All About Pregnancy Hormones and the Changes They Bring

Although it doesn’t seem to be fair to accuse the pregnancy hormones for everything that you are going through in this period, the truth is that a cocktail of these chemicals is responsible for the changes that you experience, both the good and the bad ones.

Follicle stimulating and luteinizing hormones of pregnancy

The truth is that these hormones don’t have a role to play during pregnancy itself, but you wouldn’t be in this state if it wasn’t for them. These are produced by the pituitary glands that can be found in the brain and their role is to help the egg mature. After this they make sure that your period starts on time.

Pregnancy HormonesAt the beginning of your cycle the hormones of pregnancy, especially FSH, stimulate the ovaries to release estrogen. This affects the lining of the uterus, making it rebuild and it stops the further release of FSH. In the same time it also stimulates the production of LH, thus making the ovaries release the egg.

Because of the pregnancy hormones the follicles become ‘yellow body’. This releases progesterone that ripens the uterus and stops the production of LH. The egg travels though the fallopian tubes and in case there is no fertilization, it leaves the body during your next period. In any other case you will get a baby bump pretty soon.

Human chorionic gonadotropin

This one of the hormones of pregnancy is also known as hCG and although you may not know it, the first time you encounter it is when you get a positive result on your pregnancy test. It is produced by the placenta just a few days after the egg gets implanted into the lining of the uterus, and the whole thing begins.

Such pregnancy hormones make the yellow body produce even more progesterone and estrogen. HCG can be found in the blood and urine, and this is why these are used during a pregnancy test. You have to use urine at the home test and your doctor will use your blood.

During the first few months you will have high levels of this one of the hormones of pregnancy. If you have multiplets your levels will be through the roof. This is the hormone that the doctor tests for in order to make sure that the baby is developing as he or she should.

Morning sickness and hormones of pregnancy

The pregnancy hormones to blame in this case are also hCG. By now you may know that although it is called morning sickness, it could appear at any moment of the day, and in some cases it could last from the morning until sunset. Because the levels of the hormone are so high in the first trimester, you may be feeling quite strange (and bad).

According to specialists it isn’t a coincidence that once these hormones of pregnancy drop women start feeling better and their morning sickness subsides. This usually happens around the beginning of the second trimester because then the placenta will be handling the production of progesterone and estrogen.

It is possible that you feel the urge to urinate frequently, and in this case again the same pregnancy hormones are to blame. The same thing is true if you catch a flu all the time. This is caused by the fact that the hormone weakens the immune system to reduce the chances for your body to reject the little one.

There are some other pregnancy hormones as well that are acting during this period, but these are the most important ones and they have the biggest impact on your state.

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