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Pregnancy

Pregnancy Month by Month

1 month pregnant (Weeks 1-4)

First Month Pregnant: Your belly will be the same size as pre-pregnancy, but you may experience some fatigue, breast engorgement and frequent urination,

2 months pregnant (Weeks 5-8)

Second Month Pregnant: The fetus head is growing more rapidly than the other parts as the brain has a crucial role in regulating the function of all the vital organs.

3 months pregnant (Weeks 9-13)

Third Month Pregnant: Your abdomen and breasts are growing larger. Baby is in a “floating” position, weighs about an ounce (about 28g.) and is 3inches (8cm) long.

4 months pregnant (Weeks 14-17)

Fourth Month Pregnant: Maternity clothes may be required by now. Baby is now about 6 inches (about 15cm.) long, and weighs 1/4 lb. (about 114g.).

5 months pregnant (Weeks 18-21)

Fifth Month Pregnant: The skin on your abdomen stretches considerably. The Doctor can hear Baby’s heartbeat with a stethoscope, and Baby’s movements are more easily felt.

6 months pregnant (Weeks 22-26)

Sixth Month Pregnant: As your abdomen continues to enlarge, Baby’s movements become more vigorous. The skin is red, wrinkled and covered with soft down, and hair has begun to grow

7 months pregnant (Weeks 27-30)

Seventh Month Pregnant: Baby’s eyes are open. If born at this time, Baby has some chance of survival. Weight is about 2 ½ lbs. (about 1 kilo 130g.) and about 15 inches

8 months pregnant (Weeks 31-35)

Eighth Month Pregnant: Baby’s movements are more forceful and may be seen from outside. Weight has increased to about 4 lbs. (about 1 kilo 812g.),  and length to about 16 ½ inches

9 months pregnant (Weeks 36-40)

Ninth Month Pregnant: Baby settles lower into the abdomen, ready for birth. Most of the fuzzy down on the body has disappeared, and the head may be covered with hair.

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Pregnancy

Pregnancy Guide

Pregnancy Guide

Definition of Pregnancy:

The pregnancy is the fertilization and development of one or more off spring known as an embryo or fetus and it’s the period from conception till birth.
The egg is fertilized by a sperm then implanted in the in the lining of the uterus to develop to placenta and embryo, and later to fetus.
Pregnancy Guide

 

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Trying For a Baby

Home pregnancy tests

What is a home pregnancy test?

A home pregnancy test measures the presence of the hormone human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) in your urine. This hormone is first secreted at the time the fertilised egg implants in the uterus (about six days after fertilisation) by the cells which go on to form the placenta. Levels of the hormone build up rapidly in your body in the first few days following implantation. Usually, home-pregnancy tests should be able to pick up the hCG in your urine by the first day you miss your period. Levels of hCG peak between the 60th and 90th days of pregnancy.

If you have a negative result when you first test, it may be that the levels of hCG have not yet reached a level where they can be detected by a test, even by the day your period is due, so you may want to wait a few days then test again.

Not all pregnancy tests are the same. Some are more sensitive and usually more expensive as a result. The more sensitive tests can detect pregnancy even if you have only a small amount of hCG in your system. Concentrations of hCG are reported in milliInternational Units (mIU) or amounts equal to 1/1000th of an IU per millilitre. A test with a sensitivity of 20 IU/L is more sensitive than one with 50 IU/L. You should be able to find this information on any pregnancy test box.

Pregnancy Kits

There are many popular kits are available these days. like Acutest, Clearview, velocid pregnancy test kits. all these are based on HCG detection principle. not something special.

Remember you need to take early morning sample (First Urine In Morning). Take urine in dropper, put 3 drops of urine in a round well, do not put anything on rectangular block where you see “C T” is written. C means control and T means Test. You can read this test with in 5 minutes. If you see two pink lines one at C and another at T that means you are pregnant, i.e result is positive. If you see only one pink line at C that means test is negative. If you do not see any line, it means test is invalid. Either kit has expired, or proper urine sample is not taken.

