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Life's Journey


Day 1: Conception
An army of sperm battle fiercely to penetrate the evil zona pellucida, until finally one brave solider manages to thwart this infernal barrier surrounding the oocyte (egg, basically) and fuse with the egg. Eleven hours later, we find a newly formed zygote.

Day 2: Cell division starts, and all that jazz. This is called cleavage. Not the hooters kind. Cells need to divide in order for the zygote to grow.

Day 4-5: Zygote gets into a mulberry shape, giving it the name Morula. It travels through the fallopian tube and gets into the cavity in the uterus. A blastocele forms on the inside of the morula. Now begins the separation of the cells. The zona pellucida stays the same, but the inside changes. Here we have the distinction between cells on the inside and on the outside thanks to compaction. Here is where a blastocyst is born.

5-6 days: Viva la Embryo! Freedom from the zona pellucida, just in time for the blastocyst to implant itself in the endometrium (lining of the uterus. Rich in capillaries that will attach to the blastocyst in order for circulation to occur. Otherwise known as that junk that is expelled every 28 days. Let's none of us thank Eve for eating that apple).

7-12 days: Enter placenta, stage...well, the placenta is being formed. Connecting to both mother and child, this organ is essential in the growth of the embryo. The mother's blood will soon supply the embryo with essential nutrients and dispose of wastes.

Day 13: Gastrulation! Sounds like something you'd see on a Prilosec OTC commercial, right? This is where the three germ layers(endoderm, mesoderm, ectoderm) are formed.

Day 16: Notochord formation. Also we have germ layers still growing. Quoting visembryo,

"Endoderm that will form the lining of lungs, tongue, tonsils, urethra and associated glands, bladder and digestive tract.

Mesoderm that will form the muscles, bones, lymphatic tissue, spleen, blood cells, heart, lungs, and reproductive and excretory systems.

Ectoderm that will form the skin, nails, hair, lens of eye, lining of the internal and external ear, nose, sinuses, mouth, a**s, tooth enamel, pituitary gland, mammary glands, and all parts of the nervous system."

17-23 days: Blood vessels galore! Two primitive heart tubes form. They fuse together and the first heartbeat occurs between 21 and 23 days. This is only a precursor to true circulation, however; blood vessels are not fully formed. Neural folds are fusing along the neural tube. Things are shaping up, eh?

Day 24-29: The neural tube is closed. The developing brain and spinal cord combined are currently the biggest tissue. The brain is growing into three sections by now.

These are by no means the only developing organs. The digestive organs are starting to form, starting with the liver. The eyes and ears are forming by now, and the circulatory system is still growing.

Limb buds and a mouth are present at this point, as well as a thin layer of skin.

4-8 weeks: Nerves grow throughout the tiny body as the limbs get longer and structures come into being. A sense of smell and a four chambered heart can be found at 6 weeks; before that, an esophogus, lungs, kidneys...okay, I'll stop listing them and put it like this. It's all in development now. Urine is produced for the first time between 6-7 weeks. Brain waves and muscles are present by the end of week 7. Webbed fingers and toes are seen by the start of week 8. The tongue finishes developing and involuntary movements start. By the end of 8 weeks, the brain can control muscles, the heart has finished developement, the digits have separated. The clitoris is formed in females, but the same tissue will become a p***s for males. The tail is gone. The jaw is being formed. Our embryo graduates to fetus. Development isn't quite the right word anymore. Growth is more accurate.

8-10 weeks: Heart is almost completely developed. Fingerprints begin to appear. By ten weeks, a fetus is sensitive to touch and can suck its thumb. Facial follicles form, as well as the palate.

11-12 weeks: Urination is working just fine. Facial expressions start showing up. Practice with muscles is taking place; fetuses at 12 weeks can make fists, kick, and even practice breathing. They can also practice screaming. Oh joy. stare

STOP: AFTER THIS POINT ABORTION ISN'T ALWAYS LEGAL!
But isn't it sad that before this point, it is? "Most are aborted during the first trimester." I'll be sure to remember that if someone kills me now, it's alright, because I'm not fully grown yet. When I go through menopause, then it'll matter if someone kills me.

12-16 weeks: The fetus produces some of his or her own bile and insulin. Salivary glands=functioning from the very beginning of the month. Respiration and Digestion develop more. The spleen is making antibodies and removing old red blood cells. Sweat glands and body hair begins to grow...all this at 12-13 weeks. By the end, circulation is completely functional. Myelin coats nerve to protect them and speed transmissions.

