UNIT 1 part 1

• Pregnancy - The period from conception to birth and for human beings lasts from 38-42 weeks. Also known as gestation. 
• Pregnancy - The period averages 38 weeks or 266 days in length; however, pregnancy duration is 40 weeks since it is measured from the date of the first day of the last menstrual period.
• Preconception - During puberty, females develop monthly menstrual cycles, the purpose of which is to prepare an ovum for fertilization by sperm and the uterus for implantation of a fertilized egg
• Preconception - The purpose is to prepare the body for bringing life.
• The first 14 days - follicular phase. The follicles will release the egg cell
• The last 14 days - luteal phase. Ovulation. The egg will be waiting to be fertilized
• Ovulation - On day 14 of the menstrual cycle, blood levels of Follicular Stimulating Hormone or FSH and Luteal Hormone or LH peak.
• Menstrual Cycle - Fertility phase is from 9th to 15th day (if a woman has a 28 day menstrual cycle)
• FSH & LH - These two hormones are incharge of the follicle or the ovum. They stimulate the ovary to release the ovum or the oocyte which will then travel to the fallopian tube then to the uterus if implanted.
• Follicle Stimulating Hormone - Prompts to growth of 6-20 follicles in the surface of the ovary
• Secondary oocyte - Immature ovum shortly after ovulation to fertilization where it turns into an ootid
• Ovarian Follicle is a roughly spheroid cellular aggregation set found in the ovaries
• Women begin puberty with about 400,000 follicles, each with the potential to release an egg cell (ovum) at ovulation for fertilization
• Luteinizing Hormone - Cause the cells within the follicles to secrete progesterone
• Luteal Phase - Begins after ovulation
• The corpus luteum is made from a follicle that housed a maturing egg
• 1. Egg matures inside the ovary
  2. Go to the fallopian tube
  3. Go to the uterine lining 
  4. Travel to uterus
  5. Then the endometrium will be developed because it anticipates that the egg will be fertilized. If not, the endometrium will shed causing menstruation.
• Atresia - is the degeneration of those ovarian follicles which do not ovulate during the menstrual cycle
• Journey of an Egg

  STEP 1: egg leaves ovary and enters fallopian tube

  STEP 2: sperm enters egg and unites with nucleus

  STEP 3: fertilized egg divides

  STEP 4: cells attach to uterus
• Fertilization happens when a sperm cell successfully meets an egg cell in the fallopian tube. Once fertilization takes place, this newly fertilized cell is called a zygote.
• Implantation - is the stage of pregnancy at which the embryo adheres to the wall of the uterus and starts to develop. Occurs during the first 2 weeks of gestation.
• Implantation - Almost 2 weeks or first 10 days from fertilization
• Organogenesis - From zygote to embryo
• A newly fertilized ovum is called a zygote
• A fraternal twin pregnancy will happen when two eggs are released during ovulation, and if both eggs are fertilized.
• To form identical or monozygotic twins, one fertilized egg (ovum) splits and develops into two babies with exactly the same genetic information
• fallopian tubes are two tubes where the eggs travel through from the ovaries to the uterus
• Critical period – times of intense development and rapid cell division.
• Hormones - More than 30 hormones during gestation
• Placenta - disc shaped organ through which nutrients, oxygen, and waste products can be exchanged in the fetus.
• Facilitated diffusion is the passive movement of molecules across the cell membrane via the aid of a membrane protein
• Diffusion is a passive process of transport
• Endocytosis is a cellular process in which substances are brought into the cell
• All women need to gain weight during pregnancy. It is a physiological result to foster fetal growth and maternal health.
• Underweight - Underweight women (BMI <18.5) have a high risk of having a low birth weight infant (<2500 g)
• Overweight and Obesity - Overweight women (BMI >25.0) are at high risk for complications
• Postpartum infections, also known as childbed fever and puerperal fever, are any bacterial infections of the female reproductive tract following childbirth or miscarriage.
• Parturition – the act of giving birth, delivery of the fetus from the mother
• Low Birth Weight Infants (LBW) – babies weighing less than 2500 g (<5.5 lbs)
• Small for gestational age infants (SGA) – full term babies who weigh less than 2500 g