Your baby is nearly three times as long this week as it was last week! But the most important of all your baby's organs is the one that is growing most rapidly.
Your baby's brain is developing this week, along with the spinal cord which is used to pass messages from the brain throughout the rest of the body. This is a significant stage in the development of your baby and one that really establishes its life as an independent human being.
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Your baby's body is slowly taking shape. If you could see your baby you would notice the beginning of a face is appearing. Eyes are present with slight pigmentation in the irisA part of the eye that separates the space between the lens and the cornea into an anterior and posterior chamber. It is a circular disk, capable of contracting and perforated by a circular pupil. It serves to limit or maximize the amount of light entering the eye.
Until the fetus reaches about week 28, the two chambers are separated by the membrana pupilaris. Subsequently and into all adult life the two chambers communicate through the pupil.
Dark pigment cells under the translucent tissue of the iris are arranged to produce different eye colors. In blue eyes, the pigment cells only appear on the posterior surface of the iris. In gray, brown and black eyes, the pigment cells appear in the anterior epithelium and the stroma.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions.. Nostrils are beginning to appear. Your baby's limbs are also starting to form. Leg buds, looking like fins, are taking shape on the lower body. On the upper body arm buds have developed barely visible hand and shoulder segments. At the end of the limbs are 'plates' where the fingers and toes will develop.
Internally your baby is starting to form organs. The brain, growing more rapidly than the rest of the body, has formed two hemispheres. The spinal cord and the brain are almost complete. The heart is bulging from the body and is separated into two chambers. Lungs are taking shape with bronchial tubes, the bronchi, forming. Your baby is growing is also growing its appendix.
The pancreas, which produces the hormoneA complex chemical substance created in a part or organ of the body. When released it initiates or regulates activity in an organ or group of cells in another part of the body.
Hormones secreted by endocrine glands are transported through the bloodstream to their target organ. The amount of hormone secreted is regulated either by other hormones, by neurotransmitters, or simply when an excess of the organ's activity indicates a need to reduce the amount of the hormone produced.
Other hormones are produced locally by the organs themselves and are common in the digestive tract.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions. insulinA hormone secreted by the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas in response to increase blood sugar levels. Insulin regulates the metabolism of glucose, and helps transfer the blood sugar into the muscle cells and other body tissues.
Insufficient insulin secretion results in hyperglycemia, hyperlipemia, ketonemia and azoturia. It is the cause of diabetes mellitus, eventually resulting in lethargy and weight loss.
A synthetic version of the hormone, also known as insulin is used in treating diabetes, with the different brands varying in promptness, intensity and duration of action. Pharmacological insulin is delivered through subcutaneous injection.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions., is also developing. Intestines are forming and, because there is so little room in your baby's body, are bulging into the umbilical cordA flexible structure that connects the fetus to the placenta during pregnancy. It carries blood, oxygen, nourishment and waste to the placenta. It is first formed during the fifth week of pregnancy and contains the yolk sac and body stalk.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions., which is growing, as the placentaThe placenta is a large disk shaped membrane responsible for providing nourishment to the fetus during pregnancy. It consists of three parts, the fetal part made up from the chorion membrane surrounding the fetus, the maternal part, formed from the decidua basalis layer of the uterine lining, and the intervillous space between the two plates. It is connected to the fetus by the umbilical cord and consists of tissue from both the mother and the embryo.
Its function is complex. It has been described as a simple organ that combines the functions of a kidney-dialysis machine, heart and lung machine and intravenous drip. It consists of enormous numbers of blood vessel branches that permit the exchange of nutrition and oxygen, from the mother's bloodstream to the fetus and the removal of wastes to the mother to be excreted. The placenta's remarkable quality is that it does so without the blood of the mother mixing with that of the baby.
It also is responsible for the production of vital hormones including, estrogen, progesterone, and human chorionic gonadotropin. After birth, the placenta is delivered, and is sometimes referred to as the afterbirth.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions. develops to take over from 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..
You may feel dizzy or faint. And you might notice your breasts and nipples growing larger as well as small nodules called Montgomery's tuberclesThe small bumps on the areola surrounding the nipple, they are sebaceous glands which normally enlarge during pregnancy.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions. appearing. You will probably not notice any external signs of pregnancy. In fact you may even have lost some weight. But inside your body there are many changes.
The walls of your uterus have now softened allowing the blastocystThe embryonic stage of development following the morula during the early stages of pregnancy. Spherical in shape, it consists of a mass of two layers of cells surrounding a fluid filled cavity, the blastocoele. The outer layer of cells, the trophoblast will develop to form the placenta, while the inner layer, the embryoblast, will become the fetus. The blastocyst usually implants itself in the wall of the uterus on the eighth day following fertilization. It is also known as the blastula.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions. to secure itself firmly. Your doctor would be able to feel the softening of the cervixThe part of the uterus that protrudes into the vaginal cavity. It is separated from the bladder by the parametrium. The vaginal end of the cervix contains the cervical canal.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions.. At the base of the cervix, mucusThe viscous secretions of the mucus membranes and glands. Mucus contains mucin, white blood cells, water, salts and exfoliated cells.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions. is coagulating to form a plug. This ensures that the baby is protected and seals the uterus and the amniotic fluidThe liquid, which is produced by both the fetal membranes and the fetus that surrounds the baby during pregnancy. The liter of fluid at term serves to protect the fetus during pregnancy and also provide active chemical exchange.
The amniotic fluid consists of maternal and fetal plasma in varying concentrations. The pH of the fluid is almost neutral and clear, although lipids and desquamated fetal cells can make it cloudy.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions. contained within.
When your cervix dilates and you go into labor, the plug is expelled, leading to the "breaking of the waters" in a process known as the bloody show.
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