Are you nearing your due date? Is the thought of delivery, making you nervous? Or have you just entered the second trimester and the clumsiness phase? Is pain that you experience in the joints and lower back worrying you? There is one answer for all these problems – relaxin hormone. This hormone helps in easy vaginal delivery. This same hormone also causes pain and makes the pregnant women clumsy. Continue reading to know more about this hormone.
Relaxin is a protein-based hormone usually secreted by the corpus luteum (which is a hormone-producing structure) in the ovary. Relaxin hormone is found both in men and non- pregnant women. In men, the prostate gland secretes the relaxin hormone in their bodies. In non- pregnant women, the corpus luteum in the ovary alone produces the relaxin hormone. However, during pregnancy, the quantity produced in the ovary cannot meet the demand of this hormone so the placenta and the lining of the uterus also start producing this hormone.
In both pregnant and non-pregnant women relaxin hormone rises to a highest within 14 days of ovulation, and then declines in the absence of pregnancy, resulting in menstruation.
During pregnancy, the levels of relaxin hormone considerably rise and pregnant women have 10 times the normal amount of relaxin hormone in their bodies.
Actually, the role of relaxin hormone in pregnancy starts way before conception. The relaxin hormone plays an important role during pregnancy in following ways:
Collagen is the main part of the connective tissue found in ligaments, cartilages and tendons. Ligament which is made up of this connective tissue, determines the stability of the joints. The relaxin hormone increases the water content of the collagen fiber, which is the main part of connective tissue. This results in increasing the elasticity of the ligament. Thus, when the otherwise inelastic ligament becomes more flexible than normal, the joints tend to lose their stability.
The same qualities of the relaxin hormone that helps with pregnancy, delivery and lactation have a flip side too. Some of the side effects of relaxin hormone during pregnancy are:
Although relaxin hormone has its side effects, but this hormone is important to make the birth process easier. So, the pregnant women should take extra care of their posture during pregnancy, especially during the first and the third trimesters, when relaxin hormone is at its peak in the body.
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