Visible embryo

Saturday, 2:11 pm

By Kate

Aug

06

2005

While this post isn’t meant to be political in tone (surprise, surprise!), it was chiefly a political question that sent me searching for information yesterday. And then, as sometimes happens, I was caught up in the information itself.

Specifically, in terms of the embryonic stem cell research issue, I wondered which stage of growth the embryos have reached when they are used. And I wondered what one looked like. It’s been a long time since I’ve looked up information regarding a developing fetus. When I was carrying the lad, there was no world wide web to satisfy my curiosity. Anything I wanted to know had to be found the old fashioned way...in print publications. When I found the Visible Embryo site yesterday, I thought how much the world has changed in 18 years.

Each of the little embryos along the spiral cord are clickable at the site. A wealth of information is offered including the actual size of the embryo, a real image, and what developments the fetus is going through at that stage. What I wouldn’t have given for an easily accessible reference like this throughout my pregnancy!

Oh, my question about the stem cell research—the embryo is at the blastocyst stage and is somewhere between #3 and #4 on the spiral.