16-20 weeks: By the middle of the the month, a temporary hair called lanugo grows in. The fetus has different periods of sleeping and being awake...and this early on, a fetus has a preference for a sleeping position. A female's uterus is completely developed, her ovaries contain egg cells that will become all the eggs she will ever produce. By the end of this month, eyebrows and scalp hair can be seen. Eyes blink more often, in males the testes shift to the scrotum, and the brain is growing rapidly. A fetus can respond to loud sounds, though its auditory senses are not fully up to snuff.

20-24 weeks: Sound is undeniably possible by now, as the hammer, anvil, and stirrup have hardened. Alveoli and blood vessels develop in the lungs. Eyes respond to light and permanent teeth buds appear.


STOP AGAIN. After this point, abortion isn't usually done. But again...isn't it kinda sad that it's done at all?

24-28 weeks: Brain waves resemble the brain waves of a born baby. Eyelashes are present. Lungs are able to breathe air if they need to. Breathing and temperature are regulated completely by the fetus's brain; red blood cells are produced completely by the fetus's bone marrow.

28-32 weeks: Iris is colored(though the permanent color requires light to be reached and won't be in until a few days after birth....unless of course that color is blue) and the fetus takes the "fetal position" due to the cramped space in the womb. Fingernails grow long enough to scratch, and an immune system develops.

32-36 weeks: The head turns towards the mother's pelvis. Nutrition is still obtained via the placenta; the gastroenterlogical system isn't very developed. It won't be mature for another three or four years. Bones continue hardening steadily.

36-40 weeks: Production of red blood cells is increased by the liver. The skull isn't fully solid; five bony plates still need to come together. Ever see a newborn with a funny shaped head? It'll round out in a few days, but this is done so the birth is easier and the brain remains unharmed. At birth, the child has about 300 bones. Later, some will fuse together (which is why adults only have 206). The nervous system is developed as much as that of a newborn....because week 40 usually means graduation from fetus to newborn baby. Tearducts still haven't developed in the eyes, but the vocal chords certainly are impressive.



This has only been a sum of information found in various places, which I will list below. I am not an embryologist. I take no credit for the work of making this information available, though I do take credit for the day spent compiling it for your convenience.

http://www.visembryo.com/baby/
http://pregnancy.about.com/od/fetus/ss/ninemonths.htm
http://pregnancy.about.com/od/fetus/
http://www.babycenter.com/fetaldevelopment/
http://www.howstuffworks.com/adam-200122.htm/printable
http://embryo.soad.umich.edu/carnStages/carnStages.html
http://cna.uc.edu/embryology/
https://www.highmarkblueshield.com/preg/9monthmiracle/tools/fetaltool.html




Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on something; working on very little fuel.

Now, knowing all of that about development...

WHEN IS ABORTION LEGAL?



Thanks for the information!

The only problem with sticky-ing it, is that oldbies like me don't even check the stickies anymore because most of them have their most recent posts in March or earlier. sad

And no one reads the stickies anyway xd

I"m an oldbie, and I read the stickies. Maybe it's just males. They don't count when it comes to abortion, you know.....


I'm kidding, you know I love you despite your gender....

Still human even when extinct.


Just as I suspected...
Still human even when dead...
3nodding

[edit]
Well... it made sense at the time...

updated (finally sweatdrop )

I was joking.

Males have no say in abortion as it is now. It is very prudent for a man to be prolife, because being prochoice means sacrificing reproductive rights yet retaining reproductive responsibility. It's like taxation without representation, but worse because either your kid dies or you pay through the nose, and you have no say in it.

But when you debate abortion, a lot of people will tell prolife males that they have no say because they'll never get pregnant.

Which is sorta odd. Should I have a say in whether black people should be able to kill people? Afterall, I'll never be black....

First of all, this is a page for definitions, not debate.

Second, my reply:
Okay, what does torture and enslavement have to do with any of this? None of us are for the torture/enslavement of women, and it is fairly rude to imply that we would. As far as bodily integrity goes, we believe that the child's bodily integrity is at least as valuable as the mother's. The child is there through no fault of it's own, the mother and her partner put it there. Not to say that it is punishment, but it is cause and effect. It is the result of her actions.

As for "subjective morals", that could be said about any law that is already in place; Murder is something that we are morally against, but the Aztecs weren't against ceremonial homicide. Thus, it must be a subjective moral. So should it really be illegal? Same could be said of drugs (Oracles in ancient times used strange gases to get their visions, Native Americans used hallucinogens to go on their spirit journeys) So all laws have to do with morals that are "subjective."

What else... Oh, yeah, person. I don't think any of us have ever said that the fetus is not a person, and it is certainly not defined in this thread, so I don't see where you are coming from.