Before

Becoming
ant
Pregna

Pregnanccy is an imporrtant event forr any women. It is also the commencem ment of
an exciting new life. It should
s be a re
ewarding and
d fulfilling experience for alll
involved. However, som me women em mbark on pregnancy with a degree of fe ear and
trepidation
n.

This may be because pregnancy

p is a previously uncharted jou urney for themm, or
because they
t have sufffered compliccations in a previous pregn
nancy, or perh haps
they have ng medical condition that th
e a pre-existin hey feel may effect or be affected
a
ancy. Despite the importan
by pregna nce of pregnancy it is not unusual
u for co
ouples to
stumble in
nto it.

Everyone wants a healthy outcome of their pregn nancy, but evveryone try the eir own
ideas aboout pregnancy y. An awareneess of the ben
nefits of prepaaring for preg
gnancy, an unnderstanding ofo
pregnancyy, birth and th
he complicatio
ons that can occur
o will help
p dispel any fear
f and can influence
i
outcome. It is recogniz
zed that wome en who learn about pregna ancy and childdbirth are more likely to ha
ave a
better exp
perience of labour and delivery.

Knowledg ge will also allow greater pa

articipation in
n the choices that
t require to
o be made in the managem ment
of your prregnancy. Ideeally, you sho
ould start prepparing yourself for pregnanncy for about 3 to 4 monthss
before you actually try to conceive. The time to start
s are of your body is before you
taking ca y get pregn nant.
You increase your odds of having a healthy babyy if you are in the best possible physical condition be efore
you conce eive.

It's importtant to consider such addittional factors as your physiical and emottional readine ess for parentthood,
the career costs of hav ving a baby, and
a your finan ncial situation. Your physiccal and nutritio
onal well bein
ng will
impact the e very early growth
g of the embryo,
e perhaps before yo ou even knoww you're pregn nant, and will be a
critical determinant of pregnancy
p ou
utcome.

 
First 6
Weeks of
Pregnan ncy

First 6 Weeks of Preg

gnancy

The fertilizzed egg beco

omes a ball off cells called blastocyst,
b wh
hich floats into the uterus and
a implants itself
in the linin
ng. The basis by’s future devvelopment is now laid dow
s for your bab wn.

Your Bab
by’s Progress
s

Once it haas implanted, the embryo secretes

s chemmicals that haave two functiions. First, th hey signal to your
y
body that the embryo has
h arrived, anda this trigge ers a number of o changes in n your body: Your
Y ovulationn
cycle stopps, the mucuss in your cerviix thickens, yoour uterine wall softens, an nd your breassts begin to grow.
Second, your
y immune system is sup ppressed so that
t the embrryo is not treated as foreign n and rejected d, but
is allowedd to grow. In addition,
a an outer
o layer of the blastocysst develops in nto a protectivve cocoon aro ound
the embrryo. This coco oon will creatte the rudimen nts of the placcenta and the e support systtem in which the
embryo will
w grow- the amniotic
a sac (the watery balloon
b in which it will float), the chorionn (a safety cusshion
around the amniotic sa ac), and the yo olk sac (which will manufa acture blood cells
c until the liver
l takes ovver).
The chorio on then grows finerlike pro
ojections, the chorionic villii, which the co ocoon burrow ws firmly into your
y
uterine lin
ning.
The Cells
s specialize

Througho out these early

y weeks, the embryo’s
e cellls become mo ore specializeed. There are e now three la ayers
of them, each
e destined
d to create diffferent organss of the body. The innermo ms a primitive tube
ost layer form
that will la
ater develop in
nto the lungs liver, thyroid gland, pancre eas, urinary tract, and bladdder. The mid ddle
layer will become
b the skeleton,
s musscles (includin ng the heart muscle),
m testes or ovaries, kidneys, sple een,
blood vesssels, blood ce ells, and the deepest
d layerr of skin, the dermis.
d The outer
o layer wiill provide the
e skin,
sweat glands, nipples (and
( breasts, if it is a girl), hair, nails, to
ooth enamel, and
a the lense es of the eyess.
These thrree cell layerss differentiate to create an entire human n body.

