Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops (gestates) inside a woman’s uterus (womb). A multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins.[ Pregnancy usually occurs by sexual intercourse, but can also occur through assisted reproductive technology procedures.[6] A pregnancy may end in a live birth, a miscarriage, an induced abortion, or a stillbirth. Childbirth typically occurs around 40 weeks from the start of the last menstrual period (LMP), a span known as the gestational age. This is just over nine months. Counting by fertilization age, the length is about 38 weeks. Pregnancy is “the presence of an implanted human embryo or fetus in the uterus“; implantation occurs on average 8–9 days after fertilization.[ An embryo is the term for the developing offspring during the first seven weeks following implantation (i.e. ten weeks’ gestational age), after which the term fetus is used until birth.
The uterus (from Latin uterus, plural uteri) or womb (/wuːm/) is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans that accommodates the embryonic and fetal development of one or more embryos until birth. The uterus is a hormone-responsive sex organ that contains glands in its lining that secrete uterine milk for embryonic nourishment.
In the human, the lower end of the uterus, is a narrow part known as the isthmus that connects to the cervix, leading to the vagina. The upper end, the body of the uterus, is connected to the fallopian tubes, at the uterine horns, and the rounded part above the openings to the fallopian tubes is the fundus. The connection of the uterine cavity with a fallopian tube is called the uterotubal junction. The fertilized egg is carried to the uterus along the fallopian tube. It will have divided on its journey to form a blastocyst that will implant itself into the lining of the uterus – the endometrium, where it will receive nutrients and develop into the embryo proper and later fetus for the duration of the pregnancy.