Twenty One
Drier/chunkier (like drying rubber cement) cervical fluid
Nipples very tender and painful
Day Twenty-Two
Tender nipples
Cervical position is mid and slightly open
Basal Body temperature beginning to rise, today 97.6 F
Day Twenty-Three
Very tender nipples
Dry feeling
Basal Body temperature 97.5 F
Day Twenty-Four
Very tender nipples
Dry feeling
Cervix feels hard and high again
Day Twenty-Five
Headache and tired
Dry/tacky
Day Twenty-Six
Breasts swelling
Tacky cervical fluid
Basal Body temperature now noticeably higher than preovulation by about 1 degree Farenheit. It is now 98.1 F and ranges from 98.1 F to 98.6 F for the rest of this of cycle
>
Day Twenty-Seven
Tender nipples, swollen breasts
Tacky cervical fluid
Day Twenty-Eight
Dry feeling
Day Twenty-Nine
Dry feeling
Day Thirty
Dry feeling
Breasts feel heavy
Day Thirty-One
Feeling bloated
Dry fluid (note fresh blood at os, sign of impending menses)
Feeling emotionally tender
Day Thirty-Two
Very light brown spotting
Cervix low and open
Feeling tired
Day Thirty-Three
Pink spotting
Lower back ache
Menses begins tomorrow upon waking, 13 days after ovulation (luteal phase)
Thank you!
Feel free to comment below. Please know that I ‘censor’ the comments, so you needn’t bother saying something mean, derogatory, pornographic, or sexist as posting such comments does not further the vision of my project or the health of the world.
amazing that is nice
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This truly amazing, I love your site
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I have always liked how my cervix felt to the touch, and often wondered what it looked like. It is as beautiful as I imagined! Lots of the earlier comments resonated with me. When I read that your uterus is “tipped” (as mine is), I was amazed, because the CNPs/MDs, when they mentioned it, made it sound like a bad thing, and I felt deformed somehow. Your photos show that that is not at all true. Thank you so much for this important project, and making this information available.
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Amazing!!! Thank you, and keep up the wonderful work!!!
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This is awesome!! I am 32 and seeing what is going on inside helps me understand the differences in color and texture I experiance throughout the month. I really appreciate you letting us take such a personal look inside your body to help us to understand the inner workings of our own. Thank you for sharing this with us!
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I looked inside my vagina and it looks like this. I have that milky like fluid inside. I looked at some websites and it said it was chlamydia. I was very scared. Is this really normal? Please help me. I had never looked inside until that day and was really scared.
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jessie Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 4:10 pm
If you think that you might have chlamydiae you should see a Dr. so you can stop worrying about it or have treatment that could save your fertility. Its more than likely cervical mucus which changes in color & consistanty throughout a woman’s cycle.
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beautifulcervix Reply:
March 1st, 2012 at 3:37 pm
Chlamydia often doesn’t have symptoms or symptoms that pass quickly so can go unnoticed/untreated. If you think you may have been exposed (anal, vaginal, oral sex with an infected partner), please get checked – it’ll at least give you peace of mind. But, most likely, if the whitish discharge is something you’ve been for a while or varies throughout your cycle, it is most likely vaginal cell slough and is normal.
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Pls i dont understand much here, but i just want to know the safe period for my wife. she has a very very regular 26 day period. And if i want ot have a girl or boy is there particular time when the possibility is high
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beautifulcervix Reply:
March 1st, 2012 at 3:52 pm
Please check out:
http://www.tcoyf.com/
for information about conceiving a girl or a boy.
To know for sure when the ‘safe period’ is – when she is not fertile and cannot get pregnant – your wife needs to check her fertile signs everyday – to notice her cervical fluid and its changes. Just calculating based on the number of days is not accurate and can result in an unintended pregnancy.
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Sandwich Reply:
March 15th, 2012 at 5:45 am
Use a condom. The safe period is only a recommendation at best, and if you’re engaging in unprotected intercourse around her safe period, she’s probably going to get pregnant.
