It is amazing to examine how a new human life is formed and the way it develops until he or she comes into the world to play a unique role in our society.
According to Endowment for Human Development1, a new person exists from the moment in which a man’s sperm and a woman’s egg come together, this moment is called conception. From that moment on, the baby will have all the genetic information of a new individual. This information contains the sex, eye color, the height he or she will have, etc. In other words, the only difference between you and this new human being is development time.
Some parts of the human body like the legs and arms, are formed four weeks after conception. These main parts of the body will serve the person in multiple activities during lifetime. On the other hand, internal organs, such as the heart, starts beating after five weeks and begins to pump blood shortly thereafter.
After eight weeks, he or she starts will begin to develop characteristic activities of a newborn baby; hiccup, thumb sucking and yawn, all of which are clear signs of a living human child.
In addition to this is another interesting fact; consider the fingerprints that most people register in their ID´s. The formation of these fingerprints begin twelve weeks after conception, together with the finger and toenails.
It is awesome to know that after twenty weeks of pregnancy, and according to The Endowment For Human Development 1, the survival rate for a baby outside the mother’s womb of 40%. This means that a baby can survive outside the mother after the first half of pregnancy. This confirms that in the following weeks, the baby gains weight and improves the functions of the body, which are already working. The birthday finally arrives at about 40 weeks of pregnancy and the baby is ready to begin his or her mission in this world.
As far as I’m concerned, the embryonic development of a baby also represents the wonder of human dignity possessed from conception until natural death.
Written by Cecilia Aguilar.