Women who track the period of the onset of the ovulatory phase usually wait for this important day, not thinking about the fact that after ovulation, intense and very interesting processes also take place in their body. If conception took place or did not occur, the processes will be different from each other. Let's take a closer look at each day after the release of the egg.
What happens on day X?
The ovulatory phase in the cycle is the shortest. It begins when a mature follicle on the ovary bursts under the action of luteinizing hormone, and ends with the end of the life of the female reproductive cell (after 24-36 hours). It is during this period of time that fertilization occurs if the released egg is met by male germ cells.
The ovum membranes are very strong. Sperm need a lot of strength and activity to find a "gap" in them. If sex took place before ovulation in 1-4 days, then the sperm cells could well survive in the female genital tract. In this case, they immediately start trying to fertilize the female gamete.
If sex takes place on the day of ovulation, then fertilization of the egg occurs within about two hours after intercourse.
As soon as one of the tens of millions of male germ cells penetrates the head inside the membrane of the female gamete, the membrane becomes completely invulnerable to the rest of the spermatozoa. They surround the egg for some time, trying in vain to "reach out", and then die. Inside the oocyte, events of a universal scale take place - the spermatozoon discards its tail, which is no longer needed, and the process of fusion of cell nuclei, the exchange of DNA information, begins. From the male cell, 23 chromosomes are spent on this, from the female - the same amount. It turns out a full-fledged zygote with 46 chromosomes.
So far this is just one cell, but it is already unique, there is no other such in the whole world. It contains information about everything - about what gender and height the baby will be, what his eyes and hair will be, skin color, what talents and abilities he will have when he grows up, what diseases he will have along the hereditary line. The zygote is the beginning of a new life.
On the ovary of a woman, where a follicle with an egg inside matured in the first half of her cycle, a yellow body appears in place of the follicle and from its residual membranes after rupture of the membranes. This is a temporary endocrine gland whose job is to produce progesterone.
It makes no difference whether conception took place or not, progesterone is produced in all women from the day of ovulation throughout the entire second phase of the cycle, which is why the second half of the cycle is called the corpus luteum phase, luteal phase or progesterone.
What happens next day?
The further depends on whether there was conception or not, therefore, there are two options for the development of events.
1 day after ovulation
If conception has taken place, the zygote begins to split. This means that by mitotic division, the cell begins to split into blastomeres, but the new cells formed do not grow to the size of the original zygote. Only their number is constantly increasing. This means that the size of the embryo does not increase at all in comparison with the first day of its existence, the cell just becomes complex. On the first day after conception, the zygote splits slowly. This phase will take about 30 hours.
Simultaneously with slow and asynchronous cleavage, the zygote begins to move smoothly from the fallopian tube, where conception took place, into the uterine cavity, where there are all conditions for the further development of the fetus. The zygote cannot move on its own, it is constantly pushed by the thin villi of the fallopian tube, which are set in motion as a result of peristalsis of the tubes (small contractions of their muscles).
The corpus luteum is still small, little progesterone is produced. Regardless of whether fertilization itself took place or not, the nature of the discharge changes in a woman - under the influence of initial doses of progesterone, they become whitish or milky, opaque, their total number decreases.
2 day
If conception was, then slow crushing continues. Blastomeres have already been divided into two types - dark and light. The dark ones are slightly larger than the light ones. From the first, embryonic structures will form in due time, and the light ones will become the basis of the trophoblast, which is responsible for implantation, the attachment of the embryo to the wall of the uterus and receiving nutrition from its blood. But this moment is still far away. The zygote continues along the fallopian tube.
Progesterone concentrations increase, the growth of the inner layer - the endometrium - begins in the uterus.
Its thickness increases, and the consistency becomes looser - this is how the woman's reproductive organ prepares to receive the ovum. If there was no conception or implantation is unsuccessful, then the endometrium will be rejected during the next menstrual bleeding.
Day 3
From the third day on ultrasound, you can see the corpus luteum in the ovary. Of course, its detection is not a sign of pregnancy, because it is also formed in non-pregnant women in ovulatory cycles. But the presence of a corpus luteum reliably confirms that ovulation has definitely occurred.
If conception was, then the zygote (and now - morula) from this moment begins to split faster... She continues to move up the fallopian tube towards the uterus. This is usually not associated with any unpleasant sensations.
Day 4
On the 4th day after ovulation, if fertilization has occurred, the zygote, which had previously become a morula, becomes a blastocyst. It already has up to 58 blastomere cells. These days are very important for her, since her journey through the fallopian tube ends, and the embryo ends up in the uterine cavity.
