Implantation

Reproduction involves several processes that must occur at exactly the right time. Any interruption to the necessary steps can interfere with fertilization and/or implantation, resulting in infertility.

Once a month, women generally ovulate an egg from one of the two ovaries. This egg, or ovum, travels from the ovary into the fallopian tube. In preparation for fertilization, the egg will be moved through the fallopian tube in order to meet the man’s sperm.

Sperm play a vital role in the reproductive process. Following ejaculation, the man’s sperm must swim through the woman’s cervical mucous, and continue through the uterus and into the fallopian tube where it eventually meets the egg. Fertilization occurs when a sperm finds and penetrates the egg waiting in the fallopian tube.

Once the egg is successfully fertilized, it continues to move down through the fallopian tube and into the uterus, where it will implant itself in the uterine wall three to four days after fertilization. In rare cases, the fertilized egg is unable to leave the fallopian tube, which results in a tubal pregnancy or ectopic pregnancy. This condition may result in a miscarriage.

Once the egg has successfully implanted in the uterus, it forms an embryo. About three weeks after ovulation, the baby’s brain, spinal cord, heart, and other major organs begin to form.

The next step in the reproductive process is Graduation.