Day By Day Pregnancy

The genetics of pregnancy are quite simple, 50 percent of the baby's genes are made up from the mother and 50 percent are made up from the father, what many people forget is that yours and your partners genes are made up of your parents SO! Your unborn child's genes are also made up from each of their four grandparents; it's the genes which determine the hair color, size of the nose and all their other features.

Day By Day Pregnancy - Day 35

This is where all of the growth really starts, at this time your baby (I hate the word fetus) is around 3mm in size and looks pretty much like a dumbbell in shape, bellow the baby's head are six pairs of segmented somites which will for muscles, bone and connective tissues. The embryo floats within its sac of amniotic fluid, attached to the placenta by the umbilical cord and they are supplied nutrients through the yolk sac, so remember! Whatever you eat or drink, your baby gets the nutrients from.

From this week the baby's growth becomes quiet rapid, the neutral tube begins to close and the digestive tract starts forming - Even though the baby's heart is tiny, it develops one chamber and starts to beat all by itself.

This is usually the time for morning sickness to rear its head; I don't know why it's called morning sickness because it can happen at any time of the day or night and can last until the end of the first trimester.

See Your Child Develop

Day By Day Pregnancy - Day 50

At day 50 of your pregnancy, you may find this hard to believe but your baby now has a face - they may look like a miniature version of E.T but they do have a face. The baby has a basic (quite wide) nose with nostrils their eyes are wide apart but open and their mouth and inner ear are just starting to develop.

Due to the rapid growth and development of your baby, you will start to feel tired and fatigued around now, but it's hardly surprising as your baby is taking every ounce of nutrients that it can find to help with its development. This fatigue (like the morning sickness) will probably last for the first trimester at which point you'll start to feel quite good, don't get to carried away though as this tiredness usually comes back during the last trimester.

At this stage your baby should measure about 14 to 20 mm from the crown of their head to their bottom.

Day By Day Pregnancy - Day 65

This is where things really start to change, your baby is now approximately 25mm (1 inch) long from its head to its bottom (I don't know why but the measurements are always like this rather from head to toe).

Although your baby looks more mature than previous weeks their head is still quite large compared to the rest of its body, from now an approximate weekly weight can be added to their development.

At this point your baby's hands and feet start to develop, what used to be paddle shaped extras on the end of their arms are now developing into hands, their feet are also starting to develop. The fingers of your child develop more quickly than the toes, most of your baby's joints have developed including their ankles and wrists, their feet are a tiny 2.5mm in length AND you baby is capable of a wide range of movements.

Your baby's nervous system is now very responsive and their internal organs have started to function, the heart (although small) has reached its final shape and is beating at around 140 beats per minute.

Day By Day Pregnancy - Day 80

Ok! Your baby is really starting to grow, they are between 44 and 55mm long and weigh about 8 grams. Their bones begin to harden due to the development of calcium, the genitals have no started to form but it really would take an expert to determine whether your baby is a boy or a girl.

Now that your first trimester is about over you've probably noticed that your perspiring more than usual, this is down to the increased amount of blood circulating around your body. If you feel thirstier than normal try drinking around eight 225ml glasses of fluid, you should try and make most of these plain water.

Your baby is now capable of causing the contractions which push food through their bowels and can also absorb glucose, the umbilical cord provides nourishments and also gets rid of any waste products which are cause by their rapid growth.

Watch What Your Baby Is Doing

Day By Day Pregnancy - Day 100

You should be feeling a lot better now, you have got over the early stages of pregnancy so you should feel a little more energetic and more like yourself again (or as much as you can).

You may start to notice some differences about your skin, freckles and moles may start to appear, nipples may start to get darker as your skin starts to become more pigmented, sunlight can cause any pigmentation to darken so if you do go out in the sun for long periods of time you should apply a sunblock of at least SPF 15 or higher.

Your baby's bones are becoming stronger and they are developing more of them making it easier for them to move their limbs. The small bones which make up the baby's inner ear have started to harden.

As your breasts and abdomen start to grow your skin will be stretched to the limit causing dryness and itchiness, you need to start applying cream or lotion at this point to reduce the risk of stretch marks. It's also a good idea to apply cream or lotion when you get out of the shower/bath whilst the skin is still warm. Avoid applying lotion to your nipples and use a light aqueous cream/lotion or oil.

Your baby is now approximately 104 - 114mm from their head to their bottom and weighs around 50 grams.

Day By Day Pregnancy - Day 140

A lot has happened since day 100, your baby has eyelashes, all of their bones have developed all 300 of them, you have around 260 bones but some of the baby's bones will fuse together later.

Your baby is now between 14 and 16 cm from head to bottom (5.5 - 6 inches) and weighs around 255 grams. Your baby's brain is developing so well that their taste buds have now developed. Even though your baby has lots of room they will be stretching and moving around a lot now. Their blood is now being filtered by their own kidneys and any waste is transferred to the amniotic sac.

