Get Me Out is a book written by Randi Hutter Epstein that discusses the journey from when a mother conceives to when the mother gives birth to the baby. The author discusses how you can deliver a baby (i.e a midwife, doctor, etc) and how babies were dealt with in hospitals. Get Me Out describes all there is to know about the beautiful journey of pregnancy.
Of course, pregnancy all starts off with conception. This could mean from a sperm bank or naturally conceiving a baby through sex. When the egg and the sperm meet, this forms the zygote. The zygote then travels down the fallopian tubes to form a little ball called a morula. The morula then attaches to the uterine wall where it then becomes an embryo. This little embryo then starts developing in his or hers mother’s uterus.
The embryo is about 0 to 6 centimeters, which is very, very small. The embryo begins to have a heart beat and even develops tiny eyes, ears, fingers, and toes. The tiny embryo is 9 weeks old and is classified as a fetus. The fetus’ face becomes clearer and it’s external genitals begin to appear. In this trimester, the mother can experience some morning sickness, but most of the nausea goes away by the second trimester.
In the second trimester, the fetus is about 15 centimeters and the mother can start to feel the baby moving around inside of her. The fetus begins developing skin, hair, and nails and begins looking more and more like an actual baby. The fine hair that the fetus develops is called lanugo. The fetus develops the lanugo all over their body to protect themselves from the elements inside of the womb. The fetus’ brain begins growing rapidly, too. The fetus develops lung sacs, but they are not very mature yet. At 30 centimeters, the fetus’ eyes finally open and begins growing very fastly.
In the third trimester, the fetus is fully developed, but cannot survive out
side of the womb without needing medical intervention. At around 8 to 9 months, the fetus begins turning and lowering itself so it can prepare for birth. The mother may experience contractions more often. The mother may also want to begin doing kegel exercises to help strengthen her pelvic floor. When the mother’s amniotic sac or “water” breaks, this is usually when the mother goes to the hospital or calls their midwife to prepare to give birth.
While reading Get Me Out, it never really hit me how much a woman’s body undergoes change until I actually started learning about it in class. I never realized how the uterus has to expand so much in order to hold a growing fetus (40 centimeters to be exact). I think that since my own mother was pregnant with my baby sister as I learned about pregnancy, I’ve gotten an up close view of things. My perspective has definitely changed and I appreciate the female reproductive system a lot more.
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