All About Your Hormones

Pregnancy hormones have some unpleasant side effects: mood swings, your chest feels like it’s on fire, and your teenage pimples are back. But there are also some pleasant surprises to look out for, writes Shanda Luyt

- Shanda Luyt

EVEN BEFORE CONCEPTION, your hormones collaborate to create a favorable environment for your baby – and as soon as egg meets sperm, these chemical messengers go all out to ensure that the right things happen at the right time, so that your nine months run smoothly and healthily.

All these changes are the result of the more than 30 hormones coursing through your veins while you’re pregnant. You will certainly feel their effect, physically and emotionally.

The real job of these hormones is to ensure Mom and Baby’s health.

HCG: THE PREGNANCY ALARM

One of the first hormones to appear has the intimidatingly long name human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), but it’s also commonly known as the pregnancy hormone. As it’s only present during pregnancy, this is the hormone the tests look out for. It presents in your blood and your urine. Whether you do a home test or have a blood test done at the doctor – if hCG is present, you’re pregnant! A few days after the fertilized egg attaches itself to the uterine wall, the brand-new placenta starts producing hCG. The amount of hCG increases at an incredible rate and reaches a climax on day 70. Thereafter, it subsides, and the hormone keeps a low profile for the rest of your pregnancy.

The most important task of this hormone is to ensure the continued production of the steroid hormones estrogen and progesterone. Without it, your progesterone level will go down, and you’ll have your period again.