Pregnant Father

Uterus 

A hollow organ, the uterus is shaped like a pear and is normally about three inches long. The lining of your uterus, known as the endometrium, is velvety and rich in bloody tissue. Sitting right in the middle of your reproductive organs, the uterus, or womb, can hold only about a teaspoon of liquid ordinarily. When you are pregnant, it expands to the size of a watermelon to hold your growing baby. the amniotic fluid, and the placenta. Continually being renewed, the lining of your uterus builds up in response to messages sent by your hormones and then sheds itself once a month during your menstrual period when you don’t get pregnant. During the first half of your menstrual cycle, estrogen makes your endometrial lining thicken. As your ovaries release eggs midway through your monthly cycle, progesterone takes over and helps your body get ready for a possible pregnancy If no fertilized egg finds its way to your womb, the endometrium falls apart and you have a period. Your hormone levels are at their lowest during that very first day of your period.

 Ectopic pregnancy

When the fertilized egg doesn’t travel all the way to the uterus for implantation in the endometrial lining. the result can be what is called an ectopic pregnancy. Trying to grow outside the womb, this ‘wayward egg can end up in your abdominal cavity. your ovary and even on your cervix; but mostectopic pregnancies occur in a fallopian tube. This is why they are often referred to as tubal pregnancies.
A dangerous and potentially life-threatening situation, an ectopic pregnancy ‘will give you warning signs of trouble. The three most important signs, according to New York obstetrician-gynecologist Howard Berk, M.D. are: “Bleeding, pain, and a positive pregnancy test.” You may experience severe cramps that begin on one side of your abdomen and travel to the other. This is a sharp, stabbing pain and it may hurt to move. You may start to bleed, be nauseous,
dizzy, fatigued beyond the ordinary and you must seek emergency medical treatment immediately. Go to a hospital. Don’t wait for the pain to pass. If the fertilized egg ruptures in your fallopian tube, you may bleed throughout your abdominal cavity. Surgery might be scheduled immediately. However. ultrasound and blood tests nowadays can help determine the diagnosis of an ectopic pregnancy. New technology has given practitioners a variety of warning signs so the large majority are detected before they reach crisis proportions.

You may know that you have two of them, but perhaps their size-four inches long-and their consistency will come as a surprise. Your fallopian tubes remind some experts of stretched tubes of cooked pasta. Lying just above your ovaries, fallopian tubes have featherlike fingers at the ends closest to the ovaries. They look a little like pieces of seaweed floating on the ocean. The little feather tips are called fimbria, which is the Latin word for fringes, and they make it easier for the tubes to stretch out and capture the ripened egg at ovulation time. Picture millions of tiny hairs and you’ll be able to envision the fimbria. better. Mucus and fluids help move the egg into and down the pastalike tube where it waits to meet the sperm. If no suitor appears on time, the egg is simply absorbed back into your body.
Never sell those fallopian tubes short’ Lined with muscular ligaments, they actually contract to help sperm and egg move closer together and toward conception. Closer to the uterus, they tighten up to hold onto an egg until the uterus is ready
for the planting process. which won’t occur until five to seven days after ovulation. Every once in a while. fallopian tubes are unable to catch eggs as they are released. However, if an egg falls to the floor of your pelvis, fallopian tubes have the power to reach down and pick it up, pushing the egg along closer to conception.

Body Basics

You can certainly get pregnant without a Ph.D. in human physiology, but sometimes it’s nice to know what’s in your reproductive tract. Here are just a few basics to help you gain more respect for the organs that are instrumental in pregnancy.

Your Cervix

In Latin, cervix actually means “neck,” and it’s easy to see the origin of this name. Located at the neck of your uterus, your cervix is only about an inch “vide but its opening is even smaller so it car
protect your uterus from germs or other unwanted invaders. Connected to your uterus, your cervix opens mid-cycle and the reason it opens mid-cycle is that nature has created a wonderful  term. When you ovulate, the cervix gets larger and the cervical mucus changes. You may notice a mucus discharge in the middle of your menstrual cycle when this mucus consistency changes. Before and after this time, the cervical mucus is thick and viscous to keep your system closed. Only at the time of ovulation, does your cervix dilate and the mucus change so that the sperm can get through. During labor and then delivery, the cervix goes through dramatic changes as it opens to a full ten centimeters, or four inches, to give your baby an opening to the outside world.

Your Vagina

A muscular passage only about four or five inches in length, your vagina is connected to the cervix on the inside and leads to the outside of your body. Most of the time. your vaginal walls stay close together; but during sex, as well as in childbirth, this organ exhibits amazing capabilities.

Your Ovaries

Sitting right within reach of your fallopian tubes are the two little, yellowish walnut-shaped glands known as ovaries. Their color inside your body is unlike nearby structures, which are covered in a greyish protective film. These yellow glands are able to release the eggs they produce monthly as well as the hormones you need to menstruate and to get pregnant. The hypothalamus is an area of your brain that secretes releasing factors. The hypothalamus first secretes follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), which ripens an egg and produces estrogen. When the estrogen gets to a particular level in your body, not only does it turn down the FSH but it causes the release of luteinizing hormone (Lrl). When the LH comes out, on about the twelfth day, you ovulate. Then, in the ovary, a body forms called the corpus luteurn, which maintains the progesterone. If there is no pregnancy, then the corpus luteum fades. Then, you get your period. This is the basic cycle that can happen. All of these messages start from the very beginning of your cycle and not just at the time you are ovulating. Each month, several eggs ‘will begin to ripen and move, but usually only one rises all the way to the surface of an ovary. If you could get a closer look inside, you would be able to see 3 ‘ot or uneven pits and bumps on the ovaries, which indicatewhere other follicles degenerated. In a healthy woman, along with stains, from all the monthly most women, ovulation takes place approximately two to three the elevation of LH levels.