You and your Uterus -- friend or frenemy? It's complicated. Whatever your relationship, we've got uterus gifts for you and your U. Share your love for the mother of all organs with uterus lapel pins, uterus socks, uterus stickers, uterus buttons, uterus keychains and a uterus plushie with posable fallopian tubes! Great for health awareness, OBGYN gifts and pap smear gold stars.
What Does the Uterus Do?
What Does the Uterus Do? Every human being on Earth got their start inside a uterus! As everyone's first home, the uterus is truly the coolest organ (sorry brain and heart!) with special superpowers all its own. Not only can the uterus grow other organs, such as the placenta, it can nurture and grow an entire new human being. The uterus is usually the size of a small pear, but it grows to the size of a watermelon during pregnancy.
Want some wacky and wild uterus facts? Did you know some humans are born with two uteruses? And two vaginas to go with it! These two uteri don’t always align cycles, so it’s possible to have two consecutive periods and/or pregnancies. Can you imagine? Some of our favorite nicknames for the uterus include: Flying Scorpion, Utersouras Rex and Blotation Device. What do you call yours?
When it’s that time of the month, you may not like your uterus much, but hey, you wouldn’t be here without one, so give props to this special reproductive organ. Besides, if you think cramps are bad, you should try childbirth.
What is a menstrual period and how does it work? Once a month, your uterus sends blood through your vagina into the outside world. Menstrual periods arrive around age 9 to 14. This is a big change but it’s a perfectly normal part of growing up.
Need to know more than the basics? Let's dig into Advanced Periods! Your period actually begins with hormones in your head. Three hormones, gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) are released from glands within the brain. These travel through the bloodstream to nudge eggs out of the ovary.
As they grow, several egg follicles produce estrogen. This causes the uterine lining to thicken with blood vessels in preparation for the egg’s release from its ovarian prison. Next, it's ovulation time! Estrogen levels fall and LH surges, causing the ovary to release the egg into the fallopian tube. The egg lives for 12-24 hours. FSH peaks during ovulation, too, but no one really knows why. Freaky, huh?
The egg makes its way to the uterus via the fallopian tube while the empty egg follicle — known as the corpus luteum — squishes out more and more estrogen + progesterone to get the uterus ready for a possible pregnancy. If you don’t want to be pregnant, make sure you’ve got birth control before you invite a penis into your vagina. Penises deliver sperm, and unless you want a baby, you don’t want sperm hooking up with your egg.
Hormonal hell -- everyone's favorite kind of purgatory. FSH and LH levels plunge and progesterone level peaks. This hormone helps build up the uterine lining. High progesterone might be one of the causes of PMS. Bummer.
If the egg was not fertilized by sperm, the corpus luteum falls apart and stops producing progesterone. If sperm does join with an egg, the fertilized egg, called a zygote, keeps progesterone high. This growing ball of cells becomes a blastocyst, then embryo, then fetus, then maybe a baby.
Estrogen levels decrease and progesterone production slows, causing the uterine lining to break down and shed — the egg goes with the flow. If you’re not pregnant, your period starts all over again. Hope you enjoyed this menstrual journey with us!
Our wild array of gynecological gifts – ovary, placenta, vulva, cervix and breast plush-- are ready to make any labor and delivery nurse, hysterectomy patient, endometriosis warrior, pregnant mom or OB/GYN smile. Our love and enthusiasm for this mother of all organs is palpable on every page of the awesome educational booklet that comes with every uterus we make. Also, not to brag, but our uterus is handmade in an ethically certified factory, which is just another thing to feel good about when your uterus is metaphorically kicking you in the nuts.
Want some wacky and wild uterus facts? Did you know some humans are born with two uteruses? And two vaginas to go with it! These two uteri don’t always align cycles, so it’s possible to have two consecutive periods and/or pregnancies. Can you imagine? Some of our favorite nicknames for the uterus include: Flying Scorpion, Utersouras Rex and Blotation Device. What do you call yours?
When it’s that time of the month, you may not like your uterus much, but hey, you wouldn’t be here without one, so give props to this special reproductive organ. Besides, if you think cramps are bad, you should try childbirth.
What is a menstrual period and how does it work? Once a month, your uterus sends blood through your vagina into the outside world. Menstrual periods arrive around age 9 to 14. This is a big change but it’s a perfectly normal part of growing up.
Need to know more than the basics? Let's dig into Advanced Periods! Your period actually begins with hormones in your head. Three hormones, gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) are released from glands within the brain. These travel through the bloodstream to nudge eggs out of the ovary.
As they grow, several egg follicles produce estrogen. This causes the uterine lining to thicken with blood vessels in preparation for the egg’s release from its ovarian prison. Next, it's ovulation time! Estrogen levels fall and LH surges, causing the ovary to release the egg into the fallopian tube. The egg lives for 12-24 hours. FSH peaks during ovulation, too, but no one really knows why. Freaky, huh?
The egg makes its way to the uterus via the fallopian tube while the empty egg follicle — known as the corpus luteum — squishes out more and more estrogen + progesterone to get the uterus ready for a possible pregnancy. If you don’t want to be pregnant, make sure you’ve got birth control before you invite a penis into your vagina. Penises deliver sperm, and unless you want a baby, you don’t want sperm hooking up with your egg.
Hormonal hell -- everyone's favorite kind of purgatory. FSH and LH levels plunge and progesterone level peaks. This hormone helps build up the uterine lining. High progesterone might be one of the causes of PMS. Bummer.
If the egg was not fertilized by sperm, the corpus luteum falls apart and stops producing progesterone. If sperm does join with an egg, the fertilized egg, called a zygote, keeps progesterone high. This growing ball of cells becomes a blastocyst, then embryo, then fetus, then maybe a baby.
Estrogen levels decrease and progesterone production slows, causing the uterine lining to break down and shed — the egg goes with the flow. If you’re not pregnant, your period starts all over again. Hope you enjoyed this menstrual journey with us!
Our wild array of gynecological gifts – ovary, placenta, vulva, cervix and breast plush-- are ready to make any labor and delivery nurse, hysterectomy patient, endometriosis warrior, pregnant mom or OB/GYN smile. Our love and enthusiasm for this mother of all organs is palpable on every page of the awesome educational booklet that comes with every uterus we make. Also, not to brag, but our uterus is handmade in an ethically certified factory, which is just another thing to feel good about when your uterus is metaphorically kicking you in the nuts.