The First Ten Weeks Of Pregnancy

Week 8

The prayers have been heard: a life filled with joyful sensations goes on. You can prove, by standing on a scale, that your weight gain due to your baby is 11 grams. Your baby’s length is about 3 centimeters.

That is the way an embryo looks at 8 weeks.

What if he becomes a basketball player? He will be put on the team because of his human-like appearance: a head, a body and the limbs can be easily distinguished. Your sportsman’s basketball -- sorry, his head -- is nearly the size of his body (it can be seen on the picture).

Besides a mouth and eyes, there appears a nose on the face, so you can start buying handkerchiefs. During this week, devices good for both upbringing and celebrating birthdays – ears begin to grow. Toes on the feet and fingers on the hands become stronger and longer.

No matter that your child’s bone tissue consists of gristle. Very soon, the nuclei of ossification will form and then, to be sure, we are going to make a racket!

In the small intestine proteolytic ferments appear (proteolysis – a process of food proteins splitting into amino acids that are assimilated well).

The one who eats well, works well. The one who works well, sweats well. According to this saying your baby is acquiring sweat glands, first on his palms and feet.

Week 9

We live the third month, it is time to think of comfort. Especially concerning your resembling a civilized human being more and more each day. Placenta will help us in it. It has the role of a kitchen, a conditioner, a bathroom and a toilet in the narrow apartment of your inner resident. With this peculiar organ bloodstream, metabolism, nourishment improve, that is you baby’s quality of life improves.

And he is still growing inside you: his body of 15 grams and 5 centimeters elongates, mutual position of organs changes, kidneys go up and are placed above aorta bifurcation (a place it is divided into two parts).

There are also changes inside kidneys, they begin to filter blood and filter out a bit of substances unnecessary for a child, which are taken out, that is, urine is formed.

As for the hard work of removing metabolism products of your child, the same placenta performs it (see the picture). So, the mother’s kidneys do twice their job. And if somehow they begin to work worse, then too much of toxins, the substances that were not removed, are accomplished in the mother’s body, and the very well known toxicosis takes place.

Well, speaking about urinary excretion we should mention genitals. This week the boys’ and the girls’ genitals are distinguished.

If we digress from such intimate details and have a look at more intellectual things, we can notice great changes: cortex of cerebrum is distinctly defined; the marrow volume is 16 ml; the first lymphocytes, white blood cells responsible for immunity, emerge in blood, thymus gland, and group lymphatic follicles.

Week 10

The central immunity organ is thymus. Hematosis is going on in it, and synthesized cells – thymocytes – begin to be dispersed in the little body. Lymphatic system is also connected with immunity.

At this stage the first significant lymphatic vessels appear at the lungs roots. In the blood vessels immature blood contains primitive hemoglobin, which is gradually replaced by fetal one (preceding adult’s hemoglobin).

This week hypophysis, pea-size multifunction endocrine gland starts working at full power. This ruler – hypophysis is placed comfortably in the special cranial bones on the so-called ephippium. Being in such a high position this tsar is managing his organs-subordinates, rewarding them generously with hormones for obedience.

Among the diversity of hypophysis hormones there is thyrotrophic hormone, that helps thyroid gland tissue developing, and colloid appearing in it, the latter absorbs iodine, so necessary for thyroid gland. Be the way, the glands rudiments are in the stomach, and this is very important for digestion in future.

While different glands take care of your baby’s health, he himself has grown to 6, 5 centimeters and weights about 23 grams.

This is the way your baby looks by the 11th week.

So is the picture of your child development from the 1st till the 10th week. He will continue to grow and develop active. And it is not long till you feel his first moves and experience real happiness of the first natural contact with your baby!