Pregnancy Week by Week

Approximately 14 days before your period is due, your body releases an egg (ovum) and the lining of your uterus starts to thicken. It only takes one sperm - out of the millions that are released and the hundreds that make the long journey up the Fallopian tube - to fertilize the egg and for the process of growth and development to begin. The tail separates from the head of the sperm as soon as it penetrates the egg, and cell division begins. Within hours, the fertilized egg becomes two cells, then four, then eight and so on, and is called a zygote. Approximately 4 days after fertilization it is a solid cluster of cells, called a morula.

About a week after fertilization, the ball of cells -now hollow in the centre and called a blastocyst -reaches the uterus. The blastocyst will attach itself to the wall of your uterus and begin to embed deep into its lining. This process is called implantation. The cluster of cells very guickly produces an outer layer, which will develop into the placenta and amniotic sac, and an inner layer, which will develop into the embryo. The outer layer has root-like structures that bury into the lining of the uterus. These become the route by which nutrients and oxygen are transported from your circulation to what will soon be the developing placenta and embryo.

Appearance in 1 to 3 Week Pregnancy

The morula is microscopic in size and resembles a mulberry. By the time it implants in the uterus, at around day 10, it resembles a greyish blackberry and is called a blastocyst. This hollow cluster of cells will grow and develop into the embryo.