The 10th week of pregnancy for a baby is a very important and crucial period. It is at this time that the embryo ceases to be such and becomes a fetus. The period of embryonic development is over. A new stage in the life of the baby in the mother's womb begins - fetal.
How is the term calculated?
10 weeks of pregnancy in the understanding of doctors and the same period in the understanding of expectant mothers - sometimes two completely different terms. To simplify the task, obstetricians-gynecologists choose the first day of the last menstruation as a "starting point". Thus, there are 40 obstetric weeks in pregnancy, which corresponds to 10 lunar months.
Women are more understandable and more accustomed to counting pregnancy from the date of conception or at least from the date of ovulation, since it is during this period that the long-awaited conception most often occurs. This period is called embryonic, it is about 2 weeks less than obstetric. In this way, 9-10 obstetric weeks correspond to 7-8 weeks after conception.
To avoid confusion, it is better to get used to calculating your term according to obstetric standards, because this is how the gestational age will be indicated in all medical documents, analyzes and examination cards. All the standards with which doctors will compare the baby are also drawn up for obstetric terms.
What is the baby like?
The baby at 10 weeks is already quite similar to a person, only he is still very small. With the end of the embryonic period of pregnancy, the baby's tail disappears. Now he, like his parents, has a tailbone, two legs, two arms and a head. They can be seen on ultrasound. The development of the fetus is proceeding at a very fast pace. Soon the dynamics will become slower, but so far the appearance of the baby is changing almost every day.
Height and weight
At the very beginning of the tenth week of pregnancy, the baby weighs about 5 grams, and by the end of this week, he will increase his weight to almost 7 grams.
The length from crown to tailbone at the beginning of the week is about 23 mm, and by the end of the week the baby will grow up to 38 mm. The growth of the fetus, including the legs, already exceeds 45 mm. To imagine the size of the fruit this week, just remember what a medium sized plum or strawberry looks like. The kid is like that now.
Nervous system
The child's nervous system is now developing the most intensively, because soon she will have to take the "leadership" of the body. The spinal cord and brain are fully formed, the baby already has cranial and spinal nerves. The formation of branches of the nervous network continues.
The main event of the 10 obstetric week is the division of the brain into hemispheres, which are now separated from the cerebellum and medulla oblongata... From this week on, the large hemispheres begin to develop and improve, every day up to 250 thousand new cells appear in them.
The first neural connections have already been formed, the creation of new ones, including neuromuscular ones, continues, and soon the child's movements will be completely controlled by his brain. This week the nervous system is divided into peripheral and central. Now, every day the baby will learn a new skill. Already at the beginning of the 10th obstetric week, he can bring his hands to his face, touch himself. He will learn to suck a finger or a fist very soon - in a couple of weeks.
Internal organs
The baby became an official fetus. This means that embryonic organogenesis has completed completely, in other words, all organs are formed, and now they are beginning to "master" their functional tasks.
The easiest of all is the little heart. It is the first of the internal organs, the heart began to work earlier than others. It now has 4 chambers, a fully formed atrial septum. The heart beats at a rate of 160 to 179 beats per minute, pumping blood through fully formed vessels.
By the way, this week the baby's blood is changing - his body begins to produce its own leukocytes, erythrocytes, platelets. If you need to find out the Rh factor or the child's group, at 10 weeks this is already quite possible by obtaining a blood sample from the umbilical cord.
At this time, the kidneys of the baby begin to work actively. They already produce urine, store it, and the bladder empties regularly at a frequency of about once an hour. The waters are self-purifying, renewed every 3-4 hours.
This week the thyroid gland starts its duties. The esophagus is separating from the trachea this week and will now connect the mouth and stomach. This week, the bile ducts begin to work, the formation of the intestines, liver, pancreas is completed.
Appearance
At 10 obstetric weeks, the baby's head becomes more rounded. But she is still far from the familiar human species, since it is the head that is now the largest part of the baby's body. The head diameter now reaches one and a half centimeters. But the individual features of appearance - facial features - are rapidly being laid. There are already lips, eyes, tightly covered with translucent eyelids, this week the nose and all its parts, as well as the auricles, are being formed.
The baby already has a neck, now the baby can turn his head to the sides, and he will very soon take advantage of this opportunity. Hair starts growing on the head this week. The skin is still translucent, very thin and delicate, but right now the skin acquires tactile sensitivity - nerve receptors appear and hair follicles are laid.
The arms and legs are well developed, there are tiny nails on the toes, the elbow and knee joints have formed and are already functioning. The bones of the crumbs are still quite difficult to call bones - rather, they are dense cartilaginous tissue. The process of compaction of the bone system begins precisely in this obstetric week, and now the need for calcium will skyrocket.
This week, a septum forms between the abdominal and chest cavities - the diaphragm. The cavities themselves have become larger, more spacious, the internal organs fit in them and do not go beyond the limits anymore.
At this time, the child may have a physiological umbilical hernia. It can speak of both congenital malformations and be quite normal, the prognosis for which is quite favorable.
Baby gender
The closer the end of the first trimester is, the more impatient future mothers become, because soon it will be possible to find out the gender of the baby. Gender is determined at the time of conception, but the internal sex glands begin to develop only closer to the second month of pregnancy. Now the formation of testes in boys and ovaries in girls continues. There are glands in children of both sexes so far in the abdominal cavity.
In place of the external genital organs, the genital tubercle is still present. It is from him that the main sex differences are already beginning to form - the penis and scrotum in the boy or the labia in the girl.
