Pregnancy

Day 1

Sperm joins ovum (egg) to form one cell – smaller than a grain of salt. The life has inherited 23 chromosomes from each parent, 46 in all. This one cell contains the complex genetic blueprint for every detail of human development – the child’s sex, hair and eye colour, height, skin tone.

Day 3-4
The fertilised egg travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where the lining has been prepared for implantation.

Day 5-9
During this time, the fertilised egg implants itself in the rich lining of the uterus and begins to draw nurishment.

Day 10-14
The developing embroyo singals its presence through placental chemicals and hormones, preventing the mother from menstruating. This missed period is usually the first sign that the mother is pregnant.

Day 20
Foundations of the brain, spinal cord and nervous system are already established

Day 21
The heart begins to beat

Day 28
The backbone and muscles are forming. Arms, legs, eyas and ears have begun to show.

Day 30
At one month old, the embryo is 10,000 times larger than the origenal fertilized egg and is developing rapidly. The heart is pumping increasing quantities of blood through the circulatory system. The placenta forms a unique barrier that keeps the mother’s blood separate while allowing food and axygen to pass through to the embryo.

Day 35

Five fingers can be discerned in the hand. The eyes darken as pigment is produced.

Day 40
Brains waves can be detected and recorded.

week 6
The liver is now taking over the production of blood cells, and the brain begins to control movement of muscles and organs. The mother is about to miss her second period and has probably confirmed that she is pregnant.

week 7

The embryo begins to move spontaneously. the jaw forms, including teeth buds in the gums. Soon the eyelids will seal to protect the embryo’s developing light-sensitive eyes, and will reopen at about the seventh month.

week 8

At a little more than an inch long, the developing life is now called a foetus – Latin for “young one” or “offspring”. Everything is now present that will be found in a fully developed adult. The heart has been beating for more than a month, the stomach produces digestive juices and the kidneys have begun to function. Fourty muscle sets begin to operate in conjunction with the nervous system. The baby’s body respond to touch, althought the mother will not be able to feel movement until the fourth or fifth month.

week 9

Fingerprints are already evident in the skin. The baby will curve its fingers around an object placed in the palm of its hand.

week 10

The uterus has now doubled in sized. The baby can squint, smallow and wrinkle its forehead.

week 11

At this time, the baby is about two inchec long. Urination occurs. The face has assumed a baby’s profile, and muscle movements are becoming more coordinated.

week 12

The baby now sleeps, awakens and excercises its muscles turning its head, curling its toes, and opening and closing its mouth. The palm, when stroked, will make a tight fist. The baby breathes amniotic fluid to hels develop its respiratiory system.

week 13
Fine hair has begun to grow on the head, and sexsual differentiation has become apparent.

Month 4

By the end of this month, the baby is eight to ten inches in length and weighs a half pound or more. The mother will probably start to “show” now. The ears are functioning, and there is evidence that the baby hears quite a bit: the mother’s voice and heartbeat as well as external noises. The umbilical cord has become an engineering marvel, transporting 300 quarts of fluids per day and completing a round-trip of fluids every 30 seconds.

Month 5

Half the pregnancy has now passed, and the baby is about 12 inches long. The mother has definitely begun to feel movement by now. If a sound is especially loud or startling, the baby may jump in reaction to it.

Month 6
Oil and sweet glands are functioning. The delicate skin of the growing baby is protected from the fetal waters by a special ointment call “vermix”. If the baby were born in this month and given the proper care, he would survive.

Month 7
The baby now uses the four sense of vision, hearing, taste and touch. He can recognize his mother’s voice.

Month 8
The skin begins to thicken, with a layer of fat stored underneath for insulation and nourishment. Antibodies increasingly build up. The baby absorbs a gallon of amnotic fluid perday; the fluid is completely replaced every three hours.

Month 9

The baby is getting ready for birth. The average duration of pregnance is 280 days from the first day of the mother’s last menstrual period, but this varies. Most babies (85 percent to 95 percent) are born somewhere between 266 and 294 days. By this time the infant normally weight six to nine pounds, and his heart is pumping 300 gallons blood per day. He is fully capable of life outside the womb.

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