Pregnancy

The most common sign of pregnancy is missing a menstrual period, as well as a late period. Other early signs of pregnancy are feeling nauseated or queasy, feeling extremely tired, having tender or swollen breast, being moody, urinating frequently, as well feeling bloated. Having these symptoms is normal in pregnancy, a woman might not have all of the signs but can and will have at least one sign.

A new life begins with fertilization, the fusion of a woman’s egg and a man’s sperm. The egg and sperm together join to form cells that over time will develop in a baby. A woman’s fertility depends upon her menstrual cycle. Some changes occur during each cycle which is normally cause by hormones (substances made by a woman’s body to control certain functions). Every month, hormones direct to the uterus to build up a lining of blood-rich tissue usually known as endometrium. The hormones send a signal to the egg to ripen in a follicle- tiny, fluid-filled clusters of cells in the ovaries (two glands, located on either side of the uterus, that contain the eggs released at ovulation and that produce hormones). When the egg is ripe, it’s released from an ovary and moves into a fallopian tube, one of a pair of ducts that connects the ovaries to the uterus, other known as ovulation which occurs most often halfway through the cycle- on day 14 of 28, for instance.

During sexual intercourse, when a man climaxes, semen spurts from his penis through a tube called urethra. This deposits millions of sperm in a woman’s vagina ( ). After ejaculation, the sperm swims up through the cervix (the lower, narrow end of the uterus, which protrudes into the vagina), into the uterus, and out into the fallopian tubes. Although the sperm can live inside a woman’s body up to days, once an egg is released it must be fertilized within 12-24 hours. After an egg is fertilized, it splits into identical cells, which then split once again and again- two cells become four, four cells become eight and so...