Until now your baby was a series of cells, moving around and duplicating themselves. But now they are organized and set to grow into a human being.
Your baby is now large enough to be visible to the naked eye. In reality though, you wouldn't see anything recognizable as a human being for another six weeks.
Over the coming weeks your baby will develop arms, legs a rather large head and a face with pretty well defined features. But that's jumping ahead. Read on to learn more about the development of your baby this week.
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Your baby is now starting to take shape! Right now your baby is C-shaped. Forming the back of the C is the neural tube. This will become the central nervous systemAn intricate network of structures that runs extensively throughout the body and activates, coordinates and controls all functions of the body.
The nervous system consists of two parts, the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. The central nervous system is composed of the brain and the spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system includes the cranial nerves and spinal nerves.
Afferent fibers carry sensory impulses to the central nervous system. Efferent fibers carry motor impulses in the form of electrical energy from the central nervous system to the muscles and other organs.
Somatic fibers are those associated with the bones, muscles and the skin. Visceral fibers are those associated with the internal organs, blood vessels and mucus membrane. All of the functions are coordinated by a network of tiny structures including neurons, axons, dendrites and ganglia.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions. with the top flattening to become the brain. Somites, blocks of tissue either side of the neural tube will later form into the muscle.
In the center of the embryoThe name given to the developing life within the female body during the first ten weeks of gestation. Since the calendar counts from the date of the last menstrual period, this corresponds to about Week 12 in the Diary. In human embryos there is little yolk in the egg, nourishment being replaced by the placenta as soon as it has formed.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions. is a bulge where the heart is forming. Blood vessels are also beginning to develop. Two protective membranes surround your baby. They form the yolk sacThe structure that is attached to the embryo and provides initial nourishment until about the 7th week when it disappears.
The cells of the yolk sac (extraembryonic mesoderm) differentiate to develop early blood cells including the endothelium, primitive plasma and hemoglobin.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions., which is providing the embryoThe name given to the developing life within the female body during the first ten weeks of gestation. Since the calendar counts from the date of the last menstrual period, this corresponds to about Week 12 in the Diary. In human embryos there is little yolk in the egg, nourishment being replaced by the placenta as soon as it has formed.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions. with nutrients and manufacturing blood cells.
You might notice some changes in your body. Your metabolism, the basal metabolic rate, has increased by up to twenty five percent. You might also changes to your hair and nails. Some women notice an increase in hair and nail growth while others notice a decrease. Both are normal and doctors are unsure whether the changes are due to the increased circulation or hormonal changes occurring in your body.
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