BABIES DEVELOPMENT

Baby’s development in the womb

Owing to the fact that i have a lot of pregnant and intending preggies as friends and colleagues i thought it will be nice to share this piece after coming across it along while ago. im not a doctor nor a nurse but you can be sure when it comes to BABIES i can go to lengths on finding information on them, right from sex to their youth-hood.

In this description, we have adopted the method doctors use. For example, where we write ‘week 8’ we have counted this from the first day of your last period — your baby will usually only be 6 weeks old at this point.
How doctors date your pregnancy

The average pregnancy lasts for 38 weeks from the date you conceive (this is called conception). However, doctors usually date your pregnancy from the first day of your last menstrual period — that is the day your last period started. Using this method a pregnancy is said to last 40 weeks (280 days).

Your due date is usually calculated as 40 weeks from the first day of your last period. However, fertilization of your egg by sperm happens a day or 2 after ovulation, which occurs in the middle of a 28-day cycle, and then it is a couple of days before the fertilized egg implants in the uterus, so for the first 2 weeks of the 40-week ‘pregnancy’ you are not actually pregnant at all.

First month

After the egg has been fertilized by the sperm, it starts to divide into more cells. This happens all the time it is carried along the fallopian tube to the uterus. By the time it reaches the uterus the fertilised egg has become a cluster of cells which float in the uterine cavity until it embeds in the wall of the uterus. This implantation in the wall of the uterus is when conception is complete. This is roughly 4 weeks after day one of the last menstrual period if you have a 28-day cycle.

Second month

At 5 weeks the embryo is the size of a grain of rice (about 2 mm long) and would be visible to the naked eye. It has the beginnings of a brain with 2 lobes and its spinal cord is starting to form.

At 6 weeks of ‘pregnancy’ (3-4 weeks after fertilisation) the embryo has a head with simple eyes and ears. Its heart has 2 chambers and is beating. Small buds are present that will form arms and legs later. The beginnings of the spine can be seen and the lower part of the body looks like a tail.

embryo at 6 weeks

At 7 weeks, the limb buds have grown into arms and legs. Nostrils can be seen on the embryo’s face. The heart now has 4 chambers.

At 8 weeks, the eyes and ears are growing, and your baby is about 2 cm long from crown to rump. The head is out of proportion with the body and the face is developing. The brain and the blood vessels in the head can be seen through the thin skin. The bones in the arms and legs start to harden and elbows and knees become apparent. Fingers and toes can also be seen.
Third month

What is known as the embryonic period finishes at the end of week 8 and the fetal period begins. This period sees rapid growth of the fetus, and the further development of the organs and tissues that were formed in the embryonic period.

fetus at 11 weeks

At week 9 the head is almost half the crown to rump length of the fetus. Then the body grows substantially in length until by week 12, the head is more in proportion. By the time you are 12 weeks’ ‘pregnant’, your baby is just over 5 cm long from crown to rump.

Its body is fully formed, including ears, toes and fingers complete with fingernails. The external genitals appeared in week 9, and now, by week 12, have fully differentiated into male or female genitals. By week 12 the eyes have moved to the front of the face and the eyelids remain closed together.
Fourth month

Your baby may suck its thumb now. By 14 weeks your baby will be about 9-10 cm long. Its body is now covered with a layer of fine hair called lanugo. By 16 weeks its face is becoming more human in appearance, although the chin is small and the mouth is quite wide. Between 16 and 24 weeks you should feel your baby move for the first time — it may at first feel like butterflies.
Fifth month

The rapid growth that your baby has been experiencing now begins to slow a little. By week 20 your baby measures about 18 centimetres from crown to rump and is half as long as it will be when born. The legs are now in proportion with the body and the fingernails are well developed. Faint eyebrows are visible. At this stage, you will feel your baby moving about a lot, often when you lie down.

fetus at 20 weeks
Sixth month

By 24 weeks your baby’s organs are fully formed. The baby now has the face of a newborn baby, although the eyes are rather prominent because fat pads are yet to build up in the baby’s cheeks. The eyelids are fused until weeks 25 to 26 when they open.

The skin is wrinkled, red and thin with little underlying fat. The skin is covered with a waxy substance called vernix, which protects it while it is floating in the uterus. The body is well muscled, but still thin. The baby has become better proportioned, with the size of the body catching up with the size of the head.

