Pregnancy - Week 8

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Week 8:

In week 8 your baby is about ¾ of an inch long, and weighs about a ½ of an ounce.

Your baby's eyes are fully developed by the end of this week. The inner ears continue to develop further, while his ears lobes are starting to show. The mouth, nose and nostrils are also forming more to what they will look like. Your baby can open his mouth and suck at this point.

His hands, feet, fingers, and toes are mostly developed. His arms and legs continue to grow and can now bend at the elbows. His movements can now be seen by ultrasound.

All of his major organs are in the right place but they are not yet fully developed. His heart now has 4 chambers and can pump his own blood throughout his body.

The skin is formed but transparent. The external genitalia may begin to show this week but you can't yet tell whether you will have a male or a female.

You might start having difficulty sleeping. With this come more vivid dreams. You seem to notice them more because you wake up more often. It also comes from the combination of hormones and your disrupted sleep.

You also might have your first doctor's visit this week. Usually they look for the heartbeat in an ultrasound. These visits will start to come every 4 weeks to monitor how you and your baby are doing.

Some books that I studied from are:

The Pregnancy Book - Everything you need to know from America's baby experts.

By: William Sears, M.D., and Martha Sears, R.N., and Linda Holt, M.D., F.A.C.O.G.

Your Pregnancy - Week by week

By: Dr. Glade Curtis, OB/GYN and Judith Schuler, M.S.

You & Your BABY Pregnancy - Your ultimate week-by-week pregnancy guide

By: Dr. Laura Riley, OB/GYN

Pregnancy - Week 7

Week 7:

During Week 7 your baby will be about 1/2 of an inch long. Her eyes and ears are continuing to develop. Her eyelids are almost all the way grown.

The brain and spinal cord are almost fully developed. The lobes of the brain can be seen by ultrasound. Nerves that will soon become the Central Nervous System (CNS: Brain and Spinal Cord) are branching out and connecting to each other to form a primitive pathway for the CNS. Researchers estimate that 100 thousand new nerve cells are created every minute in your growing baby. By the time your baby is born she will have over 10 Million intertwined nerve cells.

Her cells are growing and multiplying rapidly and before she is born they will become 40 pairs of muscles and 23 pairs of vertebrae, all originating from her spinal column.

The organs in her body are growing as well. Among them are the appendix, pancreas, lungs, bronchi in the lungs, and the intestines.

Her toes and fingers have lengthened and now her elbow, wrist, and knee joints are noticeable. Her head sits more erect, and her body limbs are moving.

You might be noticing a bit of weight gain. Also be prepared for mood swings because of the huge surge of hormones that your body is experiencing.

Some books that I studied from are:

The Pregnancy Book - Everything you need to know from America's baby experts.

By: William Sears, M.D., and Martha Sears, R.N., and Linda Holt, M.D., F.A.C.O.G.

Your Pregnancy - Week by week

By: Dr. Glade Curtis, OB/GYN and Judith Schuler, M.S.

You & Your BABY Pregnancy - Your ultimate week-by-week pregnancy guide

By: Dr. Laura Riley, OB/GYN

Pregnancy - Week 6

Week 6:

During this week your baby is about the size of 2 mm. The heart is developing into two different chambers. The heartbeat is visible through ultrasound. Your new little one's heartbeat is about twice as fast as your heartbeat.

On the little arm and leg buds, tiny finger and toe notches are beginning to appear. The nose and eyelids are visible as well. His eyes already have a lens, iris, cornea, and a retina.

On the baby's brain the neural grooves are beginning to form.

You may start feeling that you are pregnant. You will feel sick, tired, thirsty, constant urination (Well at least it feels like that!), and tender breasts among other things.

Doctors recommend that you drink lots of fluids during this time to help you feel better. Eating 5 or 6 small meals a day might help with morning sickness as well.
Some books that I studied from are:

The Pregnancy Book - Everything you need to know from America's baby experts.

By: William Sears, M.D., and Martha Sears, R.N., and Linda Holt, M.D., F.A.C.O.G.

Your Pregnancy - Week by week

By: Dr. Glade Curtis, OB/GYN and Judith Schuler, M.S.

You & Your BABY Pregnancy - Your ultimate week-by-week pregnancy guide

By: Dr. Laura Riley, OB/GYN

Pregnancy - Week 5

Week 5:

This week your baby is about 1-1.25 mm long. The central nervous system, spinal cord, spine, and brain are starting to develop more and take shape.

Your baby's organs are growing and developing rapidly. Her brain is starting to separate into two different lobes.

Also the baby's skeleton is taking shape along with most of the other organs.

The lungs are growing well. They start out forming close to the head of your baby, but as she grows they move down into the chest cavity.

You may be feeling nauseated as well as urinating more. But you may also feel normal still. There is not too drastic a difference of your size.
Some books that I studied from are:

The Pregnancy Book - Everything you need to know from America's baby experts.

By: William Sears, M.D., and Martha Sears, R.N., and Linda Holt, M.D., F.A.C.O.G.

Your Pregnancy - Week by week

By: Dr. Glade Curtis, OB/GYN and Judith Schuler, M.S.