Sometimes if you do the test early the other line is a bit lighter as hCG will be a bit lower, but don’t worry. You are definetly pregnant.

Below is a excellent Youtube video showing a Pregnancy test using test kit .

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Trying For a Baby

Pregnancy Symptoms

Are you wondering if you might be pregnant? The only way to know for sure is by taking a pregnancy test.

The initial signs of pregnancy do not occur immediately following intercourse. The sperm must travel to the egg and penetrate the thick, protective covering before fertilizing the egg. Once that step is complete, the egg must anchor in the uterus and release hormones to trigger changes that last the duration of the pregnancy (and sometimes beyond). Considering these facts, the first signs of pregnancy after sex may not begin until a week or more after intercourse. But there are early  symptoms of pregnancy  that may point to the possibility. Here’s what to look for.

Tender breasts are often the first sign of pregnancy after sex. Hormones released by the egg after implantation, affect the glands that produce and excrete milk after delivery. These changes often cause tenderness of the breast tissue. Women may also notice the breasts feel slightly larger or swollen within the first two weeks after conception.

Slight cramping or spotting may be implantation bleeding. Progesterone, produced by the corpus luteum causes the lining of the uterus to grow thicker during ovulation. The thick lining is saturated with blood creating the ideal environment for a fertilized egg to embed. When the fertilized egg attaches to the uterine lining, it may cause cramping or implantation bleeding. Many women think the spotting is a sign the pregnancy attempt failed, but they are soon surprised to find out they are definitely pregnant.

It was introduced by Pfizer in the year 1998 primarily for treating heart problems. Sex sirens like Mae West ask their suitors, ‘Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?’ Mother Nature alas had other plans. Imagine my patients surprise when I tell them that their diet could be to blame! That’s right. So, one can have longer sessions, one after another. Loss of appetite and constipation. Progesterone slows down digestion so food spends more time in the stomach. This often causes loss of appetite and constipation for the first few weeks of pregnancy. Some women find out they are pregnant before the digestive system fully reacts to progesterone, but that is not always the case.

A missed menstrual cycle is the final sign of pregnancy after sex. The menstrual cycle will not return until the pregnancy is complete. Pregnancy tests detect the smallest levels of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) in the urine, so a pregnant woman may test positive for pregnancy before missing a menstrual cycle. It is best to retest after the date the cycle was supposed to begin, especially if the couple is using fertility treatments.

Women who are attentive to the changes that occur in their bodies may notice one or more of these signs of pregnancy after sex, but not every woman experiences them all. Each female body reacts to pregnancy hormones differently.

Due Date Calculator: Check your due date by providing the First day of your last menstrual cycle. [button link=”http://pregnany.info/due-date-calculator/”] Click Here[/button]

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Trying For a Baby

Menstrual Cycle

Some background

A newborn baby girl has up to 450,000 eggs stored in her ovaries. When she starts her periods between the ages of about 10 and 14, one of these eggs will ripen each month. The egg is released from the ovary and caught by the ferny ends of the fallopian tube, which transports it, using a gentle rippling motion, along to the uterus (womb). If the egg is fertilised by a sperm on its journey, it will bed down once it reaches the uterus and grow into a baby and a placenta. If fertilisation doesn’t take place, the egg will be flushed out, along with the lining of your uterus, when you have your period.

What’s a normal menstrual cycle?

An average menstrual cycle lasts 28 days – that’s counting from the first day of one period to the day before the next. Some women have much shorter cycles, possibly lasting only 23 days, and some have much longer ones, lasting up to 35 days. Cycles which are shorter or longer than this are probably not normal, and you should see your doctor. You should also see your doctor if you bleed between periods or after sex.

The Menstrual Cycle

A menstrual cycle is the time from the first day of one period to the first day of the next. Some cycles are 21 days long. Some are 35 days long or longer. And some are somewhere in between. Each cycle is divided into two parts. One comes before ovulation. The other comes after. Here is the pattern for a 28-day cycle:

Part One — Day one is the day bleeding begins. It lasts from 3 to 5 days. Day seven is usually the day that some of the eggs in the ovaries start to get ripe. From Days 7 to 11, the lining of the uterus begins to get thick. After Day 11, hormones start working on the ripest egg to get it released from the ovary. Day 14, 15, or 16 is usually the day the egg is released (in a 28-day cycle).

