Core Principles of Prenatal Development Health, Medicine Essay (Essay Sample)

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Core Principles of Prenatal Development
Prenatal development is the process through which an embryo develops from a single cell after fertilization to a fetus and then a baby after birth. The process takes approximately 38 weeks after conception. Immediately after fertilization, a zygote starts developing. It follows a series of stages before it grows into a baby (Falkner 45). The core principles of prenatal development relate to the three stages which are the germinal stage, the embryonic stage and the fetal stage.
* Germinal Stage
The germinal stage occurs in the first fourteen days after fertilization. It occurs immediately after conception until the zygote implants on the uterine wall. Conception takes place when a sperm cell and an ovum fuse to form a zygote. Immediately after fertilization takes place and the zygote is formed, cell division and growth starts taking place. Cell differentiation starts to occur as well. At this point, the parents’ DNA is passed on to the offspring. The genetic composition and sex of the baby to be are also determined at this stage (Falkner 47).
In the first week after conception, the zygote cells divide rapidly and multiply. This process of cell division is called mitosis. Mitosis is a very critical process. Only less than half of the dividing cells survive after the