Inspired from the series “Oh my baby” and the movie “Penguin.”
Hi, this blog gives an idea about the baby’s growth in mother womb. Hope everyone is fond of babies and of course mother in-spite of anything. Every individual will always starts from being a baby and ends up with caring for their own baby on the other hand.
Coming to the topic, as many of my friends are getting married in upcoming days and some are about to give birth to their first child. I would like to share few words about the baby’s growth in womb and the unknown thing about pregnancy.
The pregnancy confirmation is done by checking up the HCG hormone (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) level in woman blood and urine. If HCG level is less than 5 millimeter detects absence of pregnancy. If the HCG level is more than 20 millimeter detects presence of pregnancy. It takes around seven to twelve days for HCG hormone secretion in the woman body after the implantation of an egg.
The HCG hormone helps in protecting the growing fetus by surrounding it with a placenta organ (developed during pregnancy period which attach to the wall of the uterus further to the umbilical cord of the baby. Placenta organ helps in providing oxygen and food nutrients to the baby). The level of HCG hormone increases to the peak of 120 to 130 millimeter during eighth week of pregnancy.
The total pregnancy week lasts for about 280 days or 40 weeks. Baby delivered before 37 weeks considered to be premature. Baby considered to be premature infants if they born between 29 and 33 weeks of pregnancy period.
Growth of a baby in Uterus
Week 1: The baby measures only 2 inches long at initial period which is more like prune. Most of that is head which makes half of the baby’s entire body. In few weeks, the head and the body grow in proportional size. Symptoms faced by mother during this week are, nausea with or without vomiting; increased urination; fatigue (extreme tiredness); increases aversions and cravings for unhealthy foods even disliked food items before; heart burn; and so on.
Week 2: The baby now measures about 4.3 to 4.6 inches and weights 3.5 bounces (0.0992233 kg). The eyes of the baby will start to blink, and blood vessels of the baby is fully developed. In addition to that baby’s fingers and toes will gain fingerprints.
Physical changes faced by mother is, she could feel the uterus is about 3 inches below the belly. Though the growth of the baby started between week 1 and 2, still the confirmation of pregnancy is done at week 4. Until the physical signs and symptoms might confuses the mother with dilemma conditions. It is in the state of ovulation period/ conception.
Week 3: At this stage the nerve system of the baby will be developed. Inherited characteristics like eye color; hair color; skin; and body type will be evolved at this period. The baby is called as zygote (consist of 46 chromosomes where 23 from mother and 23 from father).
Finally, the developed embryo passes through the Fallopian tube to reach uterus wall.
In case of non- identical twins, two separate eggs are fertilized and has two placenta and amniotic sac (fluid filled pouch which acts as the cushion to protect the fetus from physical harm and keeps it warm) for each to attach to the uterus wall.
In case of identical twins; single fertilized egg releases two fetuses where two babies share the same placenta but different amniotic sac.
Week 4: The pregnancy test shows positive at this stage. Once the embryo reaches the uterus, it is divided into two parts of placenta where one is used for supplying nutrients and oxygen to the baby where other continues to grow, to develop baby’s brain; spinal cord; and backbone. This stage eventually involves in the growth of neck and form face of the baby. The baby during sonography is looks a little sac (kind of cocoon) called gestational sac.
Week 5: At this stage, the baby starts to grow and looks like a sesame seed. The baby’s heart starts to beat (felt by you or either doctor and seen through ultrasound). Slowly the nervous systems; ears; eyes; connective tissues; lungs; intestines; bladder; heart and circulatory system are evolved. In the forth coming weeks, bones; muscles; kidneys; and reproductive organs are developed.
Week 6: The baby measures about fifth to quarter of an inch and looks like nail head or sweet pea. The baby heart beat will beat about 150 times (twice the average adult rate) per minute until birth. At this period, brain hemispheres and brain waves are recorded.
Week 7: The baby measures about 1 cm (or half inch) and looks like a blueberry. The baby starts to move; most complex portion skull will start to grow; and nerve cells of brain grows around 1,00,000 cells per minute.
Week 8 (first trimester): The baby looks more like a human and weighs less than 1/8 of an ounce which is 1 inch long. Baby eyelids take the proper shape, ears, lips, and nose will be clearly visible. Heart of the baby grows strong as week passes.
Week 9 to 24:
At week 9, reproductive organs will begin to develop; head of the baby attains exact shape. Tiny fingers start to grow larger.
At week 10, the baby now develops into fetus from embryo. Feet of the baby begin to evolve fingers; toes; and kidney start to produce urine. Brain development of baby takes place at 2,50,000 neurons per minute. Baby is out of danger now.
At week 11, baby starts to breathe (inhale and exhale fluid from amniotic sac) under water. Lungs of the baby starts to develop, and ears attains its original location.
At week 12; the baby muscles start to bulk up. So, baby starts to kick and response to you while placing hands on your belly. The baby also open and closes the fingers; and toes.
At week 13, at this stage the body of the baby attains the proportionate shape. Also, the baby starts to chew his thumb.
At week 14, mouth and cheeks of the baby is evolved. If the baby is boy, prostate is formed or if the baby is girl, ovaries are moved to her pelvis.
At week 15, baby started to show facial expressions and first lanugo grows (fine and soft hair covers the body of the fetus).
At week 16, skeleton system gets hardens; proper growth of umbilical cord takes place which is covered by Wharton’s jelly (thick substance which makes cord slippery, so that the baby can move freely). For baby girl, thousands of eggs are started forming in her ovaries.