You & Your BABY Pregnancy - Your ultimate week-by-week pregnancy guide

By: Dr. Laura Riley, OB/GYN

Pregnancy - Week 4

Week 4:

During week 4 you may notice that your period is late, although you may have some spotting from the fertilized egg implanting into your uterus. Your placenta continues hormone production and also transports nutrients to the baby as well as oxygen.

Your baby is about 1 millimeter long, and is the shape of a grain of rice. You can see the locations where the eyes, nose, and mouth will all develop. Little buds are starting to grow out of the body, later to form arms and legs. In the umbilical cord you can visually see 3 distinct blood vessels appear. The cells continue to multiply and group together to make different body structures.

There are 3 different layers that are used in the development of the new baby's body.

1- The Ectoderm: The ectoderm consists of the forming of the nervous system, the brain, skin, and hair.

2- The Endoderm: The endoderm consists of the forming of the gastrointestinal tract, the liver, pancreas, and the thyroid.

3- The Mesoderm: The mesoderm forms the skeleton, connective tissues, the blood system, urogenital system, and most of the muscles.

During this week you should still feel quite normal, but you may feel some mild cramping due to implantation.

Some books that I studied from are:

The Pregnancy Book - Everything you need to know from America's baby experts.

By: William Sears, M.D., and Martha Sears, R.N., and Linda Holt, M.D., F.A.C.O.G.

Your Pregnancy - Week by week

By: Dr. Glade Curtis, OB/GYN and Judith Schuler, M.S.

You & Your BABY Pregnancy - Your ultimate week-by-week pregnancy guide

By: Dr. Laura Riley, OB/GYN

Pregnancy - Week 3

Week 3:

This week the baby continues to grow and develop. He is about the size of the head of a pin. The fertilized egg burrows further into the uterine lining.

The HCG that the placenta is producing lets the ovaries know not to ovulate again.

The heart begins to beat and circulate blood.

You still do not feel any different than before you became pregnant.

Some books that I studied from are:

The Pregnancy Book - Everything you need to know from America's baby experts.

By: William Sears, M.D., and Martha Sears, R.N., and Linda Holt, M.D., F.A.C.O.G.

Your Pregnancy - Week by week

By: Dr. Glade Curtis, OB/GYN and Judith Schuler, M.S.

You & Your BABY Pregnancy - Your ultimate week-by-week pregnancy guide

By: Dr. Laura Riley, OB/GYN

Pregnancy - Week 2

Week 2:

During the second week of pregnancy your ovary releases an egg into the fallopian tube. Once the egg has been released it must be fertilized within 12-24 hours or it will die and will be removed with your uterine lining during your next period.

Conception typically takes place between days 14-17 of a regular 28 day cycle. When the egg gets fertilized it is in the fallopian tube.

*Fun Fact:* Sperm can live up to six days long. Also it can take up to 3 days for sperm to reach the fallopian tube.

Right from the beginning of fertilization your baby's gender is known. Sperm carry either an X or a Y chromosome determining the gender.

X - Female

Y - Male

As soon as the egg is fertilized it begins to grow and the cell begins to multiply.

Once the fertilized egg has reached the uterus it implants itself into the uterine wall. Usually close to the fallopian tube that it had come from. A premature placenta also develops, which causes HCG to be produced. HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) is a hormone that keeps the uterine lining from shedding and stimulates it to grow.

You still do not feel much different than before.

Some books that I studied from are:

The Pregnancy Book - Everything you need to know from America's baby experts.

By: William Sears, M.D., and Martha Sears, R.N., and Linda Holt, M.D., F.A.C.O.G.

Your Pregnancy - Week by week

By: Dr. Glade Curtis, OB/GYN and Judith Schuler, M.S.

You & Your BABY Pregnancy - Your ultimate week-by-week pregnancy guide

By: Dr. Laura Riley, OB/GYN

Pregnancy - Week 1

I have been studying many books to find and figure out what is happening inside your body each week you are pregnant. Each book was unique but I was able to collect from all of them to tell you what is most accurately happening in the womb each week of pregnancy.

Week 1:

The very beginning of your baby's life begins. The first week of pregnancy officially begins the date that you started your last period. Your body sheds its uterine lining to prepare to make a new one.

Your body has not ovulated yet but the starting of your period starts that whole cycle rolling. Technically, you are actually two weeks pregnant before you actually conceive.

The reason why doctors count the day of your last period as the starting of our first week of pregnancy is because it is hard to tell when you exactly got pregnant. But doctors know that it is somewhere between two weeks after the day of your last period and two weeks before the start of your next period. It just gives doctors a specific date to go by. It is easier to plan that way.

Also one thing that my sister taught me is how to tell when your due date is. She has studied the reproductive system in graduate school and is now a Physical Therapist. She said that if you take the day of your last period and subtract three months and then add a week that is your "tentative" due date. When I did it I was only one day off from the doctor. Pretty exciting!

At this point, your body does not react any differently.

Some books that I studied from are:

The Pregnancy Book - Everything you need to know from America's baby experts.

By: William Sears, M.D., and Martha Sears, R.N., and Linda Holt, M.D., F.A.C.O.G.

Your Pregnancy - Week by week

By: Dr. Glade Curtis, OB/GYN and Judith Schuler, M.S.

You & Your BABY Pregnancy - Your ultimate week-by-week pregnancy guide

By: Dr. Laura Riley, OB/GYN