Fetal development in the 14th week of pregnancy

If a woman has 14 obstetric weeks of pregnancy, then her baby is already full 12 weeks. That is how much time the baby is in the womb and develops. Full three lunar months for him it is an eternity, because from a set of cells your crumb has turned into a little man, having passed the path repeating all stages of the evolution of humanity. What successes the baby has achieved this week and what is happening right now, we will tell in more detail.

It is a mistake to call a baby on the 14th week an embryo. The early embryonic and late embryonic periods of its development have long been left behind. He was an embryo until the ninth week. After this period, the formation of internal organs was completed, all the processes of the laying were completed and the embryonic tail disappeared. Now an ordinary tailbone is in its place.

Now coming fetal periodduring which a fully formed baby, who is now correctly called a fetus, will grow, gain weight, improve his skills. This week, the size of the child resembles a large apple, his height is at the level of 12-14 centimeters, and his weight has almost reached the mark of 40-50 grams.

The kid very much reminds the little man, small and tiny, but already the little man. He no longer tails, he has no giant oval head of irregular shape. With the completion of the embryonic phase, more and more human features appear in the form of the baby. Now his head is aligned in shape, rounded, a neck has appeared, and the child has already learned to own it in the current term - he turns his head to the right and left.

The head still remains fairly large, but now it does not constitute two-thirds of the body area, but only half, and as it grows further, it will become proportional: by birth, it will be only one-fifth of the total proportions. The limbs also look disproportionate - the hands are longer than the legs, but shorter than they should be - the baby reaches out only to his face and cannot touch his head, for example - he does not reach out.

If a woman now does not have the usual two-dimensional ultrasound, which is recommended to everyone as a survey in the framework of prenatal screening, and 3D or even 4D, then the woman will most likely be surprised to see on the scanner monitor not a pretty baby, as women imagine , and thin, skinny and shriveled man. Subcutaneous fat is not yet formed, and this is what gives the appearance of the crumbs such a pronounced suffering thinness.

The skin has a rich red-lilac color due to blood vessels translucent through it. Some children have hair on their heads at this time, but so far they are light and discolored, since the crumbs do not produce pigment for them. This week, the baby's eyebrows appear, which are also very bright.

The fingers of the handles and the legs are already fully formed, there are nails.And this week, the crumbs appear individual, unique, peculiar only to him fingerprints, they form a unique pattern.

The ears of the baby almost rose to their proper place, the eyes also took a position on both sides of the nose bridge. The organs of vision are tightly covered with formed centuries. This does not prevent the child this week to begin to distinguish darkness from light. If, under the control of ultrasound, you shine a light on the belly of a pregnant woman with a flashlight, then the baby becomes more active and starts moving faster.

With the auditory function, too, everything is ambiguous. Baby hears, but does it in a special way. He picks up the vibration of sound, for example, my mother's voice.

He already distinguishes the vibration of the father's voice from the mother's one and can be frightened when he is heard sharp and loud outside sounds that have nothing to do with the voices of the parents. The inner ear, which is engaged in the conversion of sound waves, will begin to fully function only after a month and a half. But now the baby needs to communicate, it is necessary to talk with him, read fairy tales to him, sing songs — he will take everything at the vibration level.

The nervous system develops more actively than others; complex and interesting processes take place in it. Until that time, all the impulses that had arisen in the children's organism at the neuronal level “caught” the spinal cord. Now he passes this honorable duty to the brain. This most important organ is already fully formed, divided into hemispheres, and the amount of medulla increases very rapidly.

The pituitary gland produces hormones, and the cerebellum begins to coordinate the movement of the fetus. True, this process is lengthy, and even by the time the baby is born, its movements will be chaotic for a long time.

Primary coordination of motor functions takes place around the clock. Despite the fact that 99% of the time the child spends in a state similar to a dream, his movements do not stop. He shudders, moves his arms and legs, sets in motion the muscles of the face, the back. This is due to the fact that between the brain and the muscles of the body is the establishment of neural connections, ensuring the rapid passage of nerve impulses.

