Father and Sons

Like I said yesterday, my wife is already at the beginning of her second trimester so the fertilized egg to an embryo development stage is done. I supposed to track the changes from then on, but for the purpose of those new fathers-to-be, here’s what is happening during the first trimester of pregnancy.

The First Trimester

Nothing physically obvious happens on the mother during the first trimester. But these are lots of transformation that is happening inside.

It will only take nine weeks for the embryo to develop enough to look like a baby. This is what they called a ‘fetus’.

So that’s 9 weeks (a little over 2 months) that the embryo developed into a fetus.

Before that happens:

• 22nd days (almost 1 month) – Egg was fertilized and it is still barely visible.
• 33rd days (5th week) – The baby’s backbone begins to form. The size of the embryo is 1/12 of an inch long and 1/6 of an inch wide. Imagine that, pretty small huh?
• 42nd day (6th week) – The baby’s head and heart is starting to form and become visible. He’s usually 1/4 of an inch long.
• 7th week – Chest and abdomen become distinct and the embryo is half and inch long.
• 8th week – By this time the facial feature is starting to develop (nose, eyes, ears). He’s the same size as a paper clip and weighs 1 grams.
• 9th week – The developement of the face is almost complete and so is the arms, legs and feet. He now looks like a miniature baby. Weighs 2 grams. By this time, the embryo is now called a fetus.
• 12th week – 3rd months – The finger nails of toes and fingers appears and eyelids are developed and closed. Arms and legs may begin to move. He will be almost 3 inches long and may weigh 1 ounce or 30 grams.

At this time, this is the end of the first trimester but the development continues and there are still lots of things that will happens.

Exciting!