Fetal growth follows a precise timeline, from the first heartbeat to the final stages of brain development. Proper nutrition delivered through the placenta is vital for maintaining healthy fetal weight and overall wellness.
When you are 14 weeks pregnant, you have just completed your first trimester. While more miscarriages occur in the first trimester than at any other time, pregnancy complications can still develop after this time.
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The first trimester, or three months, of pregnancy, can present many risks to the developing fetus. Because organs, facial features, skeletal tissue and limbs are developing at this time, any negative affect on the fetus can result in serious birth defects.
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Checking the fetal heart rate gives important clues into an unborn baby’s health and well being. Even as early as 6 weeks into a pregnancy, assessing the fetal heartbeat can help doctors determine if potential problems with the pregnancy exist.
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Full term pregnancy is measured as 40 weeks, but the first day of pregnancy is counted as the first day of the last menstrual period. This means that at four weeks of pregnancy, a woman is just due for her menstrual period.
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Most pregnant women don't track their hCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin, levels unless they have undergone fertility treatment or are experiencing pregnancy complications. Produced by the growing placenta during pregnancy, hCG is the hormone that home pregnancy tests detect in the urine.
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As nice as it would be, nature doesn't include an abdominal window so you can see your baby's sex before birth.
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Exposure to harmful substances in the earliest weeks of pregnancy -- often before a woman realizes she's pregnant -- can pose risks to human embryos.
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