1.  Why is it important for people who are planning a pregnancy to be aware what they are eating and drinking?  How can that have an effect on a not-yet-conceived baby or a recently conceived baby?

 With regard to the not-yet-conceived baby, it has been found in the last few years that if women are deficient in the amount of folic acid they have in their diets prior to conception, the incidence of neural tube defects is much higher than in women with an adequate amount of folic acid at the time of conception.  Neural tube defects include such defects as spina bifida, a condition in which vertebra are not formed completely, leaving the spinal cord unprotected and possibly exposed to bacterial invasion.  It often results in paralysis.  The reason a woman should have the required amounts of folic acid before conception is that the neural tube of an embryo develops very soon after fertilization.  The need for adequate amounts of folic acid necessary for correct development becomes crucial before the mother may realize she’s pregnant.

 The importance of regulating and monitoring whatever the pregnant mother is taking into her body is due to the fact that molecules of substances in the mother’s blood can diffuse across the placenta into the baby’s blood, affecting its development.  The mother must be aware of what she eats and drinks and what medications, prescribed and nonprescribed, she is taking.  Although the placenta is the “life line” for the baby, with oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients, urea, water, etc.,  diffusing across  the placenta, other substances like alcohol, drugs, even caffeine, can diffuse into the baby’s blood, with perhaps undesirable effects.  This is the reason there are now warning labels on bottles of alcoholic beverages and in liquor stores.  Fetal alcohol syndrome, which can retard and disfigure developing babies, is not a new phenomenon.  Even recreational use of cocaine can be damaging.

 But the mother is not the only one who needs to be careful.  Some studies are indicating that men who use alcohol heavily may be affecting the “health” of their sperm and may be passing defects along at the time of conceptions.
 

2.  How long can sperm survive after being ejaculated from a man?

 Sperm generally can survive for about 48 hours inside the female reproductive tract.
 

3.  How long can an egg survive after it has been released from an ovary?

 An egg will survive for about 24 hours.  This is the 24-hour period of time during the month when a woman would be most likely to become pregnant.  For a lot of women, it occurs about 14 days after the begining of her last menstrual flow, but that can’t really be used as a reliable prediction for birth control methods because there is a lot of variation from one person to another and even month-to-month for the same person.