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| Baby Stages during Pregnancy |
| Written by Barbara Lurie | |
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The zygote travels down your fallopian tube to reach the uterus, where it will attach itself to your uterine wall. The single-celled zygote begins to split, creating clusters of new cells, with the internal cells developing into the embryo and the external cells becoming the embryonic sack. When the embryo (actually known as the blastocyst at this stage) attaches to the uterine wall during this week (your third week of pregnancy) you can have a positive pregnancy test. Up to this point, pregnancy tests can present with incorrect results. During your fourth week of pregnancy, the embryo is smaller than the head of a stick pin, but your baby’s spine, lungs, brain, heart, and other organs are already beginning to develop. During the fifth week, your baby’s heart will begin to beat. You won’t be able to hear the heart beat, but it can be detected by ultrasound in the fifth week of your pregnancy. By the sixth week, your baby’s facial features begin to develop. His or her digestive and respiratory systems, arms and legs begin to form. In the seventh week, the umbilical code forms, and all of the changes that began in previous weeks continue to take on more definition. At the end of the second month of your pregnancy, your baby has toes and fingers, and in the ninth week, he or she will begin to move, even though you probably won’t be able to feel the movement for some weeks still. During the remainder of the first trimester (or the first three months) of your pregnancy, your baby will go through a number of developmental changes, including the development of sex organs, finger and toenails, circulatory system changes, further changes in facial features, skeletal structure and organs. By the end of the first trimester, your baby is about 3 inches long and weighs almost one ounce. During the second trimester, your baby increases in speed of development, and he or she will begin moving around more often, though you still probably won’t be able to feel it, you may be able to witness it on an ultrasound. During the next three months, your baby will continue to move more often, may suck his or her thumb, and can make a fist. The baby’s skin develops during the second trimester, bones and organs continue developing, and fat starts to form. Your baby may be capable of making simple facial expressions, like frowning, and will also begin to hear during this trimester. Your baby will have unique finger and footprints, and will also begin to reach out and explore. At the end of the second trimester (your 27th week), your baby is close to a foot in length and weighs 1.5 to 2 pounds. Your baby , if born at this time, would have about an 85% chance of survival, though serious complications could be present. During the last three months of your pregnancy, your baby’s eyes open, and he or she begins to move around much more often and with greater force. Organ and bone development continues, and your baby starts to gain weight very rapidly. Your baby can see changes in light through your belly around your 33rd week. As you get close to your delivery date, your baby may appear to move less often. This is to be expected, as your baby has grown so quickly that your womb is no longer a big enough home; however, any less than 10 movements per hour should send up a red flag, and you should contact your physician immediately. Delivering naturally somewhere between 38 and 42 weeks is normal, even though a full-term pregnancy is considered to be 40 weeks. The average baby at the time of birth is between 18 and 21 inches long and weighs between 7 and 8 pounds. |
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