The Embryo’s Suppo

ort System

The villi of the growing placenta inte ermingle with the maternal blood vessells of the uterin ne wall in succh a
way that they
t eventually become su urrounded by lakes of blood. Maternal blood
b n and around these
flows in
spaces, and
a because it is divided byy only acell orr two from fettal blood, exch hange of nutrrients and waste
between fetus
f and motther can occu ur in these blo
ood space. The placenta iss a hormaone e factory pum mping
out hormo ones, such ass human chorrionic gonadottropin (hCG), that are desiigned to supp port a healthy
pregnancyy. Until the sixth week, th he embryo’s blood
b cells arre supplied byy the yolk sacc; after the endd of
the third week,
w blood circulation
c is pumped
p by the
e bayb’s ownn heart.

Up to 14 Weeks of
o Pregnancy

Up to 14 Weeks
W of Prregnancy

Fourteen weeks after your

y LIMP, alll of your babyy’s major orga
ans have form
med and his in
ntestines are
sealed in the abdomina
al cavity. He now starts too grow and ma ature.

Your Bab
by’s Progress
s

By the ele eventh week ofo pregnancy,, your baby iss recognizable e as a human n being, and he
h is now calle ed a
fetus (offsspring) rather than an embryo. His head d is very large e compared to the rest of hish body; by 14
1
weeks it will
w be about one-third
o of his whole length. His eyes area completelly formed, alth hough the eye elids
are still de
eveloping and d remain close ed. His face, too, is completely formed. His trunk ha as straightene
ed out
and the firrst bone tissu
ue and ribs ap ppear. The finngers and toe es have nails, and some ha air may have
grown. His external ge enital organs are now grow wing, and ofte en the gender of the baby is discernible on a
sonogram m. Internally, his heart beats between 110 and 160 times per minu ute and his circulatory systtem
continuess to develop. The fetus sw wallows amnio otic fluid and excretes
e it as urine. His sucking reflex iss
establishing itself-- his lips purse, his head turns,, and his foreh head wrinkless. The muscles he will use e
after birth for breathing
g and swallow wing are also being
b exercissed. In fact, byy the end of th
his month you ur
baby will have
h discovered movemen nt. He now begins to move e vigorously, though you probably
p won’’t be
able to feeel his movements until the fourth month h.

ell Production
Blood Ce

While you ur baby will co

ontinue to relyy on the place
enta for nourisshment, oxyg gen, and the clearance
c of waste
w
until he is born, a syste
em of blood cell formation that will even ntually supporrt independennt life is essenntial.
Toward th he end of this month, the yolk asc becom mes superfluo ous as its task of producing blood cells is
taken ove er by your babby’s developin ng bone marro ow, liver, and
d spleen.

His Supp
port system

The placeenta is develo

oping very quickly, ensuring
g that there iss a rich netwo
ork of blood be
e vessels to
our baby with vital nourishment. Now th
provide yo he layers thiccken and grow w until the cho
orion and
membranes cover the entire inner surface
s area of
o the uterus. The umbilica al cord is now w completely
mature annd consists off three intertwwined blood veessels encaseed in a fatty sheath.
s The large vein carrries
a oxygen-rrich blood to the fetus, whille the two smaller arteries carry waste products
nutrients and p and
oxygen po oor blood from m the fetus to
o the placenta
a. The umbiliccal cord is coiiled like a prin
ng because thhe
sheath is longer than th he blood vesssels. This allo
ows him plenty of room to maneuver wiithout the riskk of
damaging g his lifeline.

Next
N
< Prev
v
>

Up to 22
2 Weeks of
Pregnanncy
Up to 22 Weeks of Prregnancy

Your bab
by has sufficie
ently increased in size at th
his time to havve developed d a nervous
system and muscles capable
c of allo
owing him to move. Becau use he is still so small, he
can swim
m up and down n and be in any position att any time.