The formation of the genitals will be completed in about 2-3 weeks, but with confidence to say what gender the baby is, ultrasound diagnostics specialists will be able only at 15-16 weeks of pregnancy or a little later. Until this time, the probability of error due to the small size of the genitals is too high.
Everything that happens to the baby at 10 weeks already proceeds according to the male or female type, because sex hormones are already being produced in his body. The attempts of expectant mothers to guess the gender by the baby's heart rate are more like a guessing game. From the point of view of medicine, the rhythm and frequency of the heartbeat have nothing to do with the work of the heart and blood vessels.
Only genetic analysis, for example, a non-invasive DNA test, can give the most accurate answer to the question of what gender the baby is. But the cost of such an analysis is several tens of thousands of rubles.
There is very little time left to wait - after about a month and a half, the truth about the baby's gender will become obvious.
Fetal position
There is still enough space in the uterus for the baby to float freely in the amniotic fluid. The baby is now located the way he likes, several times a day changing his position in the space of the uterine cavity. Now swimming movements and somersaults will be more and more active, because this week the young placenta begins to work in full, and the baby is connected to the mother with a strong cord of the umbilical cord.
How the crumb is located does not yet have a great diagnostic value. However, it is of no small importance where the fertilized egg is located, in which part of the uterus it is located. This fact is surely of interest to the doctor, and an ultrasound scan necessarily evaluates the placenta and crumbs dislocation.
What has the baby learned?
At 10 weeks, the baby learned to swim. Feelings of a woman do not change from this, because until she can feel the baby's light touch on the walls of the fetal bladder. Nevertheless, the baby is trying very hard to become truly human. He already knows how to open and close his mouth, brings his hands to his face, touches the umbilical cord. The process of bending and unbending the arms, movements of the limbs is now the main entertainment of the baby.
By the end of this week, there will be another entertainment - tasting amniotic fluid. Now there is a formation of taste buds-papillae on the tongue, very soon the baby will learn to distinguish between tastes.
Ultrasound of the fetus at 10 weeks
It does not apply to mandatory ultrasound examinations this week. His women carry out at their own request or at the insistence of the attending physician. The indications for ultrasound examination may be the suspicion that not one, but two or three children are developing in the woman's womb, as well as the need to clarify the timing of gestation in cases when a woman has forgotten the date of the beginning of her last menstrual period or she had an irregular menstrual cycle.
It is necessary to "synchronize watches" in relation to the timing right now in order to set the date for the first prenatal screening. In a couple of weeks, the woman will have this first important study.
Also, ultrasound is performed at 10 weeks for women who have complications of pregnancy - the threat of miscarriage, suspicion of intrauterine growth retardation, suspicion of an ectopic or undeveloped pregnancy, etc. on the image monitor.
The main indicators for this period are the average inner diameter of the ovum (SVD) and the coccygeal-parietal size (CTE). The norms for this period are as follows.
Average inner diameter of the ovum at 10 weeks:
Parietal-coccygeal size at 10 weeks of gestation:
The ovaries and cervix are subject to compulsory examination in order to look for probable symptoms and signs of threatened abortion. Also, the doctor evaluates those organs of the child that can be visualized - the heart, kidneys, cerebellum, lobes of the brain. The size of the abdomen of the baby (OJ) does not exceed 5 mm.
In connection with the beginning of the activity of the "child's place" - the placenta, the need for a temporary organ - the yolk sac disappears. Now all the questions concerning the baby's nutrition, the supply of nutrients to him, the synthesis of hormones for his development, as well as the issues of excretion of metabolic products, are "solved" by a new temporary organ - the placenta. The yolk sac in the ovary begins to fade, shrink and ultimately dissolve completely. This week, an ultrasound scan can determine its dimensions, but they no longer exceed 5 mm. The placenta itself is still small. On average, its thickness at 10 obstetric week is from 9 to 17 mm, the average rate is 13 mm.
Recommendations for the expectant mother
Due to the fact that active bone growth begins from week 10, care should be taken to ensure that a sufficient amount of foods containing this useful mineral appears in the diet. These products include milk and cottage cheese, nuts, fresh herbs, and some varieties of sea fish. According to the biochemical blood test, which all pregnant women take when registering, the obstetrician-gynecologist will be able to see what is the calcium content in the woman's blood.
In case of hypocalcemia (calcium deficiency), calcium supplements may be additionally prescribed.
You cannot take calcium yourself without a doctor's approval. An overdose of this mineral can cause serious problems in the expectant mother with kidneys, muscles, digestion, which will definitely negatively affect the condition of the fetus.
No medicines during this period can be taken without the knowledge of the doctor, even if we are talking about harmless vitamins... The embryonic formation of organs and systems has ended, the likelihood of mutations and deformities from taking medications is already much lower than a couple of weeks earlier, but the threat of unauthorized termination of pregnancy has not completely passed away, so a woman should be careful.
For the benefit of the baby, during this period, mom's walks in the fresh air, proper and balanced nutrition, which will not allow such troubles as constipation and diarrhea, and a moderately active lifestyle, are suitable.
You do not need to lie on the couch, if there are no contraindications, it is best to do Scandinavian walking or swimming. This will enrich the woman's blood with oxygen, which is now so needed by a growing body, and will help prepare for childbirth.
You can find out about the development of the baby at 10 weeks of pregnancy from the video below.
