The development of an unborn child is something that puzzles many women who are pregnant. And doctors don’t have much time to sit them down and explain to them what happens between fertilization and birth.
To explain the whole process would just make everyone confused, so here are a few interesting facts for those who would like to know just a little bit more. The early scientists believed that inside the “head” of the male sperm, a human was already present. Fully developed and all, ready to grow to a normal size inside the uterus of the mother. Nowadays we know better. After fertilization, it takes about a week for the egg to nest itself into the uterus wall. Then, a very complex strain of development occurs which forms the tiny beginning of a human.
Something that most people do not know, is that only four weeks after the fertilization, there is already a heartbeat present. It isn’t detectable yet, but it’s there. During the development of the intestines, there comes a period, around the ninth week, where the intestines grow faster than the child and there isn’t any room left for the intestines to go. But nature has come up with a solution. For a short period of time, the intestines take up some room inside the umbilical cord. But around the eleventh week, there is room again and the intestines grow back inside the embryo.
After only ten weeks, there is already a human visible. The face has a human profile, limbs are visible and there is even already genitalia with male or female characteristics. These are some little facts of the development of an embryo in the first trimester. If you want to know more, visit www.kir.org or ask your doctor.
