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Embryo Development
A Month by Month Look at How Baby Grows
By Katherine Bontrager
And after 10 weeks, Dr. Greenfield says, the baby-to-be has graduated from embryo to a fetus. "And by week 12 the face has a human profile and taste buds have developed," she says.
The first trimester is indeed a busy one. During this time, the embryo goes from a single cell to about the size of your thumb – about 2 inches from head to rump, Dr. Patton says.
"The first trimester was when all the heavy lifting is done," Dr. Greenfield says. "The second and third trimesters are almost all about growth rather than development. In the second trimester, the two things that are still really developing are the lungs and brain – mostly everything else is finished developing and just has to grow."
Except for certain parts of the brain and lungs, all the cells the baby will ever have are there, Dr. Patton says. "That means we've left the hyperplastic phase and have entered the hypertrophic phase," he says. "Hypertrophy refers to making what you already have bigger."
And the fetus is seriously concentrating on getting bigger. At 16 weeks, the fetus weighs 4 ounces and could just about fit along your hand, Dr. Greenfield says. "Eyelids, fingernails and toenails begin to form, and the external genitals become clearly male or female. Eye movements, breathing, swallowing and sucking begin. The tiny heart pumps an amazing 25 quarts of blood a day."
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