Part One may last 13 to 20 days or more. How long it lasts is different for different women. For many women, how long it lasts is different from month to month. Simple changes in a woman’s life can make Part One longer or shorter. For example, her regular pattern can change if she

  • becomes ill
  • works out very hard
  • has a lot of worries

These infections in new born are life threatening and of no cost whatsoever to life insurance companies.
Some women believe they can tell when the egg is released. Some have a slight pain in the back or on one side of the lower abdomen. This is called mittleschmerz — which is German for “middle pain.” A few women may have a little blood tinged or clear discharge from the vagina. But none of these is a sure signal exactly when an egg has been released.

Part Two — The egg travels down the fallopian tube toward the uterus. It is usually in the tube that an egg joins with a sperm. Pregnancy begins if a fertilized egg travels through the fallopian tube to the uterus and attaches to the lining of the uterus. This is called implantation. The egg breaks apart in a day or two if this doesn’t happen. Around Day 25, the hormones that could support a pregnancy drop off. This makes the lining of the uterus break down. It starts being shed in the woman’s period a few days later on Day one. And a new cycle begins.
Menstrual_Cycle

Ovulation Calculator : Check our awesome ovulation calculator. Just put your first day of your last menstrual cycle and get the whole data for 3 months. It will  contain those 5 high fertility days, next period date and if you miss period the Pregnancy Test date.
http://pregnany.info/ovulation-calculator/”   Click Here

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Trying For a Baby

Fertility Diet

What you eat, and how much you eat, can affect your ability to conceive a child –both positively and negatively. Here are some of the most important food-related ways you can boost your chances of getting pregnant and having a healthy baby.

First, Do No Harm

Let’s start with the items to avoid, or at least limit your intake of, while you’re trying to conceive.

Alcohol: I know — not much fun… But alcohol, even moderately consumed, appears to exert a negative impact on one’s fertility and increase the likelihood of having a miscarriage. Particularly important while trying to conceive is avoiding alcohol during the second half of your cycle (during the infamous “2 week wait”).

Caffeine: Caffeine in excess is a no-no. But there is a silver lining: word on the street is that “low to moderate caffeine intake” while trying to conceive is acceptable (less than 300 mg/day, equal to about 3 cups of coffee per day).

Smoking: Nothing good to say about smoking while trying to conceive. Even second-hand smoke appears to diminish your chances of achieving conception.

Foods to Avoid: There are a number of foods that should be avoided during pregnancy, and you may also wish to avoid them while trying-to-conceive in the interest of erring on the side of caution. These foods include: soft cheeses (which may carry listeria), foods containing high levels of vitamin A (such as liver), raw or lightly cooked eggs (risk of salmonella), and sushi. You may also want to steer clear of artificial sweeteners which can affect blood sugar levels — a factor that influences hormonal balance.

And For Men?

Don’t worry — you’re husband’s not off the hook. Men, too, need to avoid smoking and drinking when trying to conceive, as both activities are detrimental to sperm health. (It goes with out saying that marijuana and other drugs negatively impact male fertility.)

There are vitamins and nutrients that help with the production of healthy sperm — zinc, folic acid, selenium, L-Carnitine and vitamins C and E in particular have been shown to help. All of these can be found in a healthy, balanced diet; however, an extra boost of these nutrients can help to improve sperm count, motility, and morphology.

Three months of good meals

SUN nutritionist Amanda says: “It is vital to bear in mind that it takes at least three months for immature eggs in our ovaries to mature enough to be released during ovulation.
“It will then take at least three months for sperm cells to develop.
“This means, having sorted out your diet, it will take at least three months to even start working.”
The starting point for everyone is to eat three simple but nutritious meals a day, having your five-a-day, with nutritious snacks in between. Aim for at least five portions for fruit and vegetables a day. You should eat a variety of foods from each of these food groups, while trying to conceive:

Cereals: Whole wheat, rice, unpolished jowar, bajra, nachni (ragi), bulgur wheat (dalia), whole wheat pasta, whole wheat bread, etc.

