Pregnancy
Information For A Healthy Pregnancy
Three things are necessary to become pregnant. The egg, the sperm and cervical fluid for the sperm to travel in.
The individual eggs are housed in follicles. A hormone called FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone) enables your body to bring 15 to 20 eggs to maturity in each ovary. The follicles that hold the eggs start to grow and produce estrogen which is a necessary hormone for ovulation to occur. Ovulation is the process of an egg being released from the most dominant follicle. Ovulation takes place approximately two weeks from the first day of the monthly cycle but can vary from woman to woman and even from month to month since the body waits until it has reached a sufficient level of estrogen. Once this level is reached the body will release a surge of LH (Luteinizing Hormone), which is the hormone that causes the egg to actually burst through the ovarian wall. The remaining eggs will eventually ripen and disintegrate. The dominant egg then ventures into the pelvic cavity.
If the egg is not picked up and drawn into the fallopian tubes then no pregnancy will occur. The follicle that held the egg will collapse on itself and become a corpus luteum. The presence of the corpus luteum is what constitutes the luteal phase of a women’s cycle. The corpus luteum remains behind after the release of the egg on the interior ovarian wall and will start to produce yet another hormone called progesterone. Progesterone prevents the other eggs from being released during that cycle, strengthens and thickens the uterine lining (endometrium) and causes all of the fertility indicators (waking body temps, cervical fluid and position) to change.
If pregnancy does not take place during the cycle, the uterine lining or endometrium is shed, which causes menstruation to occur. The first day of menstruation is the first day of a monthly cycle which begins the whole process again.
Usually when the egg enters the pelvic area it is swept into one of the fallopian tubes by fingerlike projections called fimbria. Sperm travels up the fallopian tube with the help of cervical fluid. Fertilization occurs in the outer portion of the tube when the sperm penetrates the egg. The now fertilized egg will travel down to the uterus which takes approximately 6 to 8 days and will then burrow into the uterine lining.
The burrowed egg immediately starts to release HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) which is also known as the pregnancy hormone and is what is detected to give a positive pregnancy test result. HCG causes the corpus luteum to survive longer than the normal 12 to 16 days. The lengthened life of the corpus luteum enables the continued release of progesterone, which is responsible for sustaining the uterine lining and supplying nutrients and oxygen to the fetus until the placenta can take over and continue to provide for the growing fetus.