Already, the baby can "boast" possession of some important reflexes for survival - by the 13-14th obstetric week the child learned to suck, grab, swallow and quickly respond to frightening factors, shrinking when frightened. He also pushes his feet off the uterine wall with a random touch - this reflex will then help him learn to walk.

The taste buds on the tongue and the inner surface of the cheeks are well developed - the baby distinguishes between shades of tastes, preferring the sweet to the bitter or sour in the womb. Mom needs to keep this in mind when shaping her diet.

By the 14th week of mother's pregnancy and the 12th week of his intrauterine life, the baby comes up with an impressive “baggage” of new knowledge - he, being in the womb, actively learns the world - listens, picks up the mood of the mother, learns to interact.

Although this placenta is young at this time, it fully assumes responsibility for the nutrition and protection of the baby. Vessels and umbilical cord strengthen and grow. Now the baby and the “baby seat” are one whole, and the baby completely depends on the health and condition of the placenta.All the internal organs have completed their formation long ago; they are growing in size this week and are starting to function.

The stomach can now take the amniotic fluid, which in considerable quantity is swallowed by the crumb, the intestine is rhythmically reduced, “rehearsing” peristalsis, the gallbladder accumulates bile, the liver participates in blood formation. The pancreas produces insulin, small kidneys produce secondary urine, and the urinary system removes urine from the baby’s body into the amniotic fluid. The sterility of the waters is provided by the shell of the amnion - they update the composition of the waters once every 3-4 hours to keep them clean.

The child's heart is anatomically no different from an adult heart, it supplies the entire small body with blood and works very diligently - a day the heart of the fetus pumps up to 20 liters of blood. His work can be judged by the heart rate. At week 14, it is normally 157 beats per minute.. Other values ​​are acceptable if they are in the range of 146 to 168 beats per minute.

Theoretically, at 14 weeks you can determine the sex of the baby. But in practice it is quite difficult to do this - the external genitals are still so small that only a very experienced doctor with a very good ultrasound scanner can detect the differences in them. But even such a doctor will not guarantee the accuracy of his “prediction”, advising him to ask a question about gender in the next scheduled ultrasound scan after 18 weeks of gestation.

The development of the external genital organs is almost complete. Now the boys' sex bumps have already become penises, and the girls are bent down, forming the clitoris and labia. In the body of future men, the hormone testosterone is already synthesized, and in girls the ovaries migrate from the abdominal cavity, where they were formed and developed, into the small pelvis to the place intended for them by nature. In the ovaries of girls there are already more than 2 million eggs. In the male fetus at this time the prostate gland will be formed.

Bone tissue is developing very actively this week. The thyroid gland functions, thanks to this, calcium deposits in the bones become possible. Bone skeleton of the fetus becomes more durable. Already hardened bones of the skull, spine, limbs. Almost formed all pairs of ribs. Now they protect the organs of the chest. Due to these processes the need for calcium increases several times.

Muscle tissue is growing no less active. Now the child has formed and develops the muscles of the limbs, backs, breasts, but the most “mobile” in this period are the muscles of the face, the facial muscles. This week, the baby starts to smile. This smile is not something conscious, and while her crumb is depicted involuntarily.

In addition to smiles, the baby has already learned to open his mouth, stick out the tongue, writhing dissatisfied grimaces, frowning.

Respiratory organs are formed. There are bronchi, trachea, lungs. Now they are not yet ready for independent work, because the child is in the aquatic environment. But the lungs have already begun to make characteristic respiratory movements, and the number of such reductions can reach 70-80 per day. In the lungs, surfactant accumulates - a substance necessary for independent breathing. This process “starts” at the end of pregnancy, before childbirth.

If the future mother had the opportunity to watch her baby in real time for at least a few hours, she would be very surprised to see that the baby is not bored. All the time while he is awake, he is actively exploring the space around him.He touches his face, clenches his fists, sucks his fingers, plays with the umbilical cord, if he manages to catch him. The fetus in the stomach of the mother while he feels very at ease - he swims and rolls over, rolls over.