Your Bab
by’s Progres
ss

Starting now,
n form 19 weeks after your
y LMP, you ur baby’s rapid growth rate e (but not
weight ga ain) starts to slow
s down, annd he matures in other wayys. He begin ns to build up
his defense systems. A sheath be egins to form around
a the ne erves in his sppinal cord to
protect th
hem from possible damage e. He also ha as his own primitive immun ne system,
with whicch he can parttially defend himself
h againsst some infecctions. To pro oduce body
heat and maintain his temperature, your baby ne eeds specializzed fatty tissu ue. This is
provided by a substance known as brown fat, wh hich started too form during the fourth
month. Now,
N deposits s of brown fat begin to build d up in areas of his body suchs as his
neck, che est, and crotch. This will continue until term.
t One off the reasons that
prematurre babies are so vulnerable e is that they have insufficient amounts of brow fat
and so arre unable to keep
k themselvves warm. Hiss skin will con ntinue to groww, although it
will be red
d and wrinkle ed because th here is so little
e fat undernea ath it. From this
t month on,
he becom mes increasingly plumper. The baby’s sebaceous
s glaands become e increasinglyy
plumper. The baby’s sebaceous
s gllands become e active and produce
p a waxy, greasy
substance known as th he vernix casseosa, which provides
p his skin
s with a pro otective
coating during its long immersion in n the amnioticc fluid. Your baby’s
b body iss also covered d
with fine hair called lannugo. As yet, no one is qu uite sure of itss purpose, but it may help
to regulatte his body teemperature orr it may be the ere to hold the protective vernix
v
caseosa in place.

His Move
ements

As his ne
erve fibers bec
come conneccted and his muscle
m opment and strength
develo
increase, his movements are more purposeful and coordinate ed. He embarks on his
own athle uilds up his muscles,
etic program- stretching, grrasping, turning - which bu
bility, and strengthens his bones.
improvess his motor ab b Thesee movements can make
your abdoomen sore. Sex
S

Organs
A boy’s scrotum
s is solid at this stag
ge. A girl’s va
agina starts to
o become holllow, and her
ovaries contain about 7 million ova,, which will deecline to apprroximately two o million by
the time she
s is born. ByB the time sh he reaches puberty, 200, 000
0 to 500, 00 00 ova will be
e
left, and she
s will releasse only 400 too 500 of these e during her adult
a life - app
proximately
one per month.
m

Up to 18
8 Weeks of
Pregnanncy
Up to 18 Weeks of Prregnancy

The seco ond trimester starts

s 1 th week of pregnancy.
at the 14 p Y
Your baby is steadily
s
growing, and if you ha ave a scan at this time it is possible to discern the baby’s sex. If itt
is felt neccessary, around this time you
y will be offfered various tests to rule out
o
abnormalities. The len ngth of the femur will be measured,
m w as the diameter of the
as well e
head; thiss latter measuurement will be
b used to confirm the EDD D.

Your Bab
by’s Progres
ss

She is loo
oking more hu uman, with leegs longer tha an arms and the parts of he er legs in
proportion. The skeletton continuess to produce bone
b and thosse parts with sufficient
calcium can
c be seen on o X-ray. The e fetus now co ame number of nerve cellss
ontains the sa
as an aduult. The nervees from the brain
b begin to be coated in a layer of prootective fat
mportant step in their maturration becausse it facilitatess the passage
(myelin). This is an im e
of messaages to and froom the brain. Connectionss between ne erves and musscles are
establisheed so that your baby’s welll-formed limbbs can move at a the joints when
w muscless
are stimu
ulated to contrract and relaxx. Now that her
h arms are lo ong enough, her hands
can graspp each other if they touch accidentally,
a and she can form
f fists.

However, movements are not yet under the conttrol of the bra ain. Nor do th
hey register
with you at
a first becaus
se the fetus iss not big enou
ugh to activatte nerve endin ngs on the
uterine wall.
w Second--time mother tend to feel fe ooner. The fetus’s external
etal activity so
genital orrgans acquire
e a more distinnctive appearrance. A girl’ss vaginal platte, the
precursorr to her vagina, is clearly developing,
d an
nd a boy’s tesstes are at the
e deep
inguinal ring
r and well on
o their way tot descending g into the scrootum.

Her Supp port System The

T placenta is i producing the
t increasing g amount of chorionic
c
gonadotro opin, estrogen, and progessterone that are
a needed th hroughout pre egnancy. It
also prod
duces an asso ortment of oth
her hormoness that maintainn the health of
o the uterus
and play an essential part in the groowth and devvelopment of the
t mother’s breasts
b in
on for lactatio
preparatio on. The placeenta forms a barier
b againstt infection, altthough not
against viruses such asa rubella (Geerman measle es) and AIDS or poisons su uch as
alcohol and nicotine. By the end off the 16th weeek, the placenta has grown n to about halff
an inch (1
1cm) in thicknness and threee and a half inches
i (7-8 cm
m) across.

