Parenting Excerpts

The Mother of All Pregnancy Books by Ann Douglas

Reprinted with permission from John Wiley and Sons.

The Incredible Growing Baby – Pregnancy Week By Week.
Approximately 30 hours after the sperm fertilizes the egg, the process of cell division that will ultimately lead to the creation of a human being begins. What happens during the remaining weeks of pregnancy is nothing short of miraculous. That tiny bundle of cells is slowly but surely transformed into a newborn infant.
Week 1:  Your period starts and your menstrual cycle begins.
Week 2:  The endometrium (lining of the uterus) begins to build up in order to prepare for the implantation of a fertilized egg in the event that you’re able to conceive. Your cervical mucus develops an egg-white consistency, and ovulation occurs.
Conception occurs – Embryonic Period Begins – First Trimester of Pregnancy Begins.
Week 3:  The egg is fertilized by sperm cells that have been camping out in your fallopian tubes, waiting for this very opportunity. At the end of this week, the fertilized egg embeds itself in the lining of your uterus and then divides into two parts: the future placenta and the future embryo.
Week 4:  Amniotic fluid is now being produced and the fetus’s eyes have started to develop. By the end of this week, the umbilical cord will have started to form.
Week 5:  The hands have started to appear and major organs are now being formed. The embryo is now the size of an apple seed.
Week 6:  The embryo’s heart has begun to beat, and other major organs such as the kidneys and the liver have begun to develop. The neural tube – the structure that connects the brain to the spinal cord – closes over.
Week 7:  The embryo’s eyes continue to develop and begin to develop pigment. Fingers, toes and outer ears begin to take shape. The embryo is now approximately 1 inch long.
Week 8:  The embryo has parchment-like skin. You can see its veins right through the skin. The teeth, palate and larynx are beginning to take shape. The embryo is now…the size of a large grape.
Week 9:  The embryo’s organs, muscles and nerves begin to function, and it begins to make its first spontaneous movements…too tiny for you to detect….
Week 10:  The amniotic sac has formed around the embryo. This sac, which is filled with amniotic fluid, helps to protect the embryo from harm and assists with proper temperature control. If the embryo is a boy, this is the week when his scrotum forms. All the embryo’s major organs have been formed by now. From this point forward the embryo is referred to as a fetus.
First Trimester of Pregnancy – Fetal Period Begins.
Week 11:  The fetus’s head now makes up approximately half its length. While the ovaries and testicles are fully formed…it’s still too early to distinguish the sex. The fetus is now about 2 inches long and weighs approximately half an ounce.
Week 12:  The fetus’s face is properly formed. Even its eyelids are present. Blood has started to circulate through the umbilical cord, carrying oxygen and nutrients from the placenta to the fetus and carrying away waste products. Urine produced by the kidneys is excreted into the amniotic fluid. The fetus is now 2.5 inches long.
Week 13:  This is the week when the fetus’s intestines migrate from the umbilical cord into the abdomen. The eyes and ears have almost moved into their permanent position, and the fetus has already acquired some rudimentary reflexes.
Week 14:  The fetus’s lungs are fully functional. It can “breathe” amniotic fluid in and out. The fetus is now approximately 3.5 inches long and weighs roughly 2 ounces.
Beginning of the Second Trimester
Week 15:  The fetus is covered in fine, downy hair (lanugo) that usually disappears shortly after birth. It has developed a full repertoire of facial expressions.
Week 16:  The fetus’s joints are now fully functional. At some point over the next four weeks, you’ll likely feel its kicks for the very first time. The fetus is sensitive to light.
Week 17:  The fetus is now about 5 inches long and weighs approximately 6 ounces.
Week 18:  The bones in the fetal skeleton continue to be very soft and pliable.
Week 19:  The fetus has as many nerve cells as an adult. Connections between the muscles and the nerve cells are now being established.
Week 20:  The fetus’s senses of taste and smell are fully developed. It is now approximately 6.5 inches long and weighs about 9 ounces.
Week 21:  The fetus is acquiring a layer of fat that will help to keep it warm after birth.  Its skin is covered in a layer of vernix caseosa (a slick, fatty substance that is designed to protect the skin while the fetus is immersed in amniotic fluid).
Week 22:  The fetus’s skin is sensitive to touch, and the fetus will often respond when pressure is placed on your abdomen. The fingernails have been formed and the eyebrows and eyelids are fully developed. The fetus is now approximately 7.5 inches long and weighs approximately ¾ of a pound.
Week 23:  The fetus’s lungs are starting to develop surfactant – the dish soap-like substance that keeps the lungs from sticking together and that enable them to expand easily when the baby is born. While the fetus now has similar proportions to those of a newborn baby…it is still extremely thin, weighing in at just a pound….
Second Trimester – Fetus Is Potentially Viable.
Week 24:  The fetus’s vital organs have developed enough to give it a chance to survive after birth, but outcomes for babies born this prematurely tend to be extremely poor.
Week 25:  The fetus regularly experiences episodes of hiccupping during the second half of pregnancy. It is now approximately 9 inches long and weighs approximately 1.5 pounds.
Week 26:  The fetus has developed distinct periods of sleeping and waking, and its brain patterns now resemble those of a newborn baby.
Week 27:  At this stage of pregnancy, the fetus is passing a pint of urine into the amniotic fluid each day – fluid that is subsequently removed from the body via the mother’s kidneys.
Beginning of the Third Trimester
Week 28:  The fetus is between 12 and 15 inches long and weighs approximately 2.5 to 3 pounds.
Week 29:  The fetus has red, wrinkly skin.
Week 30:  The fetus is capable of reacting to sound.
Week 31:  From this point onward, the fetus will grow more in weight than in length.
Week 32:  The fetus’s lungs and digestive tract are almost mature. Due to cramped conditions in the uterus, its movements may be less noticeable than they’ve been in recent weeks….
Week 33:  The fetus’s skull bones are not yet joined together – nor will they be until after birth….The fetus is now approximately 19 inches long and weighs approximately 4.5 pounds.
Week 34:  The fetus is gaining weight at a rapid rate, depositing layers of fat under the skin so that it will have some built-in insulation to help keep itself warm after birth.
Week 35:  The fetus has generally settled into a head-down position by this stage of pregnancy….
Week 36:  The fetus’s lungs are hard at work producing surfactant.
Week 37:  The fetus is now approximately 21 inches long and weighs approximately 6.5 pounds.
Week 38:  The rapid period of weight gain continues, with the fetus gaining approximately 1% of its body weight each day.
Week 39:  The fetus’s intestines are filled with a dark green, sticky substance known as meconium that will be excreted as the baby’s first bowel movement. The fetus’s adrenal glands are in overdrive, producing vast amounts of cortisone – a hormone that may help to trigger the start of labor.
Week 40:  The fine, downy hair and the slippery white vernix have all but disappeared from the fetus’s body, although you’re still likely to find some bits of vernix in the skin creases….

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