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informative.. great efforts…
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I am a teacher who is married. After reading the results of your findings, I am more convinced about the greatness of women and will earnestly humanely treat my wife, which of course is no less important to learning how I give my learners, so they find confidence, and they (women – men-male) can work together and respect each other. Thank you for your kindness
Bangbang, Indonesia
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This is amazing! I never knew what was going on down there and I am so impressed you have bothered to let us all know. Good luck with further studies!
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realy owesom i m read this and have more knowledge ………………………………….
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Are you sure that it’s look like a healthy vagina? Have examined a gynecologist? Inside my vagina also look like than yours, but several doctors have examined me, and they’ve been identified infection. I don’t understand how it’s all over now…
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beautifulcervix Reply:
February 9th, 2012 at 3:34 pm
Throughout this menstrual cycle that is photographed I did not have any symptoms of infection. There is a balance of healthy flora (bacteria) within the vagina at all times. Some of the white you see in some of the photos is dead cell slough. It is possible that there was more yeast in some of the photos than others, but I did not experience itchiness, tenderness, or yeasty odor, & it went back into balance without treatment.
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please let me know the following inquiry
whya my gril friend alway feel the pain and swelling on her breast several days before her period start
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beautifulcervix Reply:
February 9th, 2012 at 3:29 pm
May women experience physical reactions to their body’s changes in hormones throughout the menstrual cycle. One of the symptoms of Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is sensitivity of the breasts and nipples caused by swelling of the breast tissue. In many women this is a mild sensation, but if extreme it can be a sign of estrogen dominance. Estrogen dominance is a situation in which the levels of estrogen and progesterone are out of balance – the progesterone in your body is not enough to balance the levels of estrogen. Sore breasts will usually reduce after a few days.
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I have wondered if irregular cycles differ any? I love that you show whats going on inside
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I really thank you for the info, I had never understood the menstrual cycle until this very day.
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Thank you for your work! Can you please explain what ‘mittelschmerz’ is?
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beautifulcervix Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 10:12 pm
A slight pain/twinge in the pelvic region as the egg bursts out of the ovary at ovulation.
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i have a question i have never had the most predictable cycle but it has always been about 30-35 days long and i seem to be switching to a 42 day cycle this has been my cycle pattens for the few months before this it had been 30-33 days on average 33,42,30,42 and right now iam on day 40 and no period. i have heard this is not good but i am having trouble finding anything about why or if it is true. i am trying to pay more attention to my cervical mucus to avoid messing up any more undies ;0. hoping i can figure out when it might be coming. any suggestions, concerns…ect would be most helpful
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beautifulcervix Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 10:12 pm
I recommend you start really tracking your period – check out the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility. The luteal phase (after ovulation should be pretty regularly 14 days (maybe 12-16)) is fixed, but it is the phase before ovulation that can vary in length (due to stress, diet, illness, etc). If you can figure out when you are ovulating by charting (mucous, temperature, etc), you’ll have a clear sense of when you period is likely to arrive. If you find you are not ovulating or your luteal phase is short, you may want to talk to your doc as your hormone or thyroid levels may be imbalanced.
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Ainslie Reply:
March 1st, 2012 at 6:32 am
Hi there! I was the same as you, and it became the ‘norm’ for me to go up to 91 days without a period or ever knowing when/if I’d be ovulating! Went to my doctor and test after test, the results came back as PCOS! That was at April of 2011, and at the start of last month I was taken to hospital with burst cysts on my ovaries
However… My story vs your story are obviously 2 different stories, but the PCOS is well worth a professional look into!! Having said all that, I have since had my best friend move in with me approx 5 months ago, and in the last 3 months, my cycles have complete changed. No longer 90-91 days apart, but down to a crazy 23-24 days apart!!
Are you living with another girl whose cycle may be affecting your own? It happens!! Before long you could very well be in sync.