But the ovum is in no hurry to attach, it floats freely in the cavity. At this point, scientists call it a free blastocyst. Crushing continues.
The corpus luteum is confidently determined by ultrasound, the concentration of progesterone is increasing every day.
5 and 6 days after ovulation
These days, the level of progesterone in a woman's body is rapidly increasing. Yellow body enter the state of blossoming, and this is - the best time to donate blood for progesterone, if there is a need for this examination. The endometrium is growing.
The blastocyst grows and now it contains about a hundred cells, there is an outer and an inner membrane. The woman still does not feel anything unusual in herself, except for the action of progesterone, and even then with increased individual sensitivity. The action of this hormone does not depend on whether there is a blastocyst in the uterus or not, a woman may experience sweating, fatigue and mood swings - these are the concomitant effects of progesterone support in the second phase.
Day 7
In most cases implantation takes place on this day. The ovum first adheres to the endometrium and this stage is called adhesion. And then the process of introducing it deeper into the endometrial layer begins. The villi of the outer layer of the ovum secrete special substances that dissolve the cells of the endometrium, and within 40 hours the ovum is immersed in the tissues of the uterus, and the chorionic villi are connected with the small blood vessels of the female body. The baby begins to receive useful substances from the mother's blood.
From the moment of implantation, chorionic villi begin to produce a special substance - chorionic gonadotropin. HCG keeps the corpus luteum in working order. If there is no pregnancy, then it is from 7-8 days after ovulation that the gradual extinction of the corpus luteum begins. If the implantation was successful, then the hCG hormone begins to accumulate, doubling every two days.
At the time of implantation, some have weakness, an unusual bloody daub that quickly passes. It is called implantation bleeding and does not harm the mother or baby in any way.
8-9 days
These days there is also the possibility of embryo attachment to the uterus. Normally, the implantation process falls on the period from 7 to 10 days after ovulation, and therefore an important event can happen at any time. The thickness of the endometrium is increasing, now it is at least 7-8 mm. A woman cannot yet feel pregnancy, because the doses of hCG are still very small, even laboratory diagnostics will not catch them.
After the embryo is attached, the embryonic period of its development begins. Organs, systems, this process will continue for almost the entire first trimester - up to 10 weeks.
If there is no conception, progesterone levels begin to decline.
10-11 days
With the onset of pregnancy, tests are done early - the level of hCG is small, but it is already possible to donate blood for a laboratory study of the quantitative indicator of human chorionic gonadotropin. It will already differ from a non-pregnant state, but it should be borne in mind that with late implantation (on days 9-10), the level of hCG will still be insignificant, therefore, pregnancy cannot be established.
The corpus luteum by this day, if there is no pregnancy, regresses, the production of progesterone is almost complete, a so-called whitish body is formed in place of the gland, which consists of connective tissue and will completely dissolve in the near future.
12-13 days
In most cases, it is already possible to confirm pregnancy at this time with the help of laboratory blood tests for hCG. There is little confidence in the tests, because hCG enters the urine after its concentration in the blood becomes high. The hormone does not allow the corpus luteum to regress, the production of progesterone remains high in pregnant women.
In women who did not conceive a baby in this cycle, the hormonal background changes. - the production of estrogens begins, with their help the body prepares for menstruation. The process of preparation for the rejection of the overgrown endometrium starts - in the absence of pregnancy, it is not necessary. Some during this period begin to feel the symptoms of PMS under the influence of estrogen. The number of secretions increases slightly.
13-14 days
In non-pregnant women, the cycle comes to an end. The second phase of the cycle usually lasts 14 days (plus or minus a day). These days, women with a regular cycle begin menstruation, and at the same time a new cycle of folliculogenesis starts in the ovaries - a new batch of follicles begins to slowly mature, one of which will become dominant and, bursting, will give the woman a chance for motherhood with the release of a new egg.
For women who conceived a baby in the current cycle, progesterone remains high... Their corpus luteum is called gravidar, it will exist until the end of the first trimester, or rather, until the moment when the young placenta takes over the endocrine function of producing hormones. While she's gone.
15-16 days
Pregnant women do not have menstruation. And right now it is quite possible to do pregnancy tests, that is, to go to the clinic to donate blood for hCG. In some, the first signs of early toxicosis are possible - nausea in the morning, headaches, changes in the perception of smells and tastes.
But it is too early to go to the doctor for an appointment - not a single doctor will be able to see pregnancy yet, either during examination or with the help of ultrasound diagnostics. - the size of the embryo does not exceed a millimeter, and therefore it is worth going to an ultrasound scan in a week, and 10-14 days after the start of the delay, you can visit the gynecologist.