Pulses: Moong dal, toovar (arhar) dal, sprouted moong, lobhia beans, kabuli chana (chickpea), rajma, etc.

Vegetables: Leafy vegetables: Spinach (palak) , fenugreek leaves (methi) , lettuce, radish leaves (moolie) Others: carrots, beetroot, cucumber, french beans, cluster beans gavarfali.

Fruits and nuts: Pineapple, sweet lime, orange, guava etc. Dried fruits like almonds, cashew nuts, walnuts etc.

Dairy Products: Milk, curd, cheese and paneer

You can also get the essential vitamins and minerals from the following foods:

• Carbohydrates from foods such as bread, pasta, rice and potatoes.

• Proteins from foods such as lean meat and chicken, fish, eggs and pulses, beans and lentils.

• Fish, at least twice a week, including some oily fish, but don’t have more than two portions of oily fish a week. This includes fresh tuna (not canned tuna, which does not count as oily fish), sardines and trout.
• Dairy foods such as milk, cheese and yoghurt, which contain calcium.

• Iron rich foods, such as red meat, pulses, dried fruit, bread, green vegetables and fortified breakfast cereals, to build up your resources of iron in preparation for pregnancy.

• Try to include soya and buckwheat (kootu), which are plant foods that offer all essential amino acids.

• If you are a vegetarian, ensure that your diet is not deficient in Vitamin B12 and protein.

• It helps your body to absorb iron if you have some food or drink containing vitamin C, such as fruit or vegetables, or a glass of fruit juice with any iron-rich meals. Try nibbling some Amla Indian gooseberry. It is a rich source of Vitamin C and iron.

SUPPLEMENTS

Supplements can help re-balance your hormones and improve overall health. Here are some leading fertility-boosting supplements:
FOLIC ACID: Prevents spina bifida in the baby and is vital for genetic material in the egg and sperm.
Together with vitamin B12, folic acid works to ensure your baby’s genetic codes are intact.
Giving B6 to women who have trouble conceiving increases fertility and vitamin B12 improves sperm counts.
What to take: 400 micrograms daily.

ZINC: A zinc deficiency can cause chromosome changes in either you or your partner, leading to a risk of reduced fertility.
Zinc helps you make the most of hormones oestrogen and progesterone.
It is also crucial for making the outer layer and tail of the sperm. Studies showed reducing zinc in a man’s diet lowered sperm count.
What to take: 30 micrograms daily.

SELENIUM: Helps protect you from free radicals, helping to prevent chromosome breakage, which can cause birth defects and miscarriages.
Blood selenium levels have been found to be lower in men with low sperm counts.
What to take: 100 micrograms daily.

OMEGA 3 FATTY ACIDS: These are vital for hormone function and controlling inflammation which may interfere with getting and staying pregnant. For men, essential fatty acid supplementation is crucial because semen is rich in prostaglandins, which are made from these fats.
What to take: 1,000 micrograms omega 3 fish oil capsule daily.

VITAMIN E: Another powerful antioxidant that increases fertility when given to men and women.
When men going for IVF treatment with their partners took vitamin E, fertilisation rates rose from 19 to 29 per cent.
It has been suggested that the antioxidant activity of vitamin E might make the sperm more fertile.
What to take: 4 micrograms daily

VITAMIN C: This enhances sperm quality, protecting sperm and the DNA within it from damage. It also appears to keep the sperm from clumping together.
What to take: 1,000 micrograms daily.

