so what happens to you ovaries

[fancyoats]

when your uterus is so big? do they move up with your uterus? i just can't picture my ovaries up by my lungs

[WifeofAnt]

hmm... I never thought of that! Maybe they get pushed off to the sides. None of the pictures I've seen include the ovaries.

[MaerynPearl]

Originally Posted by fancyoats

when your uterus is so big? do they move up with your uterus? i just can't picture my ovaries up by my lungs

lol yep, they get squished up with everything else! but since they are totally useless right now, it doesnt hurt them any!

[Jane]

Most of the time, they're hanging out belly button level and to the back. But it varies.

[Tresa]

My midwife told me the same thing, they move up and hang out around your sides toward the back by the ribs...ish. And they move back down after the birth. Which I think is amazing! They must be connected somehow to the rest of your stuff...but I thought they kind of just hung out by your fallopian tubes. I've worried, on a small scale, about one of mine getting left behind after a baby.

Probably should've paid more attention in anatomy class in college.

[47chromosomes]

I've ALWAYS wondered this, but never asked. I guess I pictured that they would somehow remain low, 'cause doesn't it just seem to wild that they travel so far as things grow? It's wild, and just another really cool thing about Women and their bodies.

[Jane]

Wild is where your appendix can end up - anywhere from the lowest part of the abdomen to all the way up by your ribcage. Weird, huh?
The ovaries are attached to the peritoneum (the mesh swimsuit liner inside the abdomen/swim trunks). As the uterus grows, it stretches the peritoneum and the ovaries move up. As the uterus shrinks after birth, the peritoneum shrinks and the ovaries move down quickly.

[RedOakMomma]

So, since the fallopian tubes are attached to the top of the the uterus, are they surfing around my ribcage right now??? Wild. Hadn't really thought of that before.

[RedOakMomma]

or whoa....when mamas have c-sections, and they take the uterus out to repair it, do the doctors also see the connected fallopian tubes and the connective tissue with the ovaries, etc.? Are those out on the table, too??

[majazama]

I always wondered this myself. off to google pics..

[Surfacing]

Fascinating!

[Jane]

They usually check out the ovaries during the section, I know b/c it's noted on the operative reports. I don't know when they do this (I'm usually helping with breastfeeding in the OR at that point, rather than watching the surgery). I suspect it's after the uterus is replaced. Not all surgeons here are doing the "deliver the uterus" style of section, it depends on when/where they trained.
I think fallopean tubes are so insignificant, comparatively, as to be unnoticeable during the section. What we need is a surgical RN or OB/GYN to tell us.

[Tresa]

Oh gosh, I didn't even think about the implications of something invasive like a c-section.