Your baby’s hearing is also well developed by this stage; the baby will respond to noise.
Seventh month

By 28 weeks lanugo hair has almost gone and hair is present on the head. Fat is being deposited under the skin.
Eighth month

Your baby is becoming plumper. By 30 weeks the toenails are present and by 32 weeks the fingernails have reached the ends of the fingers. The baby’s eyes will be open when the baby’s awake.

By about 32 weeks the baby will have settled into a downward position as there is no longer enough room left in the womb for it to move about freely. You will feel occasional vigorous jabs of the baby’s arms and legs.

If your baby is a boy, his testes will migrate down into the scrotum in the 8th month.
Ninth month

Sometime between 36 and 40 weeks, the baby’s head will engage — that is, the head will be lying just on top of your cervix. By 40 weeks, your baby should be plump and healthy.

The lanugo hair that had covered your baby has now mostly disappeared, although some hair may remain low on the forehead, in front of the ears and down the center of the back. The toenails should have reached the tips of the toes.
Full term

By full-term, your baby should weigh about 2.7 to 3.5 kg, although full-term babies can weigh anything from 2.5 to 5 kg, and measure 35 to 38 centimeters from crown to rump and 44 to 55 cm from the baby’s head to its toes. These are just average figures, though, and there can be wide variation in the measurements. So now, 38 weeks after conception, your baby has all its organs and body systems ready for the big moment when it is born into the world.

Aisha n Josh 11

Months after leaving the hospital, trying to reach Josh with no success my mum went to his mother’s house, the response was inhuman as usual, I’ve never known anything good of this woman, i understand she’s being protective of her son but I’ve known her to be reckless, sad and wicked. Even though i warned my mum not to go all the way, we just had to try our luck.
The decision to keep the child wasn’t just my decision or my mum’s, Dr Olu also advised it, he had said trying to get rid of it wasn’t only sinful but dangerous considering the state of my health. I have been living at my aunt’s place growing lean and sick by the day, as much as i tried to console myself i couldn’t but find myself in tears day in day out.
Days passed, months flew, the arrival of my wonder child was fast approaching, mother left all her work in kogi, took the last 6weeks off to stay with me at Aunty’s house since her husband was out of the country. Together we went to Ibadan to get a referral letter and also to see my therapist, i was due in 5weeks but it looked like i was going drop the baggage in no time. Just before i said my goodbyes to Dr Olu and smiling at his promise to see me immediately i deliver. I gazed towards the corridor. I saw Aman and his grandmother, i tried to rush back into the doctor’s office but my mum was already behind me. I was shy and ashamed.
“Hi Aisha, how have you been? I always ask of you from Dr olu, do you remember me?”. “Of course i do, Aman right?” Yes, your are right. I have missed your innocent face. Not so innocent as you can see, showing him my big belly. Oh my God! You are almost popping, do you need me to carry you? He said as he laughed. Some how i genuinely smiled back “I’m perfect, i carried myself all the way from lagos” lagos?! Why come here for clinic all the way from Lagos? No i didn’t come for clinic, i came for a letter and also for my finally session. I’m good to go, not coming here except necessary.
Oh, so i won’t see you here again? That’s not nice acceptable. He smiled looking at my mum. Dear ma, can i marry your daughter? So i can always see her. She just giggled and said; as you can see, she’s more than married so just don’t waste your time. We all walked towards the car saying goodbyes, i knew he was the only friend i had made in 8months and i wanted to keep in touch, i gave him my number and email address, he promised to always check me whenever he is in Lagos.
The referral letter was for deferring my admission in cyprus, i had gotten the admission letter one month earlier, i wasn’t exactly happy but my mum was, she said having my child wouldn’t stop me from being who i want to be and that i would leave my son with her when I’m strong enough to travel. I don’t even know if its proper or if i would care. I do not in any way feel anything for this child i carry, i always imagined it come to pass (the love of a mother) but now its here, i can’t feel it. I have tried to, i have read a lot of books and my therapist had tried, my last session was full of pretence and promising words. I hope soon, when i have him, i can get hold of the L♥√ع and make it happen. If its not too late.
Aman has been a great caller and now i have something doing on social networks because we chat all the time. He would always pester me for my due date, teasing that he wants to be there for me and how much he cares about me. He obviously asked about the father but i didn’t think he had the right to know. I just wanted to keep my story to myself and the few people that knew. The only thing is how much he makes me laugh and i know secretly my mum appreciates him, because when I’m on the computer chatting and laughing out loud, she automatically knows its him.
On the 17th of september 2010 something life changing happened to me..

