Category: Pregnancy Timeline

Pregnancy Timeline: Weeks 15-28, The Second Trimester

December 9, 2009 | Filed under: Pregnancy Timeline | Tagged , | Comments (1)

Weeks 15 – 28 mark the second trimester and the time when most moms suffering from feeling ill start to feel much better and really begin to embrace their pregnancy. And they begin to show their pretty belly. Yeah for women’s bodies!

Weeks 15 – 17
Moms will often begin to feel fetal movement during this period (but it’s okay if you don’t). If you have a retroverted uterus, you may feel a lot of pressure in your bowels, as the uterus is becoming heavier. You may begin to feel some toning contractions.

Weeks 18 – 20
In most cases, uterine height will correlate with weeks of pregnancy and by now the retroverted uterus should have tipped forward. Almost all moms can feel fetal movement by week 20. Baby begins to straighten out from a flexed position. Hair begins to grow on the scalp. If baby is a girl, her ovaries are forming and inside are her eggs. Which means you are carrying your future grandchildren.

Weeks 21 – 24
Usually a spurt of weight gain during this time, which reflects good blood volume expansion. Baby growth slows down a little during this time. Eyebrows and eyelashes begin to form. Baby can suck on her fingers. Tooth buds begin to form.

Weeks 25 – 27
Most moms feel toning contractions by this time. This uterine activity prepares the cervix for birth. Eyelids are no longer fused. Foot and fingerprints begin to appear.

Week 28
It is easier to feel the different parts of the baby by this time and the baby can be bounced from side to side.

References
Holistic Midwifery Volume 1, Anne Frye
Life Unto Life

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Pregnancy Timeline: Weeks 9 Through 14

November 26, 2009 | Filed under: Pregnancy Timeline | Tagged | Comments (0)

The 9th week marks the beginning of the fetal period because baby now looks quite human.

Week 9
The head is still quite large, face broad and the eyes are widely spaced. The eyelids are still fused. The external genitals still appear uni sexual and the liver is working to make red blood cells.

Week 10
The brain has divided into the separate lobes by the 10th week. The lips separate from the jaw and muscles appear in the gut region. Coils of intestine are still clearly present and visible at the base of the umbilical cord until the middle of this week. Finger and toe nails begin to develop. Urine formation begins and discharged into the amniotic fluid, which the baby swallows starting this week. Amniotic fluid volume has increased to about 32 ml.

The wall of the uterus thickens as the placenta forms. The umbilical cord gets longer and it now has it’s final 2 arteries and 1 vein.

Week 11
The intestines have usually returned to the abdomen this week. Growth continues.

Week 12
Genitals are now distinctly male or female and the neck is well defined. Skin on baby is pink, translucent and delicate. Bile secretion begins. The thyroid begins to secret hormones. Primary ossification centers appear in the skeleton, especially in the skull and long bones. The upper limbs have almost reached their final lengths and the lungs acquire definite shape.

Weeks 13 – 14
Baby weighs 3.2 ounces and is 4.5 inches long. The muscles have developed to the point that baby can make frequent and deliberate movements. The genitals become more recognizable to those outside the womb.

References
Holistic Midwifery, Anne Frye
Life Unto Life, CB Graphics

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Pregnancy Timeline: Weeks 3 through 8

November 19, 2009 | Filed under: Pregnancy Timeline | Tagged | Comments (3)

Weeks 3 – 8 are considered the embryonic period. This is an important time for your baby because the internal and external structures are becoming established.

Day 15
This is the first day of the missed period and sometimes goes unnoticed.

Days 16-21
A small pocket forms that will eventually become the urinary bladder. The blood vessels of the pocket will become the the vein and arteries of the umbilical cord.

Day 19
The neural tube begins to fold its tissues and will eventually become the spinal cord. During this third week if something goes wrong in the folding of the neural tube, the spine or brain may not develop properly.

Day 20
Blood circulation begins.

Day 21-22
Heart begins to beat making the cardiovascular system the first to reach a functional state. The kidneys and endocrine systems have already begun to form. A droplet of amniotic fluid appears around 3 weeks.

