Understanding Your Pregnancy Cycle on Having a Baby

Pregnancy begins to be counted from the date of your last period. But, in reality, during those first weeks, you won’t even notice that you are pregnant since the fecundation is produced around the third week. When the fecundation is done, the egg basically migrates to your uterus.

That’s pretty much all that happens in the first month, and that's why you can't even tell.

This is the month where the actual development of your baby begins, forming an embryo. Yes, at this point, your baby is called an embryo. Here, the principal internal organs of your embryo start forming, and it’s about the size of a pea.

For example, the heart starts to beat and is completely formed, the circulatory system starts developing, same as the umbilical cord, and the neural tube, which will then give place to the brain, spinal cord y the principal nerves. Also, the fingers, hands, feet, ears, eyes and the liver start to appear.

Here, fetal development starts to begin, which is the stage where the vital organs of the now fetus is completely formed. Yes, the baby does change names through the stages, and it's a fetus when it's about 21-40 mm long as it might be at the beginning of this month.

Also, the umbilical cord connects the fetus’ abdomen to the placenta and it starts to absorb nutrients and oxygen. Bones start getting hard, and nails start developing. Same with its sexual organs, but you can’t tell the sex, yet. It’s kidneys starts producing urine, and you might notice the first spontaneous movements.

Thanks to this vital stage, your fetus might be around 6 to 7,5 cm by the end of this month.

The fetus keeps developing and growing rapidly during this stage, as it’s the start of the second trimester of your pregnancy.

It’s hair starts to grow, and the facial muscles are more developed by now, you may even see movements in the baby like sucking its thumb, extremity flexing, and moving its fingers, as the brain starts controlling movements. 

During this month, the fetus continues developing and you might feel it’s first movements, and see frowns like yawns on its face. The ears are now completely developed and it can start listening to sounds. Also, the lungs and the digestive tube mature. By this time, the fetus has a 16 cm length.

At the sixth month, the bone marrow starts producing blood cells. The fetus’ skin gets covered by a thick greasy substance known as the vermix, which will protect the skin from the amniotic liquid. Almost all of the sensory organs are developed and can receive external stimulus by this stage. Also, the eyelashes and brows start growing through the month.

The length of the baby by the end of this month is about 20 cm.

The fetus is now in a very fast stage when it comes to its development. Now, it’s nervous system is very developed, and it can even familiarize with your  voice. Even though it sleeps the majority of the time, it’s movements will increase majorly by this time.

The length of your baby by the end of the month is about 25 cm.

In the eight-month, if your baby is a boy, his sexual organs start developing, as his testicles descend.

Your baby will also start to adapt a more comfortable position, as it might be getting prepared for the birth.

It’s now a big boy or girl, as its length is around 28 cm by the end of the eight month.

The last month of your pregnancy has come. As the baby is almost ready to pop out, as it might be 34-36 cm long by its birth. By this time, the baby has already developed completely all of its systems and organs. Now, the baby is ready to be born, as it positions its head towards the uterus. In some days, you won’t be even pregnant anymore: congratulations on your newborn!

One of the first symptoms of pregnancy is not getting your period.

Also, during the first month, you might feel fatigue, nausea, breast sensitivity, or mood swings, but, as for now, symptoms aren’t too harsh, so you are fine for now.

In this period, symptoms are going to become more noticeable.

Generally, nausea, vomits, breast sensitivity and fatigue will increase.

Your body will start to prepare for the journey of pregnancy; your heart will increase its beats since blood production will also increase. That's the primary reason why you might feel tired all the time.

Many symptoms from the first months continue in this stage, mainly nausea.

Your breast will keep increasing, and your aureola may become darker and bigger.

During this first trimester, weight gain shouldn’t be much, around 1 or 2 kg depending on the woman.

Also, this stage is where the majority of involuntary abortions happen, so you got to be extremely careful at this time.

The first symptoms should start to reduce by now. Nonetheless, other digestive problems might appear, such as constipation, and they can become very annoying.

Many women feel difficulty to breath, and other symptoms related to the increase in blood flow, such as nose and gum bleeding.

Breast augmentation, pain, and change in your areolas will continue.

During this period, you might start feeling the fetus’ movements, which will be very exciting for you.

All of the symptoms from the past month will continue this month, so expect nothing different.

Generally, symptoms from past months will just continue at this point.

During this period, Braxton-Hicks contractions might start appearing. They are a non-painful contraction that are completely normal during pregnancy, so don’t worry about them.

Breast can start producing milk before time, but it’s completely normal, too.

Your uterus will continue to grow, and with this comes those annoying back pains that will make you kinda go crazy. You can alleviate them with good posture and exercises, so keep calm.

You might start to feel very tired and like it's hard to breathe through this month.

Your legs can start to bloat and varicose veins can start to appear on them. Also, stretch marks are likely to appear on your belly due to the skin stretching.   

Hemorrhoids can also appear, which will be really really painful and scary.

As we aren’t machines and it’s probably very hard to remember all that we have said in this post about stages, growth, changes, etc, we have 3 amazing apps that will make you able to track the growth of your baby in an easy and fast way.

When your baby is in your belly, the anxiety to meet him and know everything that happens in there is huge.

My Pregnancy Day by Day has videos, guides and other mother experiences that will answer all of your doubts about your ongoing pregnancy. It also has more than 11,000 names and their meanings and origins in the app.

Totally Pregnant is another amazing app that has reliable information about your baby’s growth,  t here’s even expert videos and 3D animations for your baby in every week of your pregnancy. It also offers weekly magazine-style guide plus tips, facts and food recipes.

Additionally, it offers you direct sign-ups for birth classes and pre-natal classes. 

With I’m Expecting, you are able to get detail guides on how to alleviate the common pregnancy symptoms that include nausea, fatigue, leg cramps and others. They also offer pregnancy tips and expert insights with pregnancy articles. You can also do u up a weekly photo record of your baby bump, and reminisce each stage with their Baby Bump Photo Diary. 

Pregnancy is a beautiful but scary and complicated stage for first timers, we really wish that this article helped you understand it from every angle. 

Don't be overwhelmed by it at all, as it can be seen as just too much information. Keep track of your stages, symptoms, changes, and you will see how it makes everything easier and comprehendable, and the wait more exciting. It will all be worth it in the end.