Everything starts with a jump, ovulation. A birth is very special. When one considers that in nine months an entire human being is created very quickly from an egg cell and a microscopic sperm cell, with all the trimmings, that is quite an achievement…
Ovulation
In most women, an ovary releases a mature egg two weeks after the start of the last menstrual period, which is the largest of 15 to 20 mature eggs. It is flushed into the fallopian tube and from that moment on the woman is fertile. If a seed of the sperm reaches the egg at this time, it can be fertilized and the pregnancy begins.
The fertilization
During fertilization, the man’s sperm and the woman’s egg fuse together to form a new cell, the zygote (fertilized egg). From this the child then develops through numerous cell divisions. It has already been determined whether it will be a boy or a girl and what hair and eye color the child will have after birth. When the egg cell with an X chromosome fuses with a sperm cell with a Y chromosome, a boy is created. If they both have X chromosomes, it will be a girl.
Sometimes it happens that the ovaries release two eggs during ovulation. If they are both fertilized, fraternal twins will result. They can have the same or different sex. However, there is also the possibility that an already fertilized egg will divide later, resulting in identical twins being born, which are always of the same sex.
Implantation (2nd month, 4th to 6th week of pregnancy)
In the fourth to sixth week of pregnancy, the embryo settles in the uterus. At the beginning of the fourth week the heart is already beating and other organs are being developed. By the end of the second month, the embryo has arm and leg bones and the neck, face, eyes, nose and ears can also be recognized.
From embryo to fetus (3rd month, 7th to 12th week of pregnancy)
In the third month all organs have been formed and continue to grow very quickly. The circulation develops, hands and feet become clearly visible. At the end of the eighth week, development is almost complete. Now the little creature is not called an embryo, but a fetus. After ten weeks it is 5 centimeters long, after 12 weeks it is already 7.5 centimeters.
The first thumb sucking (4th month, 13th to 16th week of pregnancy)
At the end of the fourth month, the fetus is about ten to twelve cm long and weighs about 100 grams. The baby is now in full motion and has already developed reflexes such as grasping, stretching and sucking. It grimaces, frowns, sucks its thumb and sometimes drinks some of the amniotic fluid.
Feeling it for the first time (5th month, 17th to 20th week of pregnancy)
At the end of the twentieth week, the baby weighs about 250 grams and is 15 cm long. The ultrasound now also shows what gender the baby is. The baby’s weight gain is no longer so fast, it is now becoming more complete and complete. There are already small nails on the toes, and thin hairs on the head. Most mothers now also feel the first movements of their baby. Many describe it as the bursting of a bubble, others as a ‘blub’. This is the best time to view the baby through an ultrasound, because all the details can still be clearly recognized. After this, the baby is too big and takes up the entire uterus.
Action in the abdomen (6th month, 21st to 24th week of pregnancy)
In the sixth month the baby is already tumbling or occasionally hiccups. At this time, the balance organs in the ears are also developed. And the baby can hear: the rushing of the blood in the mother’s veins, her heartbeat, the sounds of the stomach and intestines. And of course the baby can also hear the mother’s voice, even if it is somewhat muffled. The so-called sebum, the white layer on the baby’s skin, which is produced in the sebaceous glands and protects against the amniotic fluid, is now getting thicker. The mother notices the baby’s movements more and more clearly, it really goes up and down in the belly. Sometimes you can even see a bump on the outside. That is no wonder: at the end of the 24th week the baby already weighs 500 to 600 grams and is 28-30 cm long.
The first ‘seeing’ (7th month, 25th to 28th week of pregnancy)
In the seventh month, the baby opens his eyes for the first time. The face is now becoming increasingly clear, the eyelashes and eyebrows are becoming longer. He can already ball his hands into a fist. In this seventh month the weight of the baby almost doubles, it is now approximately 1000-1200 grams with a length of 34-36 cm.
Lack of space (8th month, 29th to 32nd week of pregnancy)
Although the weight must double again before birth, the baby is already well prepared for life outside the womb. Premature babies now have a very good chance of survival. At the end of the 32nd week, the baby weighs about 1800 grams and is 40 cm long, so there is hardly any room left in the mother’s belly. It is already growing quite large and pressing against the diaphragm and the mother’s organs (heart, intestines, liver and kidneys) are becoming increasingly compressed.
The final spurt (9th month, 33rd to 36th week of pregnancy)
The child is now gaining baby fat, the space in the uterus is gradually becoming less and less. Many babies already turn in such a way that they are in the right position for birth. The head then lies in the mother’s pelvis. The baby drinks up to 3 liters of amniotic fluid every day and excretes it through the kidneys and bladder. The muscles of the eyelids are also trained by opening and closing the eyes. This way, the baby can respond immediately to the light after birth. Thumb sucking practices the important sucking reflex. At the end of the 36th week the baby weighs around 2750 grams and is approximately 45 cm long.
The time has come (10th month, 37th to 40th week of pregnancy)
The time has come, the baby is ‘ready’, fully developed. It can now distinguish the mother’s voice from other voices. The uterus drops and brings the baby lower into the pelvis, the starting position for birth. If the baby arrives on time, it will be born exactly in the 40th week, but many babies are also born one or two weeks earlier or later.
It is a bit confusing that for doctors a pregnancy lasts 40 weeks, i.e. 10 months, while colloquially we talk about nine months. This is because doctors calculate in weeks and a calendar month does not have exactly 4 weeks. Doctors count from the first day of the last period. The two weeks before fertilization are counted, because it is not known exactly when it took place. Therefore, a pregnancy has 280 days, which is 10 gestational months or nine calendar months.
