Pregnancy 101! – Elie T.

A women is pregnant for 9 months, about 38 weeks. It all begins on day 1, with a zygote- a combined egg and sperm cell. By the first week the cell goes through the Fallopian tube then attaches to the uterine lining and is then called an embryo. The baby (s) begin to from and by the 2nd month they have a brain and a beating heart. In the 2nd trimester, month 5 the baby (s) hair begins to develop, have rapid brain activity and the lungs begin to form. By the last 2 months the organs are fully developed and fat starts to form on their body.  

In the book Get Me Out by Randi Hutter Epstein  it discusses the changes of what happens after or while giving birth, but there is many things that happen during the pregnancy. One change is the growth of the baby but another important change is the changes the mother goes through. From the information found on our “Effects of Pregnancy WebQuest”, one of the most obvious changes is that she grows or expands, but not just her belly, but also her breasts. This is because her milk ducts get larger as a result of their rapid growth. Another change that is not easily seen but is felt, all the mother’s’ organs move up, leaving minimal space for all the organs but just enough room for the uterus to hold the baby (s). Some of the major adjustments her body has to make is the lungs and diaphragm being compressed, making it more difficult to breathe deeply. The bladder is also compressed by the baby’s head, which means more bathroom breaks. The liver is crowded in the abdominal cavity but to help with that discomfort, the mother can sleep or lay on her left side. But some health changes occur after the pregnancy, mental health that is. From what I have learned over the summer and wrote about in 1 of my blog posts, about how the way you treat your baby and yourself can really affect the pregnancy. Such as talking and interacting with your baby and having a connect and having a positive attitude towards your baby (s) is very important.

After reading Get Me Out and from our semester, I feel like I know everything about pregnancy and fetal development, especially since I have learned a ton over the past few months, but I’m sure this would be the beginning. While I was growing up I was being exposed to the idea that pregnancy was so beautiful and it happens so peacefully and nothing goes wrong but now I know the ugly truth. However I think having this knowledge will really help me down the line, in many different ways even though I won’t be birthing any children, such as helping with my family which is full of babies but also with my future partner and family.