Sure, you know the nuts about how babies are made – a man and woman have sex and 9 months later, a beautiful infant is born. Simply there'due south actually a lot more to it than that.

Here are all the fascinating biological facts about getting pregnant.

How exercise women's eggs develop?

For women, a potential pregnancy begins in the ovaries, those two almond-shaped glands attached to either side of the uterus. (Meet illustration below.)

Ovaries come fully stocked: You are born with 1 to 2 one thousand thousand eggs – more than than a lifetime's supply. The eggs begin dying off most immediately, and no more are e'er produced.

Altogether, you probably release about 400 eggs over the course of your reproductive years, beginning with your first menses and ending with menopause (commonly betwixt ages 45 and 55).

female reproductive system, including two fallopian tubes, uterus, two ovaries, cervix, and vagina

During the heart of the menstrual bike, most likely former betwixt the ninth and 21st days for women with a 28-day bike, an egg reaches maturity in one of her two ovaries, then is released and apace sucked up past the opening of the nearest fallopian tube. These ii 4-inch canals lead from the ovaries to the uterus.

This release, called ovulation, starts the conception clock ticking. The egg lives only nearly 24 hours after ovulation, and so information technology has to exist fertilized soon for conception to happen. If your egg meets up with a salubrious sperm on its style to the uterus, the two tin join and begin the procedure of creating a new life.

If not, the egg ends its journey at the uterus, where information technology either dissolves or is captivated by the body. When pregnancy doesn't occur, the ovary eventually stops making estrogen and progesterone (hormones that help maintain a pregnancy), and the thickened lining of the uterus is shed during your menses.

How exercise men make sperm?

A homo'southward body is almost constantly at work producing millions of microscopic sperm, whose sole purpose is to penetrate an egg. While women are born with all of the eggs they'll ever need, men aren't born with set up-fabricated sperm. They have to be produced on a regular basis, and from first to finish it takes 64 to 72 days for new sperm cells to develop.

male reproductive system, including ureter, seminal vesicle, prostate, urethra, testicle, scrotum, epididymis, penis, and vas deferens

The average sperm lives only a few weeks in a man'due south body, and most 250 1000000 are released with each ejaculation. That ways new sperm are e'er in product.

Sperm begin developing in the testicles, the two glands in the scrotal sac beneath the penis. (Come across illustration higher up.) The testicles hang outside a human's body because they're quite sensitive to temperature.

To produce healthy sperm, testicles have to stay around 94 degrees Fahrenheit – most four degrees libation than normal trunk temperature. The sperm are stored in a office of the testicle called the epididymis before mixing with semen just prior to ejaculation.

Despite the millions of sperm produced and released with each ejaculation, only 1 tin fertilize an egg – this is the case even for identical twins. The sex of the resulting embryo depends on which blazon of sperm burrows into the egg first. Sperm with a Y chromosome make a boy baby, and sperm with an X chromosome make a girl.

Plenty of myths about how to choose a baby'due south sex have been circulating for centuries. Some are backed past a bit of scientific evidence, merely a child's gender is pretty much randomly determined.

Does having an orgasm help baby-making?

Too existence pleasurable, that wonderful awareness known as an orgasm also has an important biological function.

In men, having an orgasm propels sperm-rich semen into the vagina and up against the cervix, helping them reach the fallopian tubes minutes later. This gives sperm a caput starting time on their style to the egg.

A woman'due south orgasm likewise might help conception: Some studies suggest that the wavelike contractions associated with the female orgasm pull sperm farther into the cervix (but other research says at that place's no real bear witness this is truthful).

All the same, having an orgasm couldn't hurt – and just might help – your chances of getting pregnant.

Many couples also wonder whether a particular sexual position is all-time for babe-making. You may have heard that certain positions are the best considering they allow for deeper penetration, merely there is no evidence that sexual activity position has whatever issue on pregnancy rates.

Merely do whatever yous similar. The about important affair about sex is that y'all're both having a practiced time and y'all're doing it often enough to have live sperm in the woman'southward reproductive tract during ovulation. That means you should aim to brand beloved at least every other day during the middle of your cycle.

Which sperm gets to the egg first?

At this point, you can't practice much except cross your fingers and hope. You may have heard that it helps if the woman stays on her back afterward with a pillow elevating her lesser so gravity can aid the sperm get to the waiting egg, merely in that location is no prove this helps attain pregnancy.

While you and your partner are cuddling, a bang-up deal of activity is taking place inside your trunk. Those millions of sperm have begun their quest to find the egg, and information technology'southward non an easy journeying.

The first obstacle is the acid level in your vagina, which can exist deadly to sperm. Then there's your cervical fungus, which can be bulletproof, except on the days when you lot're almost fertile. Then it miraculously thins enough for a few of the strongest sperm to get through.

But that's not all – the sperm that survive still have a long route ahead. In all, they need to travel about 7 inches from the neck through the uterus to the fallopian tubes.

If at that place isn't an egg in one of the fallopian tubes after ejaculation, the sperm tin live in the woman's reproductive tract for upwardly to five days. But a few dozen sperm ever make it to the egg. The residual get trapped, caput up the incorrect fallopian tube, or die along the way.

For the lucky few who get near the egg, the race isn't over. They still have to penetrate the egg'south outer shell and become inside before the others.

And as soon as the hardiest one of the bunch makes it through, the egg changes instantaneously so that no other sperm tin arrive. It's similar a protective shield that clamps down over the egg at the exact moment that beginning sperm is safely inside.

Now the real miracle begins. The genetic material in the sperm combines with the genetic material in the egg to create a new cell that starts dividing rapidly. You're not really pregnant until that bundle of new cells, known as the embryo, travels the residuum of the mode down the fallopian tube and attaches itself to the wall of your uterus.

However, if the embryo implants somewhere other than the uterus, such as the fallopian tube, an ectopic pregnancy results. An ectopic pregnancy is non viable, and you'll either need to take medication to stop it from growing or have surgery to prevent your fallopian tube from rupturing.

That final leg of the trip tin take some other three days or so, but it may be a few more than weeks until y'all miss a menstruum and suspect that yous're going to have a baby.

If you miss your period or discover another sign of pregnancy, you can employ a home pregnancy test to discover out for sure if you have a trivial one on the way.