Growth will
w continue until at term it reaches a we eight of 11 po
ounds (500gm
m), a thicknesss
of an inch
h and a half (3
3cm), and a diameter
d of 8 to 10 inches (20-25cm). It is firmly
attached to the uterine
e wall (usuallyy the upper pa
art).

< Prev Nextt >

Up to 22
2 Weeks off Pregnancy
y
Up to 22 Weeks of Pregnancy

Your baby has sufficiently increased in size at this time to have developed a nervous
system and muscles capable of allowing him to move. Because he is still so small, he
can swim up and down and be in any position at any time.

Your Baby’s Progress

Starting now, form 19 weeks after your LMP, your baby’s rapid growth rate (but not
weight gain) starts to slow down, and he matures in other ways. He begins to build up
his defense systems. A sheath begins to form around the nerves in his spinal cord to
protect them from possible damage. He also has his own primitive immune system,
with which he can partially defend himself against some infections. To produce body
heat and maintain his temperature, your baby needs specialized fatty tissue. This is
provided by a substance known as brown fat, which started to form during the fourth
month. Now, deposits of brown fat begin to build up in areas of his body such as his
neck, chest, and crotch. This will continue until term. One of the reasons that
premature babies are so vulnerable is that they have insufficient amounts of brow fat
and so are unable to keep themselves warm. His skin will continue to grow, although it
will be red and wrinkled because there is so little fat underneath it. From this month on,
he becomes increasingly plumper. The baby’s sebaceous glands become increasingly
plumper. The baby’s sebaceous glands become active and produce a waxy, greasy
substance known as the vernix caseosa, which provides his skin with a protective
coating during its long immersion in the amniotic fluid. Your baby’s body is also covered
with fine hair called lanugo. As yet, no one is quite sure of its purpose, but it may help
to regulate his body temperature or it may be there to hold the protective vernix
caseosa in place.

His Movements

As his nerve fibers become connected and his muscle development and strength
increase, his movements are more purposeful and coordinated. He embarks on his
own athletic program- stretching, grasping, turning - which builds up his muscles,
improves his motor ability, and strengthens his bones. These movements can make
your abdomen sore. Sex

Organs

A boy’s scrotum is solid at this stage. A girl’s vagina starts to become hollow, and her
ovaries contain about 7 million ova, which will decline to approximately two million by
the time she is born. By the time she reaches puberty, 200, 000 to 500, 000 ova will be
left, and she will release only 400 to 500 of these during her adult life - approximately
one per month.

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Up to 26
6 Week of Pregnancy
Up to 26 Week
W of Pregnancy

Your babyy is growing ta

aller and stronger, while heer movementts are becomiing more com mplex. She is also
showing signs
s of sensitivity, awaren
ness, and inte
elligence. A baby
b is legallyy viable if born
n after 24 wee
eks
of pregnancy and may survive with specialized neonatal inten nsive care.

Your Bab
by’s Progress
s

She is still red and skin nny, but she will

w soon startt to put on we eight. Any exxtensive wrinkkling of the skkin is
caused byy a lack of subcutaneous fa at and a relattive abundancce of skin. Heer body is growwing faster thhan
her head, and by the end e of this mo onth her propo ortions are appproximately those
t of a newwborn. Her arms
a
and legs have
h their norrmal amount of muscle, he er legs and bo ody are in pro t center of her
oportion, and the
bones is beginning
b to harden.
h The lines start to appear
a on the
e palms of heer hands. The e brain cells she
s
will use fo
or conscious thought
t now start
s to mature e, and she beegins to be ab
ble to rememb ber and learn (in
one experriment, babies s in the uterus were trained to kick in re esponse to a specific
s vibrattion). The gennitals
are now completely
c diffferentiated; iff the baby is a boy, testosterone-produccing cells in thhe testes incre ease
in numberr.

