What is After-conception?
Each month inside your ovaries, a group of eggs starts to grow in small, fluid-filled sacs called follicles. Eventually, one of the eggs erupts from the follicle (ovulation). It usually happens about 2 weeks before your next period..
Most conception and pregnancy research shows babies are conceived around two weeks before your next period would have been due – which is the same as saying conception begins two weeks after the start of your last normal period.
Unfortunately your body doesn’t necessarily ring any bells or blow any whistles to let you know conception has taken place so it’s likely you won’t even know or feel the exact moment of conception.
Conception typically takes place when the sperm fertilises the egg in the fallopian tube and it then takes another six days for the newly fertilised egg to reach the uterus, and the mother is usually quite unaware of any physical changes taking place in her body.
It can take another six days for that fertilised egg – or newly conceived baby – to fully implant in the lining of the uterus and start ‘interacting’ with your body.
This ‘interaction’ involves your body providing the fertilised egg – also called a zygote – with nourishment from your blood stream. The newly fertilised egg will also produce hormones that move into your body to support the pregnancy.
Once the baby fully implants into your uterus, it prompts the release of a hormone called human gonadotrophin hormone (or HCG) into the blood stream.