Minor Site: www.pregnancycare-center.org/stagesofdevelopment.htm

Minor Site: http://www.pregnancycare-center.org/stagesofdevelopment.htm

This site is a good minor site for the fetal development topic because it just gives us a brief overview of some of the major stages in the developing fetus. It explains it to us in simple terms and also gives us some great graphics to go along with each stage it is describing.
This site is from the South Central Pregnancy Center. It is a nonprofit organization that offers support and assistance to anyone going through a pregnancy. They give free pregnancy tests and offer any kind of assiatnce for mothers to be from information about abortion and even adoption. They even refer you to other medical care. They just offer any basic type of information on pregancy and thats also what there site is for.
At day 1the sperm joins with the egg and becomes fertilized to form one cell which now inherits 23 chromosomes from each parent and has its genetic blue print. It starts forming the brain and spinal cord. At day 21 its heart begins to beat and by day 28 its begun to form arms and legs. At 1 month the embryo is now 10,000 times bigger than the beginning cell. By day 35 and 40 you can see the baby’s fingers formed and you can now detect and record brain activity. By weeks 7and 8 the baby begins to move spontaneously and the fetus now has everything that you will find in an adult structurally.
Now at week 10the uterus is doubled in size and things like baby’s fingerprints are now evident in the mothers skin. The fetus now does things like swallow and sleep and awaken. And it even open and closes it mouth now. Another thing that begins to occur is urination of the fetus. By week 14you can now tell whether it will be a male or female baby. You can now see fine hair develop on baby’s head and its said that the baby can now hear any external noises including moms voice. Here the umbilical cord is recorded to bring 300 quarts of fluid to the baby. Here the fetus is about eight to ten inches long
By the fifth monthhalf of the pregnancy is over and the fetus is now up to about 12 inches long. The fetus may move a lot due to external sounds and mother can now feel all of these movements very well. By month seven the baby is using all of its senses: hearing, touch, vision, and taste. By month eight its skin thickens for insulation and nourishment and the baby is almost ready to come out. Finally by nine monthsapproximately 280 days the fetus is ready to be delivered. They are now about 6 to 9 pounds and can survive completely outside the mothers womb.
By Jessica Teixeira