Herbal supplements For Infertility

Herbs are all natural and much less expensive than other medical fertility treatment but you have to consult your doctor because, despite of being natural herbs, they can interact adversely with medication or other herbs and may pose a risk to your unborn child if you become pregnant. [button link=”http://www.layyous.com/root_folder/fertility-natural-supplements.htm” newwindow=”yes”] Read More[/button]

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Trying For a Baby

Let’s make a baby

Let’s make a baby: Top fertile sex positions

If the time is right, a woman may conceive regardless of sexual position. But what’s wrong with a little assistance?All of us could likely cite a case where actual intercourse did not take place but pregnancy occurred! Yeah, right!
Still, if you want to optimize and up your odds, consider these sexual position suggestions. You never know, you could actually enjoy trying for a baby!
All of these positions are speculative by scientific standards, but most — if not all — are considered successful by parents worldwide — not to mention they’re fun! Let’s talk about sex, baby!

Increase your odds with effective positions

Missionary style is still the best. The missionary style of sex positions the male on top of the female. While this position may be considered boring or old-fashioned, it is the most effective sex position for conceiving. After sex in the missionary position, it is important for the woman to stay put for up to 20 minutes with a small pillow under the hips. The pillow allows semen to pool around the cervix where sperm can swim through the hole in the cervix more quickly.

The butt lift: a variation on missionary style. The butt lift is nearly identical to the missionary style, but the male places hands under the female bottom to lift the hips toward his body. This lift allows for deeper penetration. It is especially important to lift hips at the time of ejaculation so sperm is closer to the cervix.

Deep stick with a wedge pillow. Another variation of the missionary sex position is the deep stick or deep missionary. The female places her legs on the shoulders of her male partner. The male then pulls the legs toward his pelvis to align the vagina with the penis. A wedge placed under the bottom of the female raises the hips to increase penetration depth.

Spread eagle: missionary with a flip. Some couples love sex positions where a woman is on her tummy. The spread eagle offers the benefits of the missionary sex position from a tummy position. The female lays on her tummy with legs spread far apart. A wedge or small pillow placed under the hips raises the pelvis to meet the penis. The male can grab her upper thighs during ejaculation for increased penetration to deposit semen near the cervix to increase fertility chances.
Doggie style for a tilted or tipped uterus / cervix.   The woman kneels before the man, facing away. Penetration is then from behind, enabling the man to enter with deeper thrusts and deposit the sperm close to the cervix. Due to the control this offers the man, his orgasms may be more intense as well.
Want to have even more fun with this position? The man can reach around and fondle his partner’s breast or clitoris during intercourse and perhaps even following his own orgasm for additional stimulation. The woman may find she can pleasure her partner by reaching between, “tickling” his testicles gently as he moves and/or stroking the base of his penis. The resulting orgasms may surprise you both!

Spooning: The woman lays with her back to her partner and he cuddles her from behind. Penetration will not be as deep, but both partners are often quite relaxed which can also lead to achieving conception. The woman is able to move against her partner, inviting stimulation and allowing him to enter her from behind. The man is able to manually stimulate the woman’s breasts and clitoris. Gentle kisses and communication between the two of you may ignite more pleasure. Something to try? The woman may want to help guide her partner’s touch. She may also be able to reach and stroke him as he enters.

“Living on the Edge”: Take this one literally! The woman lays on the edge of the bed or couch. The man can then enter from the front from either a standing or kneeling position. Like the missionary position, this allows the man to enjoy a good penetration. The unusual position may excite you both. Again, manual stimulation of both partners can add even more pleasure and intensity. Gravity, ladies, remains on your side helping the sperm meet their goal!

It is best to have sex once a day for five days before ovulation and on the day of ovulation to increase chances of conception. If your attempts at conception have failed thus far, maybe you’re not doing it right. Try these deep penetrating sex positions to increase chances of fertility and conception.

Ovulation Widget : Check our awesome ovulation widget in the sidebar. Just put your first day of your last menstrual cycle and get the whole data for 3 months. It will also contain those 5 high fertility days on which you have the highest chances of getting pregnant.

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Trying For a Baby

How babies are made

When girls and boys reach puberty, their bodies start to change and become more mature. From this time, if a male and a female have sexual intercourse (often called ‘making love’, or ‘sleeping with someone’), it is possible that the girl could get pregnant, ie. a baby could start to grow.

