First Trimester of Fetal Development

My wife is pregnant right now, so he wanted to know the development of the fetus from month to month. After searching for information for some time, I finally found it. This is information that I found:

1 Month pregnant, end of week 4

Length: Less than .1 inch (1.5 mm)

The first month of pregnancy is actually the 2 nonpregnant weeks after you started your last period, plus the first 2 weeks you are pregnant.

• About 2 weeks after your last period started, a sperm joined with an egg in your fallopian tube. The fertilized egg quickly grew into a tiny ball of cells.
• About 6 days after it started growing, the ball of cells attached to the wall of your uterus. (This was about 3 weeks after your last period started. We call this "3 weeks of pregnancy.")
• At 4 weeks of pregnancy, the cells have flattened into a three-layered disc. Each layer has different types of cells. These are the building blocks that will quickly grow into an embryo's organs, tissues, and bones.

This is a critical time for staying away from drugs, alcohol, radiation, and other chemicals. These things change how cells grow.

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2 Months pregnant, end of week 8

Length: About .5 inch (11–14 mm), top to bottom

The second month of pregnancy is a time of amazing development for the tiny embryo.

• The embryo starts out looking like a tiny seed, then a tadpole with a tail, and then more human by the end of the month.
• When you are 6 weeks pregnant, your embryo has the beginnings of a brain, eyes, ears, heart, lungs, liver, and other organs. There are tiny bumps where arms and legs will grow.
• When you are 8 weeks pregnant, the heart and brain have divided into their major parts. Your embryo has webbed fingers and arms that bend at the elbow. The legs and feet will take a little more time to grow. Muscles will soon start working.

This month is a critical time for staying away from drugs, alcohol, radiation, and other chemicals. These things change how cells grow, while your baby's brain, heart, arms, legs, eyes, ears, and other organs start to take form.

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3 Months pregnant, end of week 12

Length: 2.4 inches (61 mm), top to bottom
Weight: .5 ounces (13.3 g)

• When you are 10 weeks pregnant, your embryo has nearly all of the body structures that an adult has. The brain is now more complex. After this point, we call this tiny being a fetus.
• This month, the tiny fetus starts moving the head and jaw, grasping, moving the tongue, and stretching. Eyelids are covering the eyes, and fingernails are starting to grow.
• At the end of this month, the fetus starts a big weight gain.

This month is a critical time for staying away from drugs, alcohol, radiation, and other chemicals. These things change how cells grow, while your fetus's arms, legs, eyes, ears, teeth, palate, and genitals start to take form and grow.

An important time for testing

• If you are worried about Down syndrome, you may be able to have a special ultrasound and a blood test as early as 10 weeks. If this screening finds signs of possible problems, you have time to decide about more testing.
• When you are 10 to 12 weeks pregnant, you can have a chorionic villus sampling if you are worried about genetic problems. This test can give you some of the same information that an amniocentesis does, but much earlier.

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source: http://health.msn.com/pregnancy/fetal-development.aspx

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