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Are you where you thought you would be?

Are you where you thought you would be at this point in your life?

I have been asked this question over and over again and every time the answer changes. The answer changes because I am always changing. Where you want to be in your life and where you think you will actually be are 2 very different things. As children we all wanted to be rich and famous and well-known (well most of us-maybe not all). But realistically we knew this was not going to be the case.

I can honestly say I never had a clear picture of what I thought my life would be like at this point.

I am the type of person that wants to learn and experience so much that I am unable to think of a life only one certain way. It would actually be almost impossible to picture my life at a future time. I will always have goals and dreams and I do hope some of these come into fruition but I don’t rely on these things to shape my life to define me.

I believe I am undefinable. I would have never guessed that I would be working in an IT firm or even be a fashion designer or at most surprising be a writer. I want to pursue a degree in human resource management or project management, I will eat my words with saying this and probably catch a lot of hell, but I am unsure of exactly how I want to use this degree and i definitely will go to fashion school. When I first started with this it was never my intention to make a name out of this but over the past year I have dove a lot into art and even learning how to sew and more on design techniques. people recommend, request and call me for different projects i don’t even have any idea about, its so sweet to know that few people believe in me and that as earlier planned am a role model to a few and still in-charge of my little tittle “FIRST CHILD”

OK, now back to the topic at hand…Am I where I thought I would be at this point in my life? As stated, I never saw my life in a certain way. if going by my initial plan, i should still be in school studying medicine, but going by the later plan, well what can i say Alhamdulilah. The only thing that is most important in my life (and I hope it is in everyone else’s – even through the hard times) is happiness. The thing about that though that I needed to change was realizing that happiness is a journey and not a destination. I still have to remind myself of that all of the time because I am always looking for an end…and while looking for that end I am missing the incredible journey I am on in this very moment. It has taken me a really long time to get to this point.

I am at a crucial point in my life where things are starting to make sense and I am feeling more in tune with who I am than I ever have. I still have a hard time accepting things and I do not always stand up for myself and I dislike confrontation in any form but I am learning. I am accepting what is right now. I am learning that I am beyond lucky for the things that I have in my life. I go through phases of loneliness and anxiety but I never stop forgetting that they are only moments and the world is too big of a place to get stuck in one small rut. I am slowly starting to talk more about who I really am and face fears that I had been ignoring for a long time. I am bringing what is on the inside out and the journey is absolutely breathtaking.

So i am not there yet, a lot of things have gone out of place, a lot in place and a lot too arranged am over whelmed but i am grateful and happy to be where i am because it is so promising and with you all by my side encouraging me.. i will get there!

ARE YOU THERE YET? and if not, where would you be in 5years?

ode to monday

At 5:45 a.m. it begins with an incessant beep-beep-beep

I fumble clumsily for the alarm, eyes still closed because I didn’t get enough sleep

I could have gone to bed early; I always say that I will

But as the final moments of my weekend slip away, I desperately cling to the thrill

How is it already Monday?

Eventually i decided to start the week but wanted to turn over, i woke up again it was 6:02 am

i was late for solat, i woke-up to bath and said my prayers.

Resting my face in my palms as I think about the week that lies ahead

put on my clothes… look my best, it is Monday, after all.

I will lose my keys, say my byes and have to make a run for the bus

I was at my door when the heavy breeze blew my face away

I wondered what it was but then the down pour came, i went back to my room to take a nap 😀

Hopefully this rain lasts the whole day or I will make it to work just too late

Mother, called on me as she brought in my breakfast,

Yellow and milky it was, one of the simplest meal i still cant make – custard

I looked up and smiled at her

As i cleared my cup so did the sky clear

I’ll have to face my boss if he made it earlier to work

About to jump a bike when i heard a slit.. oh my red pretty skirt tore

Not to worry am still home, changed my below and threw on a wooly pant.

Got to the office an hour and half later than usual.

Time for proper breakfast

It’s then that I’ll realize I forgot my purse.

Oh, the life of an office drone.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK……… :*