Hormones & Pregnancy
Balanced Hormones are Necessary for Pregnancy.
Hormones play a major role in pregnancy. They enable birth, ensure the successful growth of the fetus, and help the mother feed her child. Hormones transform you from one single sperm cell into an adult.
Without hormones, your body will not know what to do.
Imagine for a second that you’re eating a medium rare and tender steak, smothered with A1 sauce, with soft, fluffy mashed potatoes covered with gravy, with a side of baked mac and cheese. Then for dessert, a chocolate mousse cake with vanilla ice cream.
Now think about your body not being able to digest this meal. What do you think will happen? Yes, you’re right, you will die.
Disorders like Bezoars, Gastroparesis or even Acid Reflux, cause many complications for people who suffer from them. And these disorders are not caused due to foods not being digested, but because the digestive system simply is not functioning like it should. I said this to say, if you can suffer from simple digestion issues, imagine your food not even being able to digest.
Hormones tell our body what to do, when to do it and how long to do that something for. They regulate and control many bodily functions and processes. For example, if the hypothalamus detects low water levels in the blood, it will notify the pituitary gland located at the base of the brain to release a hormone called antidiuretic hormone. That will then travel to your kidneys. This hormone stimulates water reabsorption.
If you are being chased by a dog, the body produces the adrenaline hormone. As a result, your blood pressure and heart rate spikes, to help you escape. Yes there are a lot more that goes on, but you get where I am going with this, hormones dictate how our bodies function.
Our endocrine system consists of several hormone producing glands that makes and releases hormones. One of the functions of this system is to regulate fertility and sexual functions.
Even puberty. In males, puberty begins when the testes start secreting testosterone. Testestorone triggers the gradual development of sexual organs, the deepening of the voice and the growth of facial hair. In women, estrogen secreted from the ovaries is the start of adulthood. This hormone helps to develop the body. It causes the widening of the hips and thickening of the uterine lining to prepare the body for pregnancy or menstruation.
Hormones Necessary for pregnancy.
The hormones estrogen, progesterone, follicle stimulating hormone, Human chorionic gonadotropin hormone (hCG), Luteinizing hormone (LH) Human placental lactogen (hPL) are all important during pregnancy and for you to even get pregnant. Your digestion hormones also play a role as well, like insulin.
Now let’s talk about the ovulation cycle.
Ovulation is a process that prepares the female body for pregnancy.
During this phase, the FSH matures an egg follicle. After the egg matures, it releases the hormone estrogen into the bloodstream that instructs the pituitary gland (aka the master gland because it tells the other glands to release hormones), to release LH to release the egg from the ovary. The estrogen instructs the endometrium lining/ uterus to thicken to support the egg after fertilization. The Progesterone hormone maintains and controls this growth.
So first the egg must mature, then it must be released, then it must implant. Though this process is far more complex, you now see why your hormones must be balanced for pregnancy. If they’re imbalanced, the egg can’t mature, much less be released for conception to even take place. Hormonal imbalance causes the body not to function properly. Hence so many women suffer from PCOS, and other reproductive issues. When there is too much estrogen in the bloodstream, it can cause overstimulation of the ovaries, resulting in ovarian cysts, fibroids and even a thickened endometrium lining. These can all prevent pregnancy.
Missed or irregular periods do not always lead to fertility issues, but it can and does in most cases. This is why it is important when you start to experience missed/irregular periods, and other period complications, to start by balancing your hormones.
