Things have been kind of quiet at the Baby Novoa Making Lab (BNML). Fortunately, at this point there has not been much to report, except that poor Jennifer is still a slave to the Progesterone (cue Britney Spears' "I"m a Slave for you" in your head). The good news is that she was able to switch to a less painful method and thus has not had to be on shots as of recent but vaginal suppositories are not much prettier if you know what I mean.
A lot of you might be wondering "why does Jennifer need to keep taking Progesterone? Doesn't her body make this hormone on it's own?" Well, the answer is a little complicated but totally understandable.
When an egg is released from the follicle in the ovaries what is left over is called the Corpus Luteum (remember high school biology?) This structure is what triggers ones body to produce progesterone which thickens the walls of the uterus and prepares it for pregnancy, if fertilization should occur. In our case, I donated the egg so Jennifer doesn't have a Corpus Luteum to keep her uterus nice and thick hence all the Progesterone shots she had to endure after the transfer. At about the 10th or 11th week of pregnancy the placenta usually starts to function and takes over the job of the Corpus Luteum in the production of Progesterone. Jennifer is at about 10-1/2 weeks so hopefully the baby's placenta will start working soon....really soon, and she can finally be free of any sort of artificial progesterone.
This whole process has really opened our eyes to see how incredibly complicated and beautifully perfect our bodies truly are.
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