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Pregnancy...Am I/Is She?
How does pregnancy happen?
It�s basic biology. During sexual intercourse, a man ejaculates semen into a woman�s vagina. Semen is a white, sticky fluid that contains sperm, which can fertilize a female�s egg. The sperm swim through the female�s cervix and uterus, into her fallopian tubes, where eggs are released from her ovaries. If she has recently ovulated, or released an egg, then the sperm can swim into the egg and start a pregnancy. Ovulation happens once a month.
An egg can live and be fertilized for about 24 to 36 hours. Sperm can live for up to five days. That means a couple can have intercourse on Saturday. The girl could ovulate on Wednesday, and the sperm could find an egg on Thursday.
Once the sperm and egg connect, its called a blastocyst. The blastocyst travels along the fallopian tube, dividing and changing as it goes, and eventually lands in the uterus.
The lining of the uterus is full of blood and tissue. This nutrient-rich lining gives the blastocyst something to attach to. Once that happens, the pregnancy has taken root. The blastocyst becomes a mass of cells that divide and develop into an embryo. The embryo, in turn, becomes a fetus over the next nine months.
If egg and sperm fail to connect, the egg dies. With no pregnancy, the lining of the uterus disintegrates. This lining becomes a female�s period or menstruation.
