Pregnancy (Information)

AKA: bun in the oven, childbirth, expecting, having a baby, preggers, in the family way, in the club, sexual reproduction, up the duff.
What is it?

When a baby is developing inside a woman’s body, she's pregnant.

How does a woman get pregnant?
• As part of her menstrual cycle a woman’s body releases an egg (ovum) from her ovary each month (ovulation) which travels through one of her fallopian tubes for about 8 - 12 days.

• When a man ejaculates he releases millions of sperm, only one of which needs to make contact with a woman’s egg to make her pregnant.

• If the woman has sexual intercourse and sperm reaches the egg and fertilises it, the egg will attach itself to the lining of her womb (uterus).

If the egg isn’t fertilised she’ll have a period.
Sperm

What happens after the egg is fertilised?
The egg now becomes a foetus (pronounced "fee-tus"), which will develop into a baby in the woman’s womb.

Her breasts will also get bigger, preparing to produce milk for when the baby is born. Most babies are born about nine months later (some may be born earlier and some slightly later).
How does the baby get out?

• When the baby is ready to be born the powerful muscles in the woman’s womb begin to squeeze. These squeezing motions are called contractions.

• At some point the fluids that cushioned the baby inside her will be released through the vagina. This is called the ‘waters breaking’ and can happen in a big gush, or a slow trickle.

• The contractions slowly cause the neck of the womb (cervix) to open. When it's fully open (about 10cm wide) the woman may feel an urge to push. The baby squeezes out through her vagina (usually head first) and is born.

• Once the baby is out, the umbilical cord, which carried blood to the baby in the womb, is cut. Our belly button (navel) marks where our cord was attached. Next the placenta (which nourished the baby through the entire nine months) comes out of her vagina. This is called the afterbirth.