About nine months before your birthday a wonderful miraculous time began. Humans are made from a process called sexual reproduction. In order for a new baby to grow inside of a mother a sperm must join with an ovum or egg cell. This takes place inside of a mother and is called fertilization.
The human ovum or egg cell is very small. It is close to the size of the period at the end of this sentence, about 0.005 inch in diameter. Every month one ovum is released from an ovary. The ovaries are where the ovum are produced. The tiny egg then starts its journey down the long fallopian tube into the uterus.
In contrast to the female who only produces one egg per month a male will produce millions of sperm every day. Sperm are even smaller than ova. Much to small to see with our own eyes. A sperm is about 0.002 inch long. The sperm has a head where all the genetic information about the new baby is stored. It also has a tail that helps the sperm to move and reach the ovum.
When the ovum and sperm join together a baby is formed. In the beginning it is just one new cell and is called a fertilized egg or zygote. This process usually occurs inside of the fallopian tube. The zygote is then carried down the fallopian tube pushed along by tiny hairs along the walls of the tube. Already the zygote is growing. The single cell splits and divides into two cells. It then becomes four, then eight and so on. Soon it reaches the uterus. At this point it looks like a little clear ball of cells filled with fluid. The zygote is then called an embryo for the first two months and later it will be called a fetus until the baby is born.
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