Ultrasound this week may be assigned for various reasons - some women are screened, and among those who have already passed such a diagnosis is recommended for those who have special medical indications, for example, the threat of miscarriage, suspected shelling of the membranes, multiple pregnancy, poor screening results.

In any case, ultrasound diagnostics is always a very important moment for a woman, because she allows her to look at her baby. To make sure the baby is okay, Ultrasound data is interpreted according to the existing average standards of indicators for a given gestational age.

This week, the somnog doctor establishes where and how the child is in relation to the exit to the small pelvis. But the woman should not be embarrassed if the doctor now determines that the baby is sitting or lying transversely. His position will change more than once or twice. Several times a day at this time, the crumb changes its position in the uterine cavity. The growth rate of the child can be judged by the main fetometric indicators.

For 13-14 obstetric weeks, the following fetal sizes are characteristic.

The main dimensions of the fetus in the 14th week of pregnancy:

If earlier the main size was considered KTR (coccyx parietal size - the distance from the lowest point of the tailbone to the upper point of the crown), now the main size is considered to be the bipariate head size (the distance between the temporal stones). However, KTR can also be measured by a doctor. Starting next week, KTR is not measured at all. In the meantime, the rules are as follows.

KTR of the fetus in the 14th week of pregnancy:

During the ultrasound diagnostics this week, the internal organs of the child are examined without fail. If there are no pathologies, the doctor does not describe their size, being content only with an indication that the organ is visualized and meets the standards. The only exception is the cerebellum - it is measured. Normal sizes for this week - from 1 to 1.5 centimeters.

Those pregnant women who are now undergoing screening may notice that their babies are measured by two more parameters - the thickness of the collar space (TVP) and the length of the nasal bones. These are special sizes, which are determined only now and can serve as markers of chromosomal anomalies. Adverse symptoms are considered to be an increase in the TBP relative to the norm and a decrease in the length of the baby’s spout. The norms with which the obtained indicators are compared are as follows:

• TVP - 1.7 mm (permissible vibrations are in the range of 0.8-2.7 mm);
• the length of the nasal bones is 2.0-2.9 mm.

The number of vessels in the umbilical cord at week 14 should be equal to 3, and the thickness of the placenta - 16-16,85 mm. At this time, it does not say how much the baby weighs, since its weight in this trimester has no great diagnostic value. Though the position of the placenta is determined, but so far its low location is not considered critical, because the uterus grows, and with it the “baby seat” rises.

Since the sensations of a woman from this week dramatically change for the better, toxicosis passes, appetite increases, she may begin to overeat.This should not be allowed, because pathological weight gain will increase the chances of developing preeclampsia - a condition that is very dangerous for both the expectant mother and the baby. Right now it is important to revise your diet in order to provide the growing baby with everything you need.

Calcium is more important than ever. Dairy and sour-milk products, cottage cheese, spinach, fresh greens, nuts, sea fish and red meats must be on the table of a pregnant woman.

Iron is now necessary for the proper development of the child’s nervous system. Black currant, buckwheat porridge, apples will help to “get” it. Magnesium is important for the nervous system of the mother and the placenta. Also great needs for vitamin A, C, E.

This week begins to form and develop the emotionality of the child. That is what perinatal psychologists say. The tiny looks small, but the relation to itself demands special. According to experts, it depends on how the world will be around now whether the child will be a pessimist or an optimist.

Bad signs that are associated with early pregnancy, are no longer valid. Now a woman may not be afraid to tell others about her position, and it is no longer so easy to hide a growing tummy. Right now you can go to the children's store and buy something for your baby. Mothers who gave birth two or more times know for sure that purchasing a “dowry” for babies in the later periods is a rather painful event, and now the woman feels better than ever and well, so why not take up the choice of a cot, strollers and lovely ones ” trinkets for a child?

Compliance with all recommendations relating to a healthy lifestyle, diet, walking in the air, gymnastics for pregnant women, will help avoid complications.

About what happens to the mother and baby in the 14th week of pregnancy, see the next video.