The embryonic stage of human development starts after implantation of the zygote, which occurs nearly two weeks after conception, and persists until eight weeks of gestational age, at which point the developing baby is considered a fetus. During...
Embryonic abnormalities occur very early in pregnancy, sometimes even before the mother knows she has become pregnant. Embryonic abnormalities can result in devastating congenital birth defects. Some birth defects can be prevented before pregnancy...
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the most commonly used form of assisted reproductive technology. During the IVF procedure, a woman's eggs are retrieved during surgery and then fertilized outside of her body with sperm. Several days after...
The term "radiation" encompasses a host of physical phenomenon--for instance, visible light is a form of radiation, albeit a harmless one--but most people use the word to refer to the sort of radiation capable of doing biological harm. The general...
IVF, or in vitro fertilization, is the process of transferring embryos into the uterus. According to the American Pregnancy Association, this often happens when the embryos are at the two to eight cell stage. Immediately following IVF, a woman is...
An embryo starts as a fertilized egg and continues through various developmental stages for eight weeks post-fertilization (10 weeks of pregnancy), when the embryo becomes a fetus. These embryonic stages are critical for organ and limb...
The creation of new life is an amazing event, but one that does not happen overnight. That cute little bundle of joy in the arms of his parents went through many different developmental stages. Prior to entering the world, the baby is known as a...
Over the course of approximately 38 weeks, a fertilized egg grows from zygote to embryo to fetus. The development that takes place before birth--referred to as prenatal development--follows a set of steps that are very consistent in order and...
The embryonic period begins at implantation, when the fertilized egg attaches itself into the uterine lining, and continues through the first eight weeks of pregnancy. This is when most rapid changes in prenatal development occur. All the major...
Within the first month of pregnancy a woman's egg becomes fertilized and undergoes rapid changes to eventually form what is called an embryo. Merck Manual explains that a fertilized egg (called a zygote) develops into a blastocyst, then an embryo...
Prenatal vitamins are daily supplement pills formulated for pregnant women. They don't contain calories, so they can't foster cellular growth, but they're important to cellular health and well being. While they don't help your embryo grow fast,...
There's more than one way to get pregnant. You can get pregnant by having sex in the traditional way, or you can get pregnant even though you and your partner are in different rooms--or different countries. You can get pregnant even if you don't...
Artificial insemination, also called "intrauterine insemination," is used to treat a number of fertility issues, including low sperm count and poor cervical mucus. Insemination may also be used for sex selection after sperm is separated in the...
Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) helps couples overcome infertility challenges. However, assisted reproductive technologies do not overcome every barrier. According to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), women under...
Most people get pregnant in the usual way; they find a partner, have sex and wait for the positive pregnancy line to show up on the home pregnancy test. This doesn't work for everyone, though; people with infertility issues, who have no partner or...
Effective medical alternatives to in vitro fertilization (IVF) may be possible for some infertility patients depending on their diagnosis. IVF was designed to help patients with blocked or missing fallopian tubes. Without fallopian tubes, the...
X-rays are a kind of energy called ionizing radiation. They're related to visible light, but are much more energetic, and therefore have the ability to break chemical bonds. In particular, the chemical bonds susceptible to breaking when exposed to...
Cryopreservation is the process of freezing living tissues at extremely low temperatures for preservation. Properly preserved tissues can be revived without damage and function as they did in their original state. Cells can be stored in special...
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a medical procedure in which eggs and sperm are fertilized in the laboratory and the resulting fertilized eggs or embryos are returned to the mother to establish a pregnancy. Physicians use variations on this...
While many doctors' offices confirm a suspected pregnancy using a urine or blood test, practitioners generally follow up chemical confirmation with an ultrasound to confirm viability of the pregnancy. Ultrasounds help physicians assess the...
Testosterone causes males to develop anatomical and a physiological male sexual characteristics. Testosterone, which is categorized as an androgen, or male hormone, is secreted by the testes in relatively constant concentrations throughout a man's...
Technically, radiation encompasses a broad range of phenomena, many of which are not harmful to living organisms. Radio waves, microwaves and visible light are all forms of radiation but have no biological consequences of exposure. Some forms of...
A gestational surrogate, or carrier, is a woman who carries a pregnancy for another woman. Gestational surrogates are not the biological mothers of the child they deliver; embryos created by the biological parents are implanted in the gestational...
The human body contains stem cells, a specific type of cell that possesses distinctive characteristics. Stem cells can divide and renew for long periods of time. They are unspecialized cells that can differentiate into a specialized type of cell,...
If you have several thousand dollars to drop on seemingly space-age technology, you can sort sperm or choose boy embryos at the time of conception to guarantee the sex of your baby. If you're doing things the old-fashioned way, you have an arsenal...
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a chronic health condition that can lead to many medical complications, but having high blood pressure does not directly make it more difficult to become pregnant. Hypertension itself does not affect a...
While the first weeks of pregnancy present some of the most rapid relative growth and change in your developing embryo, the embryo is incredibly small. As a result, though diet is very important in some regards, you don't actually need much...
Stem cells are specialized cells that can transform into almost any kind of cell in the body. This potential to turn into other cells holds the promise of repairing damage to organs caused by injury or disease. Embryos contain the most versatile...
It is often believed that conceiving a particular gender is a 50-50 chance. According to iParenting.com, a woman can increase her chances of conceiving a girl by 92 percent with enough time and money. Many couples are now seeking advanced gender...
