The Journey of a Fertilized Egg

Women's Reproductive Cycle

• Women are able to become pregnant from puberty to menopause.
• A pregnancy starts with fertilization, when a woman's egg joins with a man's sperm.

Fertilization and Implantation

• Fertilization usually takes place in a fallopian tube that links an ovary to the uterus.
• If the fertilized egg successfully travels down the fallopian tube and implants in the uterus, an embryo starts growing.

Egg Production and Storage

• All the eggs for a woman's lifetime are stored in her ovaries.
• Women do not continuously produce eggs, unlike men who constantly produce sperm.

Ovulation

• About once a month, an egg is released from one of a woman's two ovaries, a process called ovulation.
• The released egg then enters the nearby fallopian tube that leads to the uterus.

Conception

• If a woman and a man have unprotected sexual intercourse, sperm may reach the egg in the fallopian tube.
• If one of the sperm cells penetrates the egg, the egg is fertilized and begins developing.