1. All You Need To Know About Your Baby
When Your Pregnant.
2. First Month:
Your baby is still just a glimmer in your
eye. Although it's confusing to think
about a pregnancy starting before
your child is even conceived, doctors
calculate your due date from the
beginning of your last menstrual cycle,
because it's difficult to know exactly
when conception occurred.
Your embryo is really there, although
it's very small about the size of the
head of a pin. It doesn't look resemble
a fetus or baby; it's just a group of
about 100 cells multiplying and
growing rapidly. The outer layer of
cells will become the placenta, and the
inner layer will become the embryo.
Now that your egg is fertilized, it
burrows into the lining of your uterus.
This is called implantation
3. Second Month:
Your baby is still tiny, but its heart, brain,
spinal cord, muscle, and bones are
beginning to develop. The placenta,
which nourishes your baby, and the
amniotic sac, which provides a warm
and safe environment where your baby
can move easily, are still forming, too.
The umbilical cord forms and connects
your baby to your blood supply.
Your baby is shaped like a tadpole, and
it's about the size of a BB pellet. The
eyes and limb buds are forming. During
an ultrasound, your doctor may be able
to hear a heartbeat. Between days 17
and 56 is a vulnerable time, because
that's when the baby is most
susceptible to anything that can affect
normal growth.
4. Third Month:
Your baby is about the size of a peanut.
The head is more erect, and the neck is
more developed. During an ultrasound,
you might see how your baby moves,
even though you can't feel it yet.
Your baby is still small but looks and acts
like a baby. Arms and legs are longer and
can bend at the elbows and knees.
It's another big growth week. When your
doctor uses a Doppler stethoscope now,
she can hear the rapid "swooshing"
noises of the heartbeat. Your baby's
genitals are developing, but the sex can't
be determined yet.
All parts of your baby are developing,
from tooth buds to toenails. Your baby will
keep developing and getting larger and
stronger for the rest of your pregnancy. By
the end of this week, the chance of
miscarriage drops considerably.
5. Fourth Month:
Your baby is growing quickly! Eyes are moving into position, the ankles and wrists
have formed, and though the head is still disproportionately big, the rest of the body
is starting to catch up.
Your baby's ears are shifting from the neck to the sides of the head, and the neck is
getting longer and the chin more prominent. Facial features and unique fingerprints
are all there. Your baby is beginning to respond to outside stimuli. If your abdomen
is poked, the baby will try to wriggle away.
Your baby's body is covered by very fine hair, called lanugo, which is usually shed
by birth. Eyebrows and hair on the top of the head are beginning to grow, bones are
getting harder, and the baby may even be sucking his thumb.
You may be able to hear the baby's heartbeat in the doctor's office. Fine hair,
lanugo, may be growing on the head. Arms and legs are moving, and the nervous
system is working.
6. Fifth Month:
Your baby, now about in its 15th week of development,
measures about 4.4 to 4.8 inches from crown to rump and has
doubled in weight in the last two weeks to about 3.5 ounces. Fat
begins to form, helping your baby's heat production and
metabolism. The lungs are beginning to exhale amniotic fluid,
and the circulatory and urinary systems are working. Hair on
head, eyebrows and eyelashes is filling in.
Your baby measures 5 to 5.6 inches from crown to rump and
weighs about 5.25 ounces. The rapid growth spurt is tapering
off, but reflexes are kicking in. It can yawn, stretch and make
facial expressions, even frown. Taste buds are beginning to
develop and can distinguish sweet from bitter tastes. The baby
will suck if its lips are stroked and it can swallow, and even get
the hiccups. The retinas have become sensitive to light, so if a
bright light is shined on your abdomen, baby will probably move
to shield its eyes.
Your baby measures about 5.2 to 6 inches from crown to rump
and weighs about 7 ounces. Skin is developing and transparent,
appearing red because blood vessels are visible through it.
Creamy white protective coating, called vernix, begins to
develop.
7. Sixth Month:
Your baby measures about 7.2 inches from crown to
rump and weighs about 10.5 ounces. The fetus is
steadily gaining fat to keep warm. Growth rate is slowing
down but organ systems, like digestion, are continuing
to mature. A waxy film, called the vernix caseosa, is
being produced by your baby's oil glands and covers the
skin to keep it supple in the amniotic fluid. Buds for
permanent teeth are beginning to form.
Your baby measures about 7.6 inches and weighs about
12.3 ounces. The muscles are getting stronger every
week now, and the eyelids and eyebrows are
developed. Your baby's acrobatics are pretty constant,
and since he responds to sound, rhythm and melody,
you can try singing and talking to him. After he's born,
the same sounds will soothe him.
Your baby is about 8 inches from crown to rump and
weighs almost 1 pound. The body is becoming
proportioned more like a newborn, but skin is still
wrinkled because your baby still has more weight to
gain. Lanugo hair on the body sometimes turns darker.
8. Seventh month:
Your baby's hearing is fully developed. As the
baby reacts to sounds, its pulse
increases.Your baby will even move in rhythm
to music. Lungs are still growing but are not
yet mature. Patterns of your baby's brain
waves appear like a full-term newborn. He or
she also has patterns of sleeping and waking.
Your baby's hands are active. Thumb-sucking
calms the baby and strengthens cheek and
jaw muscles. Your baby can cry now.
Your baby measures about 10 inches from
crown to rump, or a total length of about
15.75 inches from head to toe, and weighs
about 2.4 pounds. Brain waves show rapid
eye movement (REM) sleep, which means
your baby may be dreaming. Eyelids are
opening. Branches of lungs are developing.
9. Eigth Month:
Your baby can hear distinct sounds, including
familiar voices and music. Your baby measures
about 18.9 inches long from head to toe and
weighs almost 4 pounds. Baby fills almost all the
space in your uterus now, but may still have
enough room to do somersaults. A layer of fat is
forming under your baby's skin. The baby is
practicing opening his eyes and breathing.
The next few weeks will mark lots of growth in the
baby. The baby will gain more than half its birth
weight in the next seven weeks. Your baby begins
to move less now as it runs out of room and curls
up with knees bent, chin resting on chest, and
arms and legs crossed.
Your baby measures about 19.8 inches from head
to toe and weighs about 5 pounds. The baby is
probably settling into the head-down position,
although it might not be final. Organs are now
almost fully mature, except for lungs, and the skin
is pink instead of red. Fingernails reach the ends
of fingers, but toenails are not yet fully grown. The
baby might have lots of hair and may not move as
10. Ninth Month:
Your baby's lungs are almost fully developed. It's still
building fat deposits beneath its skin to keep warm after it
leaves your womb.
Your baby measures about 20.7 inches from head to toe
and weighs about 6 pounds. The baby may drop lower in
your abdomen, usually assuming the head-down position
to prepare for birth. The brain has been developing rapidly,
and your baby is practicing blinking.
Your baby is about 21 inches from head to toe and weighs
almost 6.5 pounds. The baby is getting rounder every day,
and skin is getting pinker and losing its wrinkly
appearance. Your baby's head is usually positioned down
into the pelvis by now.
Most of your baby's downy hair, lanugo, and whitish
coating, vernix, are disappearing. Your baby is getting its
antibodies from you to protect against illness. The baby's
growth is slowing, but fat cells under skin get plumper for
life outside the womb. Your baby is almost ready for birth.