Pregnant But Still Having Periods – How; Why?

Dear Doctor,
I would be glad if you can provide answers to the following questions. 1) Can sex in the very early stages (1st three weeks) of conception lead to a) Stomach ache and b) eventual miscarriage? 2) Can a lady who has missed her menstrual period for two consecutive months still observe it at the supposed time of the third month? 3) Can a lady who has missed her period for two months still be pregnant even though she has seen a period in the third month? Anticipating a quick and favourable response soon. Thank you for your assistance.
Reginald Marwaffi. Makurdi, Benue

Dear Reginald,
When ladies get pregnant everybody knows that they miss their period. However it has happened before now and still does happen that some ladies bleed and because of this do not recognize that they are pregnant. Why does this happen and how? First the how--If a woman is pregnant and still sees her menses that menses will usually not be normal. That is why doctors and gynecologists, when they refer to the starting point or beginning of a pregnancy, always talk about (not just the last menstrual period but) the last normal menstrual period. These strange periods may actually come but are usually not the normal thing--its either they are too short or long or scanty or something abnormal about them. However because of the confusion they cause, no one tries to define pregnancy any more by the loss of menses alone. We now depend on Urine Pregnancy tests or even Blood pregnancy tests that measure the level of the hormone Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin(HCG). When a lady is pregnant, this hormone (which helps her to manufacture a placenta for the baby) is found in large amounts in her blood and the over spill in her urine too can be measured by the Urine Pregnancy Test. So your lady may be pregnant--if she is I will not be surprised. The why of such occurrences, of course is that there is either implantation bleeding which happens in some ladies or the pregnancy is unstable because of a low production of the hormone progesterone. Let her do both the urine and blood tests and even an Ultrasound Scan. Of course she should see an experienced doctor/gynecologist who will first examine her thoroughly and then order the said tests and who (should she truly have an unstable pregnancy) will be able to handle her professionally and preserve the pregnancy until she delivers safely. As for sex we do not dis recommend sex for ladies in early pregnancy or at any other time in pregnancy for that matter. Only if the pregnancy is unstable or there has been a history of habitual miscarriage do we ask the couple to abstain for the first three months because we feel it can contribute to miscarriage (there usually may be some stomach pains before miscarriage).
Cheers
Dr. Caleb Bibbi Oluranti