Hearing

Your babyy can hear so ound frequenccies that are beyond

b your range;
r she mo oves more in response to high
frequenciees than to low
w ones and moves
m her boddy in rhythm with
w your spee ech. Starting this month, she
s
will respond to drum beeats by jumping up and do own. Some mothers
m reportt having to lea
ave concerts
because their
t unborn babies
b would not settle dow wn. If she he
ears a piece ofo music frequ uencies she may
m
discover that
t when she e is grown up it is familiar to
t her- even iff she can’t rem
member everr hearing it. Some
S
musicianss have said thhat they “knew w” unseen pieeces of musicc and later discovered that their mother
played theem during preegnancy. She e can also learn to recognizze her father’s voice from this
t month
onward. A baby whose e father talks to her while she
s is in the uterus
u can disstinguish er fa
ather’s voice in
i a
roomful off people imme ediately after she is born and
a will respoond to it emotiionally for exaample, if she is
upset, shee may stop crrying and calm m down.

Breathing
g

Inside herr lungs, air sa

acs are formin
ng in ever-incrreasing numbbers. They will continue to
o increase unttil
eight yearrs after birth. Around themm, the blood vessels
v that will
w help her ab
bsorb oxygen and expel ca arbon
dioxide arre multiplying. In addition, her nostrils have
h now opeened, and she
e is beginningg to make
breathing motions with her muscles, so her syste
em will have plenty
p of brea
athing practice
e before she is
i
born.

< Prev Ne
ext >
Up to
34
Weeks
Thirty- fo
our weeks afte
er your LMP, your baby is perfectly form
med. All her proportions
p arre exactly as you
would exp b at birth. Still, she has some
pect them to be s maturing
g to do and some weight too gain beforee she
is ready too be born.

Your Babby’s Progress s Her organs are now almost fully matu
ure except forr her lungs, which are still not
n
completely developed although theyy are secretinng increasing quantities of surfactant, wh
hich will keepp
them from
m collapsing once
o she begins to breathe
er air. She ca
an make stron ng movements that can be felt
on the surrface of your abdomen. Nearly all of the
e babies born
n at this stage
e survive.

Her skin, nails, and hair Her skin is now pink ra ather than redd, owning to the
t deposits ofo white fat
underneath it. Fat depo osits build up under her skkin in order to provide enerrgy and regula
ate her body
temperatu i born. The protective vernix caseosa that covers her
ure after she is h skin is verry thick. Her
fingernailss reach the en gers, but her toenails are not
nds of her fing n yet fully grown. She may
m have quite ea
lot of hair n her head.

Her eyes Her irises caan now dilate and

a contract. They alread dy contract in response to bright
b light an
nd
also to en
nable her to fo
ocus, although
h she will not need to deve
elop this skill until after she
e is born. Shee can
close her eyelids, and she has begu un to blink.

Her posittion Some ba abies assume

e the head-dow
wnward positton about now w, but there iss still plenty off
time- mosst engage afte
er 36 weeks. Although mo
ost babies do turn on their own, she mayy remain in th he
breech (bottom down) position until birth.

Her Suppport System This month the placental layers may sttart to thin. To make estro ogen, the placcenta
converts a testosterone
e like hormon
ne that is prod
duced by yourr baby’s adrenal glands. By
B now these
glands ha
ave reached a size equivale o an adolescent, and everry day they prroduce ten tim
ent to those of mes
as much hormone
h as an enal glands. They will shrrik rapidly afte
a adult’s adre er birth.

The amnio otic sac, or ba

ag of water, contains
c ge amount off fluid, most off which is the baby’s urine; she
a larg
can void as
a much as one pint of urin ne daily. Excess vernix ca
aseosa, nutrie ents, and prod ducts necessa ary
for lung maturation
m are
e also presentt. The umbiliccal
 

Up to 30 We
U eeks of
P
Pregnancy
Up to 30 Weeks
W of Prregnancy

Your babyy is now so biig that when your

y doctor or
midwife gives you an abdominal
a exa
amination, hiss
position can be assesssed. This is th
he last month
h he
can turn a somersault.