Best of luck finding everything out! Xx
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Ellen Reply:
March 12th, 2012 at 8:34 am
I also have PCOS, and I was wondering if you are taking any medication for it? It’s quite common – between 5% and 10% of child-bearing age women in the USA have it – and usually treat it by taking birth control and sometimes metformin, if they have a more serious case. But if your cycle changed that radically without medication (just by living with another woman), then it might not be PCOS, because it’s a medical condition that doesn’t clear up or go away. Anyway, just wondering what other people’s experience with it is.
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beautifulcervix Reply:
March 15th, 2012 at 7:26 pm
Check out some resources on holistic treatment of PCOS – you don’t necessarily need to take drugs…scroll down on this page:
http://www.mum.org/pcos.htm
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This website is awesome thank-you so very much u have taught me more about how my body works than any professional I see a pay big bucks too I’m 28 with no kids and was scarred today when I started my menstrual cycle after missing a month I was worried and explored myself I thought my cervix was falling out thanks so much lol u helped ease my mind bunches thanks
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this is lovely! we have a mighty powerful God! we are truly wonderfully made ladies!
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heather Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 8:57 am
Amen to this, thats so true, what an amazing creation God has done in us, no human mind can comprehend this….Praise Him
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IMO you ovulated around day 12-14, as opposed to around day 20, since the cervical mucus is more clear and runny around the time of ovulation to facilitate the movement of sperm through the cervix. At other times the cervical mucus would be thicker and creamier, which actually hinders sperm from entering the uterus, which doesn’t really matter since there is usually nothing there for the sperm to fertilise
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beautifulcervix Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 10:07 pm
Actually the stretchy, eggwhite fluid is fertile fluid. For me, it gets runny right before the eggwhite.
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wow thankyou so much, personally as a farmer i think that vaginas are so beatiful and i think that this project will really help spread light on the whole topic. yummy! keep up the good work
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Wow, it ain’t east being she.
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OMG. This is absolutely wonderful and amazing. I always wondered what goes on down there its amazing! It is very imformative i do appreciate the non-sexual full images. Exactly what i needed for full understanding. Thanks again!
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Great! Have been looking for something like that a long time. I love your approach to the naturality of the female body. It’s very important that woman AND men understand what goes on down there and how it affects the emotional an bodily feeling of a woman in order for the two sexes to get along well. When we women introduce our boyfriends and husbands into the secrets of our body we show them our love and help them understand and love us. It can only be rewarding for the both of us to communicate about our biological dispositions.
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What an excellent project. This sort of thing ought to be taught compulsorily in every school. The lack of basic reproductive knowledge/understanding in schools is disgraceful considering how long reproduction has been going on !!!
Your project shows that we now have, (and have had for some time), the technology to see, and understand, what is actually occuring/happening.
Knowledge is power and the power of knowledge is to give understanding, which in turn makes life easier. What would happen no one taught you how to make a cup of tea !
Thanks very much and I hope you can expand your project/s further.
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For many years i’ve questioned my doctors becuase of a lot of the things u pictured. I was always afraid that if I searched this topic I would only find pornographic responses. Being a 25 year old with no STI history and no children I can relate a lot to this article and it cleared a lot of stuff up for me! Thank u very much for this article!
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Thanks for a job well done. At least i do have some knowlegde about the woman’s body now.
Thanks
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I was feeling a lil itchy down there so thought i would look at it with a small mirror. I saw this tiny hole or abrasion like thing on the cervix and i went into a tizzy… I had obviously never seen it clearly before and was scared it was abnormal. Searched for pics of a healthy cervix and hence found your website. And may i say its beautiful. Thanks so much! One for making me feel like all that i go through is normal and for letting me have a good nights sleep today! I am very curious how the pics have been taken though!
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Nice site found the content very interesting keep up the good work.
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Holy squirrels, that’s so beautiful and disgusting at the same time!
