Pregnancy is a condition
when the woman conceives and is carrying an embryo or
embryos (though in rare cases), and is supposed to deliver
a baby in a few months time. An embryo is the developing
baby within the would be mother that develops slowly
inside the womb. Actually it takes 38 weeks or a little
more than 9 months for the baby to be born. However
for other animals (read mammals), this time differs.
Pregnancy in humans starts when a matured sperm from
the male enters the female body and successfully fertilizes
the egg that is released in certain days of the month
after the menstrual cycle. This happens of course
when the couple engages in sexual intercourse and
the male ejaculates inside the female. Interestingly,
it is almost always impossible to know for sure whether
pregnancy has happened or not. The first signs are
normally noticed when the woman misses her period.
And when this happens, the doctor wants a blood test
to be carried out which confirms whether she is pregnant
or not. These tests work by trying to detect any change
in the hormone levels in the body. Other sings of
pregnancy include nausea that may come with vomiting.
Minor bleeding from the vagina is another sign that
it might be a case of pregnancy.
However these days, with the advances being made
in medical science, pregnancy can happen even without
sexual intercourse. Artificial insemination is carried
out on couples that cannot have a baby under the normal
circumstances due to some problem related to the male,
the female or some unknown reason. This has become
possible with the advent of ICSI (intra cytoplasmic
sperm injection), IVF (in vitro fertilization) and
others. The number of test tube babies has also increased
rapidly in recent years.
Pregnancy not only brings in a new person to the
world and carries forward the human race, it is much
more than that (though it is in the natural instinct
of humans to reproduce and have babies). Pregnancy
is a wonderful thing both for the couple that is having
the baby, and also for the entire family. Sometimes
a new baby brings in the extended family together,
and that is something great in these lonesome times.
The birth of a baby has been known to bury differences
between quarrelling couples who re-rediscover the
lost love that had brought them together.
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