Days 22-28 – Week 4
This begins the fourth week of development. Now the shape of the embryo into a familiar curved shape. Upper limb buds become visible on day 26 or 27 and primitive ears can be seen. The embryo has a small tail and the mouth cavity has formed. The liver is beginning to grow.

Days 29-35 – Week 5
During the fifth week of gestation, changes in the body form of the embryo are minimal.  Primitive fingers begin to develop at 33 days.

Days 36-42 – Week 6
The upper limbs develop quickly during the sixth week. The head is larger than the trunk. The embryo will now show reflex response to touch. The liver produces red blood cells. Rudimentary bones are present as the skeleton begins to develop. Embryonic sex glands appear.

Days 43-49 – Week 7
The intestines are developing outside the body. A heart beat can be detected. Sex glands begin to differentiate into ovaries or testes during the seventh week.

Days 50-57 – Week 8
The baby is surrounded by 7mL of amniotic fluid. Fingers are now short and webbed. The tail is still present but short and stubby but will completely disappear by the end of the eighth week. Heart development is mostly complete and the eyelids are open. The lips completely fuse this week and the membrane over the anal opening disappears. Purposeful limb movement begins. The embryo has distinct human characteristics, but the head still accounts for half the body size. The intestines still protrude outside the body and into the base of the umbilical cord. At the end of this week the eyelids begin to fuse. The beginnings of all major organ systems have been established.

Taken From
Holistic Midwifery Volume 1, Anne Frye, 677-681

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Pregnancy Timeline: Conception Through First 2 Weeks

November 17, 2009 | Filed under: Pregnancy Timeline | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Below is a timeline that I composted from various textbooks and the Internet regarding the timeline of pregnancy. This is the first in a multi-part series on fetal development and pregnancy. There is a lot of varying information out there about this topic, some more accurate than others, and I tried to include what I felt to be the most accurate.

Conception/Fertilization
Conception happens when the sperm enters the egg, which usually takes place in the fallopian tubes. As soon as the sperm and egg unite, the gender, hair, skin and eye color of the new baby are already determined. Fertilization usually takes about 24 hours.

30 Hours After Conception
The new baby cells divide and subdivide as it is swept through the fallopian tube by cilia toward the uterus.

3-4 Days After Conception
3-4 days after conception the fertilized egg arrives at the uterus after a 4 inch journey through the fallopian tube. The cells look like a microscopic mulberry or raspberry and are called a morula. Once in the uterus it burrows itself into the endometrium, which is the lining of the uterus. The outside cells of the morula eventually grow to form the placenta. Baby begins to develop from the inner layer of cells.

6-7 Days After Conception
The morula, now dubbed a blastocyst because of various changes, begins to attach to the uterus. This is when some women report feeling implantation cramps that feel like mild menstrual cramps.

7-10 Days After Conception
Implantation may or may not be followed by implantation bleeding, which looks like light spotting. Once the blastocyst is implanted, baby is deriving nourishment from maternal tissues.

7-9 Days After Conception
This is the earliest time period when a labratory blood pregnancy test can detect the levels of hCG hormone in your body. hCG (human Chorionic Gonadotropin) is a protein hormone that is first produced in the second week of gestation. It prevents menstruation and is most concentrated at 8 weeks gestation. Levels gradually decline after the 8th week.

2 Weeks After Conception
This is the magic time when most women discovery they are pregnant via the results of a home urine pregnancy tests. These tests are 95% accurate in detecting hCG in the body.

Anne Frye states that during the first two weeks after fertilization the pre-embryo is usually not susceptible to toxins. When damage does occur it usually disrupts most or all of the cells, resulting in death. Or it may damage only a few cells, from which baby can recover and go on to develop defect-free. It is during the first 8 weeks of gestation that baby is most sensitive to major damage.

References
Spiritual Midwifery, Ina Mae Gaskin, 289
Holistic Midwifery Volume 1, Anne Frye, 673-678

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