Your Bab
by’s Progress
s

Great cha ace in the nerrvous system this month. The brain gro
anges take pla ows larger (too fit inside the skull,
it has to fo
old over and wrinkle
w up until it looks like
e a walnut), and the brain cells
c and nervve circuits are e all
fully linked
d and active. In addition, a protective faatty sheath be egins to form around the nerve
n fibers, ju
ust as
a similar sheath
s formedd earlier around the spinal cord, and thiis fatty myelin n will continuee to develop until
u
early adullthood. As a result, nerve impulses can n travel faster and your babby becomes capable
c of
increasing gly complex le
earning and movement.
m Yo
our baby startts preparing himself
h for birrth. (If he werre to
be born at this stage, he
h would have e an excellent chance of survival.

Even thou ugh such a ba aby may have e some breath hing problemss and difficultyy in keeping himself
h warm,
modern special-care fa acilities should
d help him thrrive.) Some fa
at is beginning to appear underneath
u his
skin, whicch smoothes out,
o loses its wrinkles,
w and becomes mo ore rounded. His coat of hairy
h lanugo may
m
diminish to a patch on his back and shoulders. The T membran nes that seale ed and protectted his eyes
during theeir growth will, by the begin
nning of this month,
m have fulfilled
f their fu
unction, as hiis eyes are no
ow
fully forme
ed and allowe ed his eyes to
o open. He will
w also continnue to develop p his swallowing and suckiing
skills.

Breathing
g

He has no ow fully developed his matture breathing d the air sacs in his lungs start
g rhythm, and s to preparre for
the first brreath he will take
t in the wo
orld outside th
he uterus. Th
hey line themsselves with a coating of sp pecial
cells and a fluid (surfac ctant) tha will prevent them
m from collapsing.

Movemen
nts

Over the course

c of this
s month, he will
w find he hass less room too move aroun nd and will gra adually give up
u
moving soo much. He will
w wriggle unncomfortably if you are in a position thatt doesn’t suit him.

Orientatio
on

During hiss weeks of “gy ymnastics pra as done more than increase his muscle tone- he has
actice,” he ha
developed d the ability to
o orient himse H will probably continue to
elf in space. He t lie in your uterus
u with his
head upw ward during this month. Ho owever, if he is maturing ve
ery fast, he may
m turn upsid de down and settle
s
into place
e for delivery, or engage, so omewhat earlier than usua al.

This is mo i first-born babies.

ore common in
Up to 40
0 weeks og
Pregnanccy
It can be difficult
d to calc
culate the exa act date of co
onception alth
hough most women
w heir fertile period
have th
about 14 days
d e first day of their last menstrual period. Because of this, doctors set an artificial but
after the
convenient time scale of 40 week calculate from the LMP, although a fetus actually reaches “full term,”
meaning it is fully developed, after about 38 weeks.

Your Baby’s Progress

During this month your baby will usually shed almost all of the lanugo from his body. There may be some
small patches left in odd places and perhaps some in his body creases.His skin is smooth and soft, and
there is still some vernix caseosa left on it (mostly on his back), which will help his passage down the birth
canal. He may be almost chubby at birth. His fingernails are long and may have scratched his face; they
will need to be trimmed after birth. He may be almost chubby at birth. His fingernails are long and may
have scratched his face; they will need to be trimmed after birth. His eyes are blue, although they may
change in the weeks after birth; when he is awake they are open. In these last weeks, your baby
produces increasing amounts of a hormone called cortisone from his adrenal glands. This helps his lungs
to mature in readiness for his first breath.

Meconium

His intestine is filled with a dark green, almost black substance called meconium. It is a mixture of the
secretions from his alimentary glands, lanugo, pigment, and cells fom the wall of his bowel. It will be the
first bowel movement he will pass after birth (or he may pass it during delivery).

Immune system

His own system is still immature, so to make up for this he receives antibodies from you via the placenta,
which will protect him against anything for which you have antibodies, such as flu, mumps, and German
measles. After he is born, he will continue to receive such antibodies through your breast milk.

His support system

The placenta now measures eight to ten inches (20-25cm) in diameter and is just over one inch (3cm)
thick, thus creating a wide area for the exchange of nourishment and waste products between yourself
and your baby. There are now more than two pints (1 liter) of water in the amniotic sac. The hormones
produced by the placenta are stimulating your breasts to swell and fill with milk. They also cause swelling
in your baby’s breast, whether it is a boy or a girl, which will recede after birth. If your baby is a girl, the
cessation of these same hormones following delivery may cause her to have light bleeding from her
vagina (like a period) a few days after her birth.