- Understanding fertilization, the course of pregnancy and childbirth.
- Fertilization occurs when the nucleus of both a sperm and an egg fuse to form a diploid cell.
- Fertilization takes place in a fallopian tube.
- After repeated cell division, the hollow ball of cells, called blastocyst, attaches to the uterus.
- The cell cluster first develops into an embryo and by the eighth week of pregnancy into a fetus.
- During pregnancy, the fetus receives oxygen and nourishment through the placenta and e.g. carbon dioxide is taken away the same way.
- The pregnancy lasts about nine months.
- At birth, the baby begins to breathe through its own lungs and its own blood circulation begins.
- Keywords: fertilization, embryo, fetus, placenta, umbilical cord, three phases of childbirth
