Prenatal Development - The Basics
Picture this: at one time you were an organism floating in a sea of fluid in your mother’s womb. Now let’s explore what your development was like from the time you were conceived through to the time you were born.
The basics of prenatal development:
Prenatal development...
- lasts approximately 266 days
- begins with fertilisation
-
ends with birth
...and is divided into three periods:
- Germinal: Lasts for two weeks, from conception [fertilisation] to implantation. Genetic material [DNA] is passed on at this point, and the sex of the future fetus is set. The zygote begins to divide and multiply rapidly.
-
Embryonic: Occurs from the second to the eighth week. At this stage, the zygote travels down the fallopian tubes, then becomes 'implanted' in the lining of the uterus. The placenta forms during this period.
- Fetal: Lasts from week 9 until birth. Over this period, the fetus goes from being the size of a kidney bean to a fully formed baby.
The video below shows the week-by-week physical changes which occur during pregnancy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6wViiGmMYM&feature=youtu.be