What Is Pregnancy

Introduction Pregnancy refers to a stage when a new life is born in the woman’s body. Pregnancy begins when a sperm successfully fertilizes the egg, which then travels through the fallopian tube and attaches itself to the placenta. The fertilized egg becomes an embryo and then the cells begin to divide. At the end of 8 weeks the developed embryo is known as a fetus. As the months pass, the body parts begin to form such as brain, lungs, heart, liver, arms and legs. A woman must look out for certain signs to find out if she is pregnant or not. Some symptoms of being pregnant are missed period, frequent urination, dizziness, vomiting, feeling of nausea and changes in the breasts. The breasts become firmer and bigger. In case these symptoms persist for a few days then you should get a pregnancy test done. Pregnancy Test You can find out that you are pregnant by visiting s doctor or doing a home pregnancy test. If the home pregnancy test is positive then you should go to a doctor for further confirmation. The doctor will then advise you about your diet and the medications that you have to take such as folic acid. Presence of Hormones Pregnancy is detected by the presence of human chorionic gonadotropin in the urine or blood. This is a hormone that is released by a woman who has just become present. If there is more HCG detected then there are chances of having multiple pregnancies. However you can further confirm this with the help of an abdominal scan. The scan will be able to tell you as to how many embryos are formed. Chromosomes In pregnancy, 23 chromosomes from the male sperm converge with chromosomes of the woman’s age. The male chromosome could either be X chromosome or Y chromosome. If an X chromosome fertilizes the egg then it will be a girl but if a Y chromosome fertilizes an egg then it will be a boy. The 23 chromosomes from the sperm converge with 23 chromosomes from the egg to make 46 chromosomes that are required to make a human. Progress of Pregnancy When the egg is fertilized it is called the zygote. The zygote starts dividing from one cell to two cells, the two cells divide into 4 cells and the process goes on to create billions of cells. The zygote attaches itself to the wall of the womb with the help of root like veins called villi. The villi make sure that the embryo is well anchored to the lining of the uterus. The set of villi will then grow into the placenta which will become the source of feeding from the mother to the child. For the next nine months the fetus will eventually become a full grown baby with all body organs. The pregnancy end at the end of ninth month when there is no extra space in the womb to grow and the baby is removed either through normal procedure or through a cesarean operation.