At this stage you're probably making arrangements for your first scan, this will most likely be the first time you will see your baby - this may be the most exciting day of your life up to now. A lot of women want to know what sex their child is at the scan, don't be too disappointed if the person doing the scan can't tell you, sometimes the baby is at the wrong angle to make a proper determination.

Day By Day Pregnancy - Day 160

Your baby can now hear deep voices and certain sounds from the outside world and may even react to different music. Get ready for the kicking and punching, they have a more active brain and everything is developing and growing so they will quite happily have what feels like a dance while they are moving around.

At this stage your baby is now about 20cm (8 inches) from head to bottom and weighs around 455 grams, that's a whole 1 pound.

Your body will now start preparing for child birth by producing practice contractions also known as "Braxton Hicks", these contractions are painless and irregular a lot of women don't actually notice these early contractions.

You may start to suffer from heartburn and indigestion as more pressure is put on your abdomen, try eating smaller meals more frequently and going for a small walk once you've eaten will help with digestion.

Pregnancy Day By Day

Day By Day Pregnancy - Day 190

You will now start to feel as though you know your baby; you'll start to know when your baby is going to be active and when they are going to rest. Getting over protective of your bump is completely normal and you'll probably get really annoyed when people start asking if they can touch it. As long as you can feel around 10 movements within one hour in the morning and 10 movements within one hour on an evening, everything is fine. If you don't feel this many movements of you start to feel less and less movements you should contact your healthcare provider to ensure things are going ok.

You are going to start going through the late stages of pregnancy soon, constipation, backache, cramp and breathlessness, these are normal but if they get too severe seek medical advice.

Your baby is now approximately 25cm from head to bottom (10 inches) and weighs in at a whopping great 2.5 pounds.

It has been proved with new scanning techniques that at this stage your baby can (and will) smile, grimace and even laugh so you really are at the stage where you are giving birth to a character.

Day By Day Pregnancy - Day 210

Your baby measures about 27cm and weighs around 3 pounds.

This is when premature contractions can be a problem, if you do experience these you will be closely monitored to ensure that your baby isn't too immature to cope on their own if they are born too early.

Your baby is starting to lose its lanugo (thick body hair) which they have had from a very early stage, head hair is now growing and thickening rapidly. Their skin is looking less wrinkled due to the baby fat that they have put on.

Your baby will start to react to outside noises, their fingernails and toenails are growing (don't worry they are still very soft).

You are likely to have gained around 19 ponds of extra weight but where does this weight all come from? The extra weight isn't just the baby it's the placenta, amniotic fluid, enlargement of your breasts and uterus NOT to forget an increase of blood volume, your body's fat store, extra proteins and fluids.

Your baby will be sleeping between 90 - 95% of the time now but when they're awake their eyes will open and close.

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Day By Day Pregnancy - Day 230

Your baby is now starting to store minerals iron, calcium and phosphorous which will help with bone development. They will be sticking their tongue out a lot to test their environment.

The baby's statistics are now greatly different - head to bottom they now measure around 12 inches and weigh around 4.5 ponds.

You may feel that you are more tired than ever before but still find it hard to get to sleep or that you wake frequently during the night, the sleep disturbance may be due to the inability to switch off and the waking may be down to physical discomfort. Try and develop your own wind down routine, have a nice candle lit bath (in a few week it may be years before you can do this again), choose some tender music to relax you, avoid TV around bedtime as this stimulates your brain. Get some extra pillows to position around you so that you can support the more fragile parts of your body.

Your body has now created 50 percent more blood and that remains the same until you give birth. Braxton Hicks contractions come more regularly now and you may actually think that you're going into labor - unless your waters break, they are nothing to be concerned about - However, if you do have any concerns, contact your healthcare provider.

Day By Day Pregnancy - Day 260

Hospital bag at the ready...

You're probably feeling less pressure on your chest and stomach because your baby has moved down to the pelvis, this will make walking a lot more difficult and also put more pressure on your bladder meaning more frequent visits to the bathroom.

You are probably going to get angry with everyone and everything from now, lack of sleep, birth fears and increasing discomfort will start to take its toll, talk to your partner and get some reassurance for everything.

Your baby is now approximately 35cm (14 inches) and weighs around 6.5 pounds.

The baby now spends more time awake, actually they have got themselves into quite a routine over the last few weeks, they're not going to move around as much as it's starting to get a little cramped inside you so they spend most of their time jut putting on weight.

Day By Day Pregnancy - Day 270

It's time for your baby to come out and meet you - Congratulations.

If you are running late you are probably being monitored by your healthcare team so don't worry, overdue pregnancies happen all the time.

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