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What do your ovaries do? Your ovaries play a critical role in both menstruation and conception. They produce eggs for fertilization and they make the hormones estrogen and progesterone. An ovary releases an egg around the middle of your menstrual cycle (around day 14 of a 28-day cycle) in a process called ovulation. Each of your ovaries has thousands of ovarian follicles. Ovarian follicles are small sacs in the ovaries that hold immature eggs. Each month, between days six and 14 of your menstrual cycle, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) causes follicles in one of your ovaries to mature. At about day 14 in the menstrual cycle, a sudden surge in luteinizing hormone (LH) causes the ovary to release an egg (ovulation). The egg begins its travel through a narrow, hollow structure called the fallopian tube to the uterus. As the egg travels through the fallopian tube, the level of progesterone rises, which helps prepare the uterine lining for pregnancy. If you don't become pregnant that