You may think you know how to make a baby: man meets woman, they make love and nine months later out pops a baby! But do you know exactly where sperm and eggs come from? Or how they find each other and combine to create a new life? Read on to discover the fascinating biological facts behind getting pregnant.

Inside the woman’s body: how an egg is hatched
For women, the possibility of pregnancy begins in the ovaries; those two small oval organs attached to either side of your uterus (womb). The ovaries are packed with eggs, which are made before you are even born. Every baby girl is born with up to 450,000 eggs in her ovaries. Many eggs begin dying off almost immediately and the rest steadily decrease in number as you get older. You’ll probably release about 400 eggs, during your fertile years. This begins with your first period and ends when the menopause arrives, usually between the ages of 45 and 55.

Each month, usually some time during the middle of your menstrual cycle, between one and three eggs start to reach maturity in one of your ovaries. The ripest egg is then released and is quickly sucked up by the tulip-shaped opening of the nearest fallopian tube (these are two four-inch canals leading from the ovaries to the uterus). This release is known as ovulation. The exact time of ovulation depends on the length of your cycle. In an average 28 day cycle, ovulation will most likely happen between the 12th and 15th days, counting day 1 as the first day of your last period. The length of your cycle, the ripening of your eggs and the timing of ovulation are controlled by several different hormones, which work together. See our article on your menstrual cycle for more about hormones.

The average egg lives and can be fertilised for about 12 to 24 hours after release, so it has to meet up with a sperm soon if a baby is to be conceived. If your egg does meet up with a healthy sperm on its way to the uterus, the two can join and begin the process of creating a new life. If not, it ends its journey at the uterus, where it disintegrates. When you have not conceived, the ovary stops making oestrogen and progesterone, the two hormones that would help maintain a pregnancy. Following the drop in the levels of these hormones, the thickened lining of your uterus is shed, along with the disintegrated egg, during your period.

Inside the man’s body: the making of a sperm
While women’s bodies are busy maturing a single egg at the leisurely pace of about one a month, men’s bodies are almost constantly at work producing millions of microscopic sperm. The sole purpose in life of each sperm, is to swim towards and penetrate an egg. While women are born with all the eggs they’ll ever need, men have to make sperm on a regular basis throughout their adult lives. From start to finish it takes about 64 to 72 days to create a new sperm cell. Since the average sperm lives only a few weeks in a man’s body, and as many as 300 million are set free with each ejaculation, this sperm factory is kept pretty busy.

In men, the same hormones that control ovulation in women stimulate the release of testosterone; the hormone responsible for producing sperm. Sperm production starts in the testicles, the two glands contained in the scrotal sac beneath the penis. The testicles hang outside the body because they’re quite sensitive to temperature. To produce healthy sperm they have to stay at a balmy 34 degrees C/ 94 degrees F; about four degrees cooler than normal body temperature. Once the sperm is created, it’s stored in a 40-foot long coiled tube in the testicle, called the epididymis until it’s scooped up and mixed with semen just before ejaculation.

Despite the millions of sperm that are produced and released in each ejaculation, only one can fertilise each egg. The gender of baby depends on which type of sperm burrows into the egg first; sperm with a Y chromosome will make a boy baby, and sperm with an X chromosome will make a girl. There are plenty of myths about how to conceive a boy or girl, and some are backed by a bit of scientific evidence, but on the whole, a child’s sex is determined randomly.

How Baby is Started

Sperm are the male ‘seeds’ that contribute to starting a new life – living sperm look a lot like tadpoles (under a microscope). When sperm are ejaculated (say ee-jak-u-lay-ted) from the penis during sexual intercourse, they swim up the vagina (vaj-eye-na), through the cervix (sir-vix), into the uterus (you-ter-us) and then into the fallopian (fal-o-pe-an) tubes of the female. These sperm are looking for an ovum (or egg) to fertilise.

