From puberty onward a woman's breasts are a part of who she is. Whether we are satisfied with them or not, we live with them and for the most part rarely think about them. All that changes during pregnancy. Just ask Micaela Vitello from Dixon, Calif.

"I noticed the symptoms in August of 2005," Vitello says. "I would have been about 1 to 2 months pregnant. They were swollen, a little red and hurt ... I didn't find out I was pregnant until October. I got a little sick and then realized I hadn't had a period. The soreness of my breasts should have been a sign, but I was in denial." Her breasts remained swollen and sore throughout her pregnancy.

Many women find their breasts become sore, sometimes painfully so, during pregnancy. And no wonder. According to doctors, there is no other time in a woman's life when her breasts change so rapidly or for such an important reason. Each trimester of a woman's pregnancy brings about crucial breast transformations as the body readies itself to nourish its offspring.

Dr. Annette Perez-Delboy, the medical director of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Division at Columbia Eastside Medical Center, says the changes are all due to hormones. "Hormonal changes during pregnancy cause increased blood flow and changes in the breast tissue, which may make your breasts feel swollen, sore, tingly and unusually sensitive to touch," Dr. Perez-Delboy says. "Breast tenderness is one of the earliest signs of pregnancy. It usually starts around 4 to 6 weeks and lasts through the first trimester."

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