Up to 14 weeks
By 14 weeks after your last period, all of your baby’s major organs have formed and his intestines are sealed in his abdominal cavity. He now starts to grow and mature.
Your Baby’s Progress
By the eleventh week of pregnancy, your baby is recognizable as a human being, and he’s now called a fetus (offspring) rather than an embryo. His head is very large compared with the rest of his body-by 14 weeks, it’s about one-third of his whole length. His eyes are completely formed, although his eyelids are still developing and remain closed. His face, too, is completely formed. His trunk has straightened out and the first bone tissue and ribs appear. He has nails on his fingers and toes, and he may have some hair. The external genital organs are now growing, and doctors may able to tell your baby’s sex by ultrasound. His heart is beating between 110 and 160 times per minute and his circulatory system is continuing to develop. He swallows amniotic fluid and excretes it as urine.
His sucking reflex is getting established-he purses his lips, turns his head, and wrinkles his forehead. The muscles he’ll use after he’s born for breathing and swallowing are also being exercised. In fact, by the end of this month, your baby will have discovered movement. He now begins to move around vigorously, but you probably won’t be able to feel his movements until the fourth month.
Blood-cell production While your baby will go on relying on the placenta for his nourishment, oxygen, and the clearance of waste until he is born, he has to have a system of blood-cell formation that will eventually support life outside the womb. Toward the end of this month, the yolk sac becomes superfluous as its task of producing blood cells is taken over by your baby’s developing bone marrow, liver, and spleen.
His Support System
The placenta is developing very quickly, making sure that there’s a rich network of blood vessels to provide your baby with vital nourishment. Now the layers thicken and grow until the chorion and membranes cover the entire inner surface area or the uterus. The umbilical cord is now completely mature and is made up of three intertwined blood vessels wrapped in a fatty sheath. The large vein carries nutrients and oxygen-rich blood to your baby, while the two, smaller, arteries carry waste products and oxygen-poor blood from your baby to the placenta. The umbilical cord is coiled like a spring because the sheath is longer than blood vessels. This allows your baby plenty of room to move around without the risk of damaging his lifeline.
Up to 10 weeks
This is a time of very rapid and crucial development-your baby quadruples in size. The embryo is lying in the center of a large placental cocoon, and is still very tiny. As it develops, its cells are constantly changing to make new structures.
Your Baby’s Progress
Inside the tube that will eventually become your baby’s brain and spinal cord, the cells multiply at an amazing rate, then move away to the areas where they will become active. Nerve cells that will form the brain travel along pathways that are being laid down glial (glue) cells. These cells allow the nerve cells to move toward each other, connect, and become active.
Your baby’s head is growing rapidly in order to make room for the enlarging brain, and the body is becoming less curved. A neck begins to develop and the primitive tail disappears.
The skin now starts to develop into its two layers, and the sweat glands and sebaceous (oil-producing) glands begin to form. Hair then starts to grow from the hair follicles so that the skin becomes downy. All the major organs develop. The heart achieves its final form and beats strongly. The stomach, liver, spleen, appendix, and intestine develop. The intestine becomes so long it forms a loop the circulatory system is established, and most muscles begin take on their final form.
Facial features Under the skin on the baby’s face, a primitive bone structure has developed, and these bones are now fusing together. One of these goes down between the eyes and ends on either side of the nostrils, thus forming the nose and the middle of the upper lip. Two others appear under the eyes, forming the cheeks and sides of the upper lip. Two more grow under the mouth, fusing to form the lower lip and chin. All this provides the framework to which the facial muscles become attached, which then allows the face to move.
There’s already some pigment in the eyes, which are covered and very far apart. The inside and outside parts of the ears begin to form and the taste buds start developing. The tooth buds of all nonpermanent teeth are now in place.
Arms and legs Embryonic limbs continue to develop. Wrists and fingers appear on the arm buds, which become longer and project forward. The arms become bent at the elbow. Touch-pads form on the fingertips. Leg buds sprout, then develop three distinct sections-thigh, calf, and foot. Toes start to appear. At this stage, your baby’s arms and hands grow faster than her legs and feet.
This trend will continue after your baby’s been born-she’ll be able to grasp objects long before she’s starts walking.
Birth Plan
Making your own plan for your baby’s birth will help you make sure you have an active involvement in the way he’s born and what happens immediately after the birth. Think about all the options and what you’d prefer, and talk everything over with your birth attendants and your partner. In this way, you’ll build a bond of trust with everyone concerned and create a happier, more comfortable labor.
A Consensus Plan
Think about what’s important to you and then find out as much as you can to see if what you want is feasible. There’s no point in making an unrealistic plan that can’t be used once you are in labor. Talk to your care provider about your birth plan early in your pregnancy. If you’re having a hospital birth, ask your doctor to refer you to the hospital that’s most in tune with your wishes if possible. It also helps to talk about what you want with your midÂwife, childbirth teacher, and other members of your prenatal team-they’ll able to give you advice and tell you about the kinds of experiences other mothers have had in your local hospitals.
Hospital response Your hospital team will welcome the preparation you’ve done for the labor and will encourage you to get involved. Some mothers used to get bad reactions to birth plans from hospital staff because they might interfere with standard practices. That’s unlikely now-in fact, there’ll be space in your hospital notes for your preferences to be recorded.
Working together Cooperation is an important part of a birth plan. Working everything out in detail with all your attendants, including your partner, should ease anxieties and help you feel more in control of your baby’s birth. Make sure staff are aware of any alternative plans you’ve made and stay friendly with your caregivers-they’ll want to follow your wishes as far as they can, provided you and your baby are not at risk. Once you’ve talked about what’s important to you, give a copy of the plan that’s kept with your hospital notes to each of your birth partners or caregivers. This could be important if someone who doesn’t know your wishes has to attend your labor. If you refuse any routine hospital procedures, you’ll probably be asked to sign a refusal of treatment form. This protects the hospital from liability and give you more freedom of choice.
Special considerations Make a note on your birth plan of any particular needs you may have while you’re in the hospital-for example, if you’re a vegetarian or you need any other special diet.