When a female is born she carries thousands of ova or eggs ready to use when she becomes adult. These are the female ‘seeds’ that, along with sperm, contribute to creating a new life.

Once a month, the female releases an ovum (one to three eggs) .

If an ovum has been released, a sperm can unite with it, fertilise it and make the first cell of a new baby.

Once one sperm has fertilised the ovum, no other sperm can get in.

For the sperm it’s like a race and there is only one winner.

What Happens next

This fertilised ovum immediately divides into two cells, these cells then divide again and again over the next couple of days as the cluster of cells makes its way to the uterus (womb). Here it is planted in the lining of the uterus and continues dividing its cells to make billions of new cells. The female is now pregnant.

The amazing thing is that each one of these cells contains the same set of chromosomes or ‘plans’ that were created at fertilisation!

Over 9 months, these cells will grow into a new person – a baby.

Doctors have different names for this developing baby.

  • 1 day – ‘zygote’
  • first 2 months – ’embryo’
  • 3rd month to birth – ‘fetus’

When your dad’s sperm and mum’s egg (ovum) got together, they each brought a set of ‘plans’ for what the new baby would be like.
When the ovum was fertilised and became your first cells, these ‘plans’ or genes helped to decide lots of things about you, eg. boy or girl, colour of skin, eyes, hair, etc.
Genes are made of DNA (‘de-ox-y-ri-bo-nu-cle-ic acid’, if you want the full name). If you could see your genes they would look like beads on a necklace of DNA. These strands are called ‘chromosomes’. Usually each cell in a human body has 46 chromosomes.
That first single cell has 23 chromosomes from mum and 23 from dad, which is why you might look like mum or dad (or grandparents) and have similar traits, eg. you and dad may have pointy ears, or you and mum can both wiggle your noses!
The chromosomes in a male are slightly different to those in a female. This is a picture of chromosomes in a male.

(Isn’t it annoying when people who haven’t seen you for a while say things like, “He’s got his dad’s chin”, or “she’s got grandma’s eyes!”)
Remember, any one sperm can only fertilise one ovum, so if 2 ova (eggs) leave the ovaries at the same time and are both fertilised then ‘non-identical’ twins are born. They may look alike or they may not, just like any brothers or sisters.

If an ovum splits after it has been fertilised, then you get identical twins because they have the same set of genes.

It is called a multiple birth if two or more babies are born at the same birth. Do you know what we call a set of three babies who are born at the same time? Triplets.

What Sex are you
What sex a baby will be is decided when the egg and sperm unite.

Each egg and each sperm have one sex chromosome.

There are two kinds of sex chromosomes – X and Y. Can you see why they are called x and y chromosomes? (Hint – look at the picture.)

Eggs carry only an X and sperm carry either an X or a Y

X+X means the cell will develop into a baby girl.
X+Y means that it will develop into a boy.

Once you are born, you will grow up into a unique  human being – there’s no-one else like you in the world. Even identical twins are not exact copies of each other – they each have their own personalities.

You may look a bit like someone in your family, but there is only one of you!

You are a completely unique and wonderful person.

 

Inside the Womb

The place where the embryo plants itself is inside the uterus. The baby starts to grow, and other tissue grows into a placenta (say pla-sent-a).

During pregnancy (the time when the baby is growing in mum’s uterus), the placenta provides oxygen from the air that mum breathes, and nutrients (say new-tree-ents) from the food she eats.

This is why it is important that mum gets good food and takes care not to smoke, drink alcohol or take drugs, because the developing baby gets those too and he or she cannot say, “No”.

Some of the nutrients from what mum eats or drinks, and oxygen from the air she breathes, goes through the umbilical cord to the fetus. Any waste from the growing baby goes back through the cord into the mother’s bloodstream and passes out of her body.

The umbilical cord is a soft ‘bendy’ tube from the placenta to the navel (or tummy button) of the fetus.

There is a sac (like a bag of thin skin) filled with fluid protecting the skin of the developing baby. The baby can move around safely inside the mother for 9 months until he or she is ready to be born into our world.