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Baby's Early Days
First Trimester Growth
By Heather Larson
That said, let's see how that miracle of life inside you develops during the first 12 weeks of your pregnancy.
As the uterus sheds its lining and causes the bleeding known as your period, your hormones are preparing eggs for release. When the uterine lining builds up again, ovulation, or the release of eggs, occurs.
At this time the embryo or fertilized egg is the size of the head of a pin and doesn't look like a baby but, rather, like a group of cells multiplying. This cell action takes place as the fertilized egg floats down the fallopian tube to the uterus.
"The embryo is most vulnerable during the period from three to eight weeks after conception since all the major organs are developing at this time and are at risk for resulting in birth defects," says Bonnie Berk, a registered nurse and childbirth education specialist in Carlisle, Pa.
During the first trimester of pregnancy, the brain, spinal cord, heart and gastrointestinal tract all begin developing, according to the American Pregnancy Association.
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