You are now half way through your pregnancy and your baby is starting to learn about its environment.
Your baby's skin is developing into four distinct layers. It may look wrinkled, but that's because your baby is developing skin faster than the layer of fat beneath it.
Your baby's eyes are still shut. Instead your baby uses touch to sense its surroundings and learn about its own body. Your baby will continue to do this after birth.
Your baby's skin is covered with lanugoThe soft downy hair that covers the fetus while it is in the womb. Lanugo is almost entirely shed by the time the baby is born.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions., very fine hairs, to stay warm. Your baby is also covered with vernix caseosaA gray-white waxy substance consisting of sebaceous gland secretions, lanugo and epithelial cells that covers the fetus during the last part of the pregnancy. It is thought to protect the skin of the baby from being submerged in the amniotic fluid as well as providing warmth and heat regulation to the undeveloped fetus.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions., a waxy substance, that prevents its skin from becoming waterlogged.
Your baby is depositing fat throughout its body as it grows. Brown fat is deposited from the nape of the neck to the breastbone and around the kidneys. Regular white fat is deposited elsewhere.
Fully developed neuronsThe basic nerve cell of the body's nervous system. A neuron contains a nucleus within a cell body. They are classified according to direction in which they conduct impulses, and the number of processes they extend.
Sensory neurons transmit impulses to the spinal cord and brain. Motor neurons transmit impulses from the brain to the muscles and glandular tissue.
Neurons work according to electrochemical processes involving positively charged sodium and potassium ions and the changing electrical environment of the intracellular and extracellular fluid of the neuron itself.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions. in your baby's brain enable it to examine and learn about its surroundings through touch. Your baby will move much more now as it gains control over its own muscles. If you have ultrasound this week you may be able to determine the sex of the baby. 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. is fully developed at this stage.
Remember that your body now must support two lives, and your needs will increase as your baby grows. Already the amount of blood in your body has increased. Strictly speaking the amount of plasmaThe colorless, watery fluid of the blood in which the leukocytes, erythrocytes and platelets are suspended. Plasma contains no cells, instead consisting of water, electrolytes, proteins, glucose, fats, bilirubin and gases.
Plasma is important because it enables the cellular elements of the blood to flow through the circulatory system carrying nutrients and wastes from the tissues and maintaining the body's acid-base balance.
Plasma is similar to interstitial fluid in content and protein concentration. Because of this, it helps maintain osmotic pressure and the exchange of fluids and electrolytes between the capillaries and the body tissues.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions. in your body has increased which effectively dilutes your the level of red blood cellsA concave disk containing hemoglobin surrounded by a lipoid membrane. It is the major cellular element of the circulating blood and it serves primarily to transport oxygen. The number of red blood cells is about 4 and 4.5 million per cubic millimeter in women (4.5 and 5 million per cubic millimeter in men).
The average lifespan of a red blood cell is between 110 and 115 days after which it is removed from the bloodstream. New red blood cells are produced at about the rate of 1% daily to keep levels constant. Red blood cells originate in the marrow of long bones. Also called erythrocytes.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions. in your blood supply.
Check with your doctor this week about physiological anemia caused by blood dilution and measured as the hematocritThe ratio of red blood cells to total blood volume, mormally about 38% - 46% in women and 42% - 54% in men. The measurement is often used to diagnose and determine the onset of anemia.
Visit our comprehensive glossary for more pregnancy terms and definitions.. It is probably at its lowest level this week and though that's normal during pregnancy, your doctor can tell you whether you need to increase your iron intake.
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