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adorei
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REALLY VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE PROJECT TO SEE AS BEING A MEDICAL STUDENT.THANK U VERY MUCH
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Bom dia!
Este trabalh está incrivel, sempre quis compreender melhor o que se passava dentro de nós e este trabalho esclareceu-me tudo.
Estou numa situação um pouco complicada, o meu atraso é de uma semana, não há sinais nenhuns da menstruação (o meu ciclo é de 28-30 dias, nunca ultrapassa), fiz um teste e deu negativo, pesquisei vários trabalhos na internet e descubri que pode ser um falso negativo, então achei sites em que dizem para introduzir o dedo e eu arrisquei. Tenho o meu colo do utero muito alto, quase não o alcansava, quer dizer alguma coisa? amanha voou fazer analises ao sangue mas antes gostava de um esclarecimento.
Obrigado
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Good pics nd very Informative one also
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Wow!! That was very, very cool! I just have one question.. what did u use to take the pictures?? An internal camera or what? I just imagine it would be challenging to get those sorts of pictures with a digital camera! Thanks for sharing!!!
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beautifulcervix Reply:
March 1st, 2012 at 2:31 pm
check out the video on this page:
http://www.beautifulcervix.com/participate/
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I recently started using a menstrual cup and I never even thought about my cervix before. But on the instructions it says that my cervix should be low during my period – it’s totally not. It’s way the heck up there and hard to get to when I am putting the cup in or taking it out. Is that something I should be concerned about? I don’t really pay attention to where it is when I am not on my period, but is it bad that it’s high during my period?
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beautifulcervix Reply:
March 1st, 2012 at 2:34 pm
I wouldn’t worry about it if your cycle is otherwise normal. I suggest you check where you cervix is at other points in your cycle to compare it to – ‘low’ and ‘high’ positions are really just in relation to each other within each woman’s body. So, maybe your cervix moves even higher when you are ovulating…
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How were these pictures takenK I would like to see how a 25 year old repoduction system differs from that of a 37 year old.
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beautifulcervix Reply:
March 1st, 2012 at 2:38 pm
Check out this page on how the photos were taken:
http://www.beautifulcervix.com/participate/
Each woman, regardless of age, has nuances of her body and cycle, though generalizations can be made. In other words, you would see similarities and differences if comparing two 25 year olds and if comparing a 25 year old to a 37 year old. I rely on volunteers, so if a 37 year old woman wants to document her cycle, I’d be happy to post them.
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aweasome!!!! I was just wondering what did she use to get up that far to open her vagina? It seems I can never reach my cervix and if I could take my own pics or open my vagina enough to feel it would help me alot???
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beautifulcervix Reply:
March 1st, 2012 at 2:53 pm
Order a speculum here:
http://www.beautifulcervix.com/resources/
In terms of reaching your own cervix with your finger…try jumping up and down a few times before trying as sometimes that helps the uterus settle down a little lower in the pelvis, making the cervix easier to reach. Try sitting on a toilet or lying down – inserting your middle (longest) finger and really exploring the inside of our vagina until you feel a harder nub near the back of the squishy vagina.
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what a brave and great knowledgable work! what a great creation of god!
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I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but this is fab! very informative!! Thanks x
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Thank you thank you thank you! Though I’ve been trying to explain all of this to my husband as we try to conceive, he’s still been very in the dark about it. These pictures have been GREAT in helping him understand how my body works!
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Informative . . . Good please go a head, you are doing a good job
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Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you for such an informative site! You’ve shown me more than I’ve ever seen in a textbook or learned by my doctors! Thank you!
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It’s a excellent work!!! Very nice.
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Being only my 2nd cycle checking my cervical position & cm, I noticed last month my cervix felt lower after ovulation, as this month my cervix hasn’t budged from the higher stage prior and during ovulation (entire finger insert), also my cm has stayed the consistent creamy white, not in excess, but existing the same 1dpo. Is this typical if conception occurred? Thanks so much for such a wonderful website!
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