PREGNANCY - THE EARLY WEEKS - WEEK BY WEEK - THE FIRST 2 WEEKS

The life and growth of your baby starts the moment a sperm joins the ripe ovum (egg) in one of your fallopian tubes.  These 2 cells fuse and become one.  The cell that is formed, by the sperm and egg uniting, is no larger than the dot at the end of a pen.  But it contains the potential for everything your baby will become.

Within approximately half an hour, the cell divides into 2 cells.  The cells continue to divide as they are traveling toward the uterus.  By the first 7 to 10 days, the cluster of cells finishes its journey down the fallopian tube and attaches to the uterine wall.

The cells continue to divide at a very rapid rate.  Those that will become the placenta, grow against the uterine wall.  The placenta connects to the little developing form by the umbilical cord.  The cord is what brings nourishment from the mother's body to the baby, while carrying off wastes from the baby, so that your body can dispose of them.