Dear Sasha,

My girlfriend went into menopause unexpectedly at 31, when a simple (botched) surgery ended in her waking up with a complete hysterectomy.

She is the only daughter, and her brother never had children of his own because he married a woman who already had five.

Both she and her parents really wanted her to have children of her own. When she and I met, we agreed that we, too, wanted children. It's been five years since the surgery, and she is still distraught over the issue.