The Sperm Meets Egg Plan: Getting Pregnant Faster

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Deanna also writes a series of books for middle grade readers, including JINNIE WISHMAKER, MARCUS MENDER, and ELEKTRA CHAOS. To make female sex hormones, which affect the way bodies develop and also regulates the menstrual cycle.

NHS. 2020. How can I improve my chances of becoming a dad? NHS, Common health questions. www.nhs.uk Opens a new window [Accessed October 2022]

Humans typically reproduce by sexual fertilisation and produce offspring that are genetically unique. Fertilisation is the process in which the nucleus of a sperm cell fuses with the nucleus of an egg cell to produce a zygote which will eventually grow into offspring. You’ll probably release fewer than 500 eggs during your fertile years, between your first period and menopause. In countries such as the UK, the average age of menopause is about 51, but it can happen much earlier or later than this. The function of the female orgasm is less clear. Theories include that it strengthens the bond between partners, or that uterine contractions help the sperm along their way somehow. We know that a woman doesn’t need to orgasm for conception to happen, though. Uterine contractions happen even without you having an orgasm. In humans, conception begins when a sperm fertilises an egg. In female reproductive organs, ovaries produce the eggs and the hormones that regulate the ovulation cycle.

Kallen, A. 2020 How Many Eggs Are Women Born With? And Other Questions About Egg Supply. Healthline. www.healthline.com/ Opens a new window [Accessed July 2020]Many couples wonder if a particular sex position is best for conceiving. No one knows for sure. The most important thing about sex is that you’re both having a good time and you’re doing it often enough. NHS. 2018. Trying to get pregnant. Health A to Z. www.nhs.uk Opens a new window [Accessed May 2020] Humans reproduce through sexual reproduction. This produces offspring that are genetically unique because half of their genetic material - DNA - comes from each parent. Many eggs begin dying off almost immediately and the rest steadily decrease in number and quality as you get older. When you start your periods, only about 400,000 to 500,000 eggs remain. From here on it’s normal to lose about 1000 eggs every month. By the age of 30, scientists calculate that about 72,000 viable eggs remain. After your mid-thirties egg numbers decline more rapidly. You are not actually pregnant until the blastocyst embryo has attached itself to the wall of your womb, where it will develop into a fetus and placenta. Occasionally, the blastocyst will implant somewhere other than the womb (usually in the fallopian tube). This is called an ectopic pregnancy, and it needs urgent medical attention. The pregnancy will not survive outside the womb and needs to be completely treated or removed.

The sperm that survive still have a long road ahead. In all, they need to travel about 18cm from the cervix through the womb to the fallopian tubes. That’s the equivalent of a human being swimming 100 lengths of an Olympic swimming pool! The fastest swimmers may find the egg in as little as 45 minutes. It can take the slowest up to 12 hours. If the sperm don’t find an egg in the fallopian tubes at the time of intercourse, they can survive inside you for up to seven days. This means that if you ovulate within this time window you could still conceive. In male reproductive organs, the scrotum holds the testes, which produce sperm and sex hormones, including testosterone. During ejaculation, the sperm pass through the sperm duct and combine with seminal fluid produced by the glands to create semen, which exits the body through the penis. FPA. 2018. Bodyworks. Your guide to understanding reproduction. Family Planning Association. Derby: McCorquodale. www.sexwise.fpa.org.uk Opens a new window [Accessed May 2020] Deans A. 2018. Your new pregnancy bible. The experts’ guide to pregnancy and early parenthood. 4th edn. London: Hamlyn.Frolikova M, Sur VP, Novotny I, Blazikova M, Vondrakova J, Simonik O, Ded L, Valaskova E, Koptasikova L, Benda A, Postlerova P, Horvath O, Komrskova K. Frolikova M, et al. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2023 Aug 10;11:1110681. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2023.1110681. eCollection 2023. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2023. PMID: 37635875 Free PMC article. Wallace WHB, Kelsey TW. 2010. Human ovarian reserve from conception to the menopause. PloS One 5(1): e8772. journals.plos.org Opens a new window [Accessed May 2020] In addition to all the fun, your bodies are building up tension that you hope will end in orgasm. Having an orgasm also has an important biological function. In men, an orgasm propels sperm-rich semen into the vagina and up towards the cervix at roughly 10 miles per hour. The force of ejaculation gives the sperm a good head start on their way to the egg. The male reproductive system has two testes (singular: testis). These are contained in a bag of skin called the scrotum. The testes have two functions: Komondor KM, Bainbridge RE, Sharp KG, Iyer AR, Rosenbaum JC, Carlson AE. Komondor KM, et al. J Gen Physiol. 2023 Oct 2;155(10):e202213258. doi: 10.1085/jgp.202213258. Epub 2023 Aug 10. J Gen Physiol. 2023. PMID: 37561060

During ejaculation, they travel along sperm ducts through internal reproductive glands, where they mix with seminal fluid, or semen, on the way to the penis.

Want to work out when you ovulate? Try out our ovulation calculator. Pinpointing the day of ovulation can help you work out your fertile window. The placenta is an organ that grows into the wall of the uterus and is joined to the fetus by the umbilical cord. Women’s bodies mature a single egg fully each month. Men’s bodies, however, are almost constantly at work, producing millions of microscopic sperm – about 100 million every day. The sole purpose of each sperm is to swim towards and penetrate an egg. The mortality rate for sperm is very high and only a few dozen ever make it to the egg. The rest get trapped, lost (they may head up the wrong fallopian tube) or die along the way. For the few that get near the egg, the race isn’t over. Each one has to work frantically to penetrate the egg’s outer shell and get inside before the others. The egg needs to be fertilised within 24 hours of its release. When the hardiest sperm of the bunch makes it through, the egg changes instantaneously to prevent any others getting in. It’s like a protective shield that clamps down over the egg at the exact moment the first sperm is safely inside. Knudtson J, McLaughlin JE. 2019. Female reproductive endocrinology. MSD Manual, Professional Version. www.msdmanuals.com Opens a new window [Accessed May 2020]