Ovaries

The ovaries are a pair of oval or almond-shaped glands which lie on either side of the uterus and just below the opening to the fallopian tubes. In addition to producing eggs or "ova," the ovaries produce female sex hormones called estrogen and progesterone. The ovaries produce a female hormone, called estrogen, and store female sex cells or "ova." The female, unlike the male, does not manufacture the sex cells. A girl baby is born with about 60,000 of these cells, which are contained in sac-like depressions in the ovaries. Each of these cells may have the potential to mature for fertilization, but in actuality, only about 400 ripen during the woman's lifetime. Pregnant and prenatal both come from the same Latin roots. "Prae" means "before" and "nascor" means "to be born". Nascor is also the derivative of nature, innate and native. Only a few years ago, the word, "pregnant" was seldom used in mixed company. Polite society referred to a pregnant woman as "expecting" or "being in the family way."