As the pregnancy week by week series comes together, I am learning even more about how developed the baby is well before the mother likely knows she is pregnant!
Each week, I have been researching details of how the embryo develops from conception all the way through the 40th week of pregnancy. This is an area that I have to know fairly well as a childbirth educator, however doing this series has forced me to brush up on embryonic development a bit since it's not a topic I teach all the time.
My research happened to coincide with a paper my 16 year old daughter was writing this week on stem cell research. Her argument was against stem cell research and she had to prove several reasons to support her opinion. I was able to dig out what I had been learning from my work on the week by week series to show her how intricate the embryo is even at a very early stage.
For example, did you know that there is already a heartbeat by the end of the third week? And that brain waves have been detected as early as 8 weeks of pregnancy? All of this occurs while the embryo is still no larger than 3 cm from head to bottom.
It's such an exciting time to discover exactly what is happening to the baby. It can also be daunting to realize how careful you need to be since this early trimester is so delicate.
Let me know what you think about the week by week series! Drop me a note on the discussion forum.
Do you have any other questions about your pregnancy, birth or early postpartum? Are there topics you would like more information on? Email me with your ideas or questions.
Be watching for a new series on postpartum depression/postpartum mood disorders after January 2007!
Have a wonderful holiday!
Warmly,
Brenda
