Every day of the baby's intrauterine life is a truly unique event. Very important transformations are taking place in the body of the little man.
What happens to the child?
By the beginning of the second trimester of pregnancy, the baby in the mother's tummy is already quite mature. Many of his internal organs have already begun to function. OB week 13 is the first week of the second trimester of pregnancy.
The baby is in an enlarged uterus, which takes up quite a lot of space in the small pelvis. Every day the size of this genital organ only continues to increase. As the baby grows, the first specific sensations of his mother begin to appear.
The baby has a larynx and vocal cords begin to form. These organs are called voice-forming, as they are involved in the formation of sounds. The baby can really use them in the first minutes after his birth, when he makes his first sound.
The child also has the first taste sensations. The baby can taste the amniotic fluid. It can be sweet, salty, or even slightly bitter. This is largely influenced by what the baby's mother eats. There are studies showing that the first taste preferences in humans are formed during intrauterine life and significantly depend on the mother's diet during pregnancy.
Swallowing amniotic fluid at this time of the child's intrauterine life is an absolutely physiological phenomenon. Thus, the urinary system develops. The baby swallows a little amniotic fluid and then secretes it. This is how the kidneys and urinary tract develop.
Basic parameters of the fetal body
The child of this prenatal age is still quite small. It resembles a medium peach in size. To assess body parameters, doctors use several parameters, the main of which are presented in the table below.
By the 12-13th week of its intrauterine development, the child already has a real "human" appearance. He has a somewhat elongated body. The arms and legs are disproportionate to the head. The baby can distinguish individual facial features. The child at that time even looks funny. The jawline and nose line becomes more defined. The child can already grimace and smile. He makes these active movements still unconsciously. The formation of conditioned reflexes will occur in the baby a little later.
Fluffy hair appears on the child's body. They are located in places where eyebrows and eyelashes will grow in the future. The fluffy hairs are located on the chin and above the upper lip, as well as on the head. From the 13th week of pregnancy, the baby's forehead begins to form and change, and the cheeks and nose gradually move forward. Sweat glands begin to appear on the child's body.
The baby's skin is still quite transparent. Through them, the blood vessels are clearly visible. Over time, the color of the skin will change and acquire a more "healthy" physiological appearance.
Internal organs
Active changes occur in the secretory organs. The pancreas gradually begins to function. The cells that make it up begin to secrete a little insulin - one of the most important hormones needed to utilize glucose in the body.
The baby's thyroid gland also begins to gradually produce its hormones. For the normal development of this organ, iodine is necessary, since it is an integral part of hormones.
It is very important for a pregnant woman to consume enough iodine at this time. She usually gets it by taking a multivitamin complex prescribed by her doctor.
The intestines are also actively developing. The first contractions appear in it, which doctors call peristalsis. Of course, the intestines will truly function after the birth of the baby and when he eats food, but the first manifestations are noticeable already at this stage of the intrauterine development of the child. Small villi appear in the intestines, which are necessary for the digestion of food.
By the 13th week of pregnancy, there were very serious changes in the baby's circulatory system. So, the baby's heart already consists of four chambers and pumps about 23 liters of blood per day.
The little heart is already really beating. To determine the assessment of the work of the baby's cardiac activity, doctors use the counting of the heart rate (HR). This indicator is usually determined during an ultrasound scan. The heart rate rate for babies of this prenatal age is presented in the table that follows.
Locomotor apparatus
By the 13th week of his intrauterine development, the baby's limbs are already quite well formed. Each handle and leg already has fingers, and the thumbs are usually long. Some children begin to touch their faces with their fingers, turning this activity into an exciting game. It is interesting that each little finger of the baby already has its own unique skin pattern. The child's joints continue to develop actively. At 13 weeks, the baby can already move the arms and legs. Twins begin to actively "study" each other, touching the body of a brother or sister. Some babies love to play with their umbilical cord.
At this period of intrauterine life, the baby has the rudiments of the mammary glands. The bone tissue of the ribs gradually begins to form. For optimal development of the baby's musculoskeletal system, a sufficient intake of calcium into his body is necessary.
The mother of the child must remember this. A pregnant woman at this stage of pregnancy should include more fermented milk products in her diet.
Nervous system
The child is improving the performed active movements. So they become more orderly and harmonious.
Active changes also occur in the nerve analyzers. Babies can "hear" mom's and dad's voices and even react to them. The expectant mother cannot yet notice such changes, since the child is still very small. However, you can already start talking with the baby, as this has a positive effect on the formation of an emotional connection between the mother and her child.
Determining the sex of the child
At this stage of pregnancy, babies undergo active changes in their reproductive system. In girls, for example, eggs begin to appear - female reproductive cells. At the same time, their ovaries are in the small pelvis. The genital tubercle becomes the clitoris.
In boys, the penis and prostate gland gradually form. Such gender characteristics make it possible to determine the sex of the child during an ultrasound scan. But, to find out about the appearance of a boy or girl in 100% of cases will not work. If the baby is too small or is in an "uncomfortable" position for the examination, then the ultrasound specialist simply will not be able to see the floor.
Many mothers who are in a hurry to find out the gender of their baby, resort to various methods of determining it. They try to determine gender by the heartbeat of the child, by the shape of the abdomen, by various folk signs. It should be noted that all these methods are indicative only, but not completely accurate. You can find out the sex of the child quite accurately at the 20th week of pregnancy, when the external genital organs become well distinguishable.
For information on how the fetus develops at 13 weeks of gestation, see the next video.
