Jade Whittleworth Conception and Pregnancy 19/09/2014

Conception
Conception is the conceiving of an ovary egg, fertilized by 1 of 250 million sperm produced by the male. There are so many sperm produced because it is difficult to travel to the fallopian tube, they have many obstacles such as white blood cells and mucus. The first obstacle they reach is within the females womb, is it isn’t open. The womb is closed off by a barrier of cervical mucus, but once her eggs are ready to fertilise, the mucus loosens and acts like a ladder for the sperm to travel up. Another obstacle in the womb is the female’s immune system is reacting to foreign bodies within her womb and is sending white blood cells to kill and destroy. So within the womb, most die and now the fastest and strongest left travel through the fallopian tube, where they rest for 5 days nestled into the walls of the fallopian tube, waiting to be woken by a hormone chemical of the ready to be fertilised egg, travelling from the females ovaries. The hormone chemical message wakes the sperm and the race is back on to reach the egg first. Once reaching the egg within the fallopian tube, the sperm have to break of a hard shell that covers the egg as protection. When broken, the sperm buries itself through the egg, to the centre (Cell). The egg recognises this, and releases a chemical/gas that toughens the outside shell to maximum; no one can get out or get in, because if more than one sperm enters the egg, the egg will die/will not conceives. Within hours of fertilisation, the cells within the egg begin to divide until eventually, 3-4 days the fertilised egg has 64 cells and in 1-2 days, the new embryo floats into the womb and embeds itself into the wall of the womb, about 10-12 days after the start of conception. Many fertilised eggs fail on the other hand, 70% fail within the first 6 days.

http://www.nfpta.org.uk/uyf-page7.html

Pregnancy
1-9 weeks
Within these first few weeks, the fertilised egg makes its way to the womb and is tiny in size. The cells arrange themselves, the ones inside become the baby and the outside cells will be the amniotic sac and placenta. The baby’s heart begins to beat and his/her circulatory system begins to work. Week 9 and the baby is developing limbs and a more defined human like face with a nose, mouth, eyes and very small ears.
10-14 weeks
Over these 4 weeks, organs, finger prints and tissues rapidly develop; the baby can make a fist and curl its toes by the end of the 14th week the baby can squint, frown and grimace, his/her eyes and ears in place. The umbilical cord is working overtime, one vein delivering oxygen and nutrient-rich blood, and then two other arteries carry blood away from the baby. At 12 weeks, the kidneys begin to produce urine which will be leaked into the amniotic fluid, which will be swallowed by the baby and the process begins again, preparing the baby for outside the womb.
15-20 weeks
Within 5 weeks, the baby will be more than double its size; her/his nerves