WEEK TWO

My Baby - WEEK TWO

The journey toward birth begins with the release of an egg, an event known as ovulation. About halfway th

rou

gh the menstrual cycle, a ripened egg, or ovum, bursts from the ovary and is swept

into a fallopian tube, where it will be met by sperm who have completed the 6- to 9-inch journey through the cervix. Although millions of sperm typically start this trek, less than a thousand arrive; of these, only one will penetrate the egg to unite the male and female DNA at the moment of conception.

A word about multiples: There are two types of multiples, fraternal and identical. Fraternal twins (or triplets or quads) are the result of more than one egg being released at the same time, and each being fertilized. Identical twins occur when a single egg is penetrated by a single sperm, and then the fertilized egg splits into two genetically identical parts.