Expecting a Child

Prenatal Development

The fertilization of an egg by a sperm is the start of pregnancy and conception. The first two weeks of cell division, which follow by fertilization, there is little differentiation between the kinds of cells produced. However, after that first two weeks the embryo starts to produce diverse cells and primitive structures that will become the main organs such as the heart, veins, brain, kidney, eyes, liver, and digestive tract. Even though the embryo is less than an inch long, it already develops into a recognizable human form.

By around the 16th weeks the embryo now resembles a human infant measuring about six or seven inches in length. During this period the fetus, as the embryo is now called, starts to move about within the uterus, and the mother can feel the movement.

Right through the rest of the pregnancy, the fetus develops by increasing in size and its complexity. While the basic human structure develops in the first few weeks, the inner organs now grow and setting up the functions once the organs are fully develop. In the third month of pregnancy, the fetus has primitive reflexes; by the end of the fifth month, it can make grasping gestures, blink, suck, and swallow.