At week 17, the body fat of the baby gets deposited under his skin and sweat glands develop. The size of the placenta organ grows bigger, helps in removing waste and filter out carbon dioxide during baby’s breathing.
At week 18, the baby can hear the sound at this period. It listens to your heart beat, all kinds of internal and external sounds. Even baby gets startled by noise from outside. Start talking to your baby, because they can hear you!
At week 19, a protective layer (white cheesy-like substance) called vernix caseosa covers the skin of the baby. Traces of it appears even after baby birth. Heartbeat of the baby will be twice of yours.
At week 20, as the arms and legs of the baby are well developed it will keep on curling; flexing; and kicking. The nails, eyebrows, and hair of the baby begins to grow which start to resemble more like you or his father.
At week 21, the baby starts to absorb nutrients from amniotic sac as his stomach begin to grow. Still most of the food nutrients reaches the baby through placenta.
At week 22, because of matured brain development. the baby can able to touch his feet, face or anything else that reaches his hands. Some of the baby evolve hair growth on scalp while other enter the world with bald.
At week 23, the brain cells of the baby get well developed which controls all main movements of the baby, major changes happen in the lungs of the baby (lungs expand). A substance called surfactant is produced (as the baby now breathing fluid in sac, it gets adapted to breathe in air once it is born).
At week 24, upside down or right side up movement of the baby can be felt. Baby can respond to your soft voice; rubs your belly, also gets alert to non-familiar noises.
Week 25 to 40:
At week 25, the first bowel movement of baby will be formed in the large intestine. The thick, dark poop called meconium (earliest stool of infant) will be excreted out once the baby is born. In some cases, the baby poops out before they born to clean up the lungs, which need to be removed out by suction.
At week 26, the mother can predict either the baby is active (kicking, punching, cuddling) or sleeping.
At week 27, during this stage mother will have hiccups often. This is because, the baby trachea (windpipe, act as airway system) is filled with fluid instead of air. So, the baby has hiccups (doesn’t make sound) will reflect on mother (unusual belly jump) in turn.
At week 28, the baby starts to open his eyelids. The baby will try to open and close his eyes, the pupil (irises) of the eyes gains its color. But the actual color of the baby eyes can’t be defined because it may get changed until the baby turns 6 months or 1 year old.
At week 29, the maturity of the baby grows stronger. Now the movement of the baby will be stronger than before. The baby will start reacting to the different food intake; sounds; and light.
At week 30, the baby start gaining weight about half a pound for each week. All the major parts of the baby are well developed and padding (soft cloth like stuff) is formed to protect/insulate the baby organs. The mother needs to be very careful while doing things because inappropriate movement in their body will affect the baby. The baby motion will be reduced, since the baby grown bigger. If it continues to a longer period, is better to consult the doctor to get suggestion.
At week 31, the baby will be restricted to stretch and forced to take fetal position until is born because it is grown bigger. All the reproductive organs (both female and male) will be developed at this stage.
At week 32, mother will feel to get the kid out. But the baby hopefully stays in the mother womb for few more weeks. All the organs of the baby are well developed except for the lungs. Though giving birth at this stage will make baby live healthy and normal.
At week 33, the baby will lack adequate space in mother uterus and his motion will be affected. The daily routine of mother like having food, position she sleeps, even sound affects the movement of the baby.
At week 34, the baby prepared itself to arrive within few weeks. The protective layer (vernix caseosa) which formed at 19th week will begin to grow thicker. So once the baby is born we can see the layer near arms; behind his ears; and groin area. Protective layer will fades after the first wash of the baby.
At week 35, the position of the baby gets changed as head facing down towards the cervix and vagina. Most of the baby will take up the position change by itself. In rare cases, the baby remains the same as his feet/finger facing down towards cervix. In those cases, the doctor manually applies external pressure on your belly to change the position of the baby.
At week 36, the baby tries to gather fat as much as he can. The fat that baby possess is about 15 percent of the total weight. This will help the baby to store energy and maintain the body temperature. The sucking muscles of the baby are well developed and quite powerful which is ready for first feeding.
At week 37, the umbilical cord begins to supply antibodies to the baby. So, the baby can be prepared to fight against the diseases and germs once it is born. The sense organs of the baby are rapidly growing, once it is born he can identify his mother; response to the voice; sound; tries to turn around; and grab onto your fingers.
At week 38, the baby will be enjoying the last few days of being in your womb. The breathing; digestion; and circulation is functioning better, it is considered as the right time for the baby to born. Delivery can occurs between 38 - 40 weeks.
At week 39, the baby attains actual birth weight around 6 to 9 pounds and length of about 18 to 22 inches. The baby moves to the position with his head facing toward pelvis. If the baby position is opposite of it, it results in cesarean. Anterior presentation (baby head down facing toward spine considered as normal position) and cephalic posterior (baby head down facing toward abdomen, considered as abnormal position).
At week 40, finally the baby arrives. Once the baby is born the following factors need to be evaluated to check the health: activity and muscle tone; pulse rate; grimace response (like little pinch to check whether the baby response to it); appearance (to check for any presence of disability); and breathing rate. APGAR score (Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, and Respiration) of the baby should be 2.
I conclude here, this blog will gives an idea about baby's growth week wise. Hope you guys get to know about it briefly. BABY and MOTHER can never replaced. !
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