Woman to Man A Brief Look At Gestation

In the poem "Woman to Man," the female speaker addresses her partner concerning both the sexual act and the period of gestation. Thus having a basic understanding of gestation contributes to understanding this poem. During fertilization, a sperm enters the egg cell, forming a zygote. A zygote already contains all of the baby's genetic potential (twenty-three chromosomes from each parent). Eventually, the zygote travels down the uterine tube and implants in the woman's uterus a few days after fertilization. When cellular division occurs, the zygote becomes a blastocyst and eventually an embryo. Around the third week after fertilization, the embryo's cells begin to differentiate, or become specialized. After eight weeks, the embryonic stage has transitioned into the fetal stage. Organogenesis (the formation of the organs) is complete. Spontaneous movement begins to occur around twelve weeks, and by sixteen weeks, individualized fingerprints already exist. The second trimester, around weeks fourteen to twenty-seven, is when some women feel better than they did in the first trimester. By the end of the fifth month, most women can begin to feel movement known as quickening. A great many more developments occur as growth and maturation continue. If not born prematurely, the baby will be born between the thirty-seventh and fortieth weeks of pregnancy.