at day 0 the menses still happening, and its the start of the follicular "race" day 0-7

- several follicles begin their development and only one will ovulate: winner of race

- race begins when hormone FSH rise

- granuloma cells will synthesize estrogen as "food" for developing follicles -> estrogen levels increase as more follicle grows, more estrogen grows

- once a follicle reaches the "threshold of estrogen produced" it wins - they will remain alive and continue to mature and other follicles will die off through atresia

day 7-14: basically just the maturation of the winner

- all energy invested into one egg

- once it reaches a certain size, body will know because it will produce a certain amount of estrogen

- this will trigger LH surge -> estrogen had been promoting the synthesis of LH this whole time but not releasing it

- LH cues to signal ovulation

Spell: female reproductive physiology