Your Baby
During the next six days, the baby’s brain, body, and head will undergo a period of rapid growth. The head grows faster than other regions of the baby’s body, mostly because of the rapid development of the brain and face.
Your baby’s brain has differentiated into the three main parts possessed by all human brains: the forebrain, the midbrain, and the hindbrain. The hindbrain contains regions that help regulate heart rate and breathing and coordinate muscle movements; the midbrain is a relay station, sending messages to their final destinations in the brain; and the forebrain has specialized structures called lobes that translate input from the senses, play a role in memory formation and storage, and engage in 'higher order' processing, like thinking, reasoning, and problem solving.
An ultrasound test or sonogram can be performed any time from this point on to estimate the date of conception by measuring the baby’s crown-to-rump length.
[By the end of this week,] your baby weighs about .00004 ounce (.001 g) (that’s about as heavy as an eye-lash from your lower lid).
Did You Know?
• The yolk sac that developed early in the first month is now dysfunctional and will diminish in size. It remains a tiny lump of useless tissue until birth, when it is expelled as part of the afterbirth. • Amniotic fluid is manufactured by the baby. First, it is secreted through the baby’s skin before the surface layer of the skin is formed. Amniotic fluid is also secreted by the baby’s respiratory tract at a rate of 1-1⁄4 to 1-3⁄4 cups (300–400 ml) daily. • Leg development always lags slightly behind arm development until the third year of your baby’s life. |
You
Most women don’t notice much change in their own bodies yet. When you first start to show your pregnancy, you’ll start to bulge in your lower abdomen beneath your belly button. That’s where your uterus is situated.
Your baby’s development requires lots of fluids; remember that it is floating in amniotic fluid, which is constantly being replaced. For this reason and for the more efficient removal of waste, drink plenty of liquids.
