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T Prepared by: Aubrey-Ann L. Florencio, MSP
 The process of growth
PRENATAL and development
DEVELOPMENT within the womb, in
which a single-cell
zygote (the cell formed
by the combination of
a sperm and an egg)
becomes an embryo, a
fetus, and then a baby.
The human body, like that of most animals, develops from
a single cell produced by the union of a male and a
female gamete (or sex cell). This union marks the
beginning of the prenatal period, which in
humans encompasses three distinct stages: (1) the pre-
embryonic stage, the first two weeks of development,
which is a period of cell division and initial differentiation
(cell maturation), (2) the embryonic period, or period
of organogenesis, which lasts from the third to the eighth
week of development, and (3) the fetal period, which is
characterized by the maturation
of tissues and organs and rapid growth of the body.
 PRENATAL OVULATION
DEVELOPMENT

2 Parts of Ovulation
❑ Approximately Cycle
every month
an egg will ❑ FOLLICULAR Ovulation
mature within PHASE - first half of can help a
one of the the cycle, this phase woman get a
ovaries. starts the first day of better idea of
❑ When a the last menstrual when
mature egg is period (LMP) and pregnancy
released from continues until can and
the ovary, ovulation. cannot occur
pushed down ❑ LUTEAL PHASE -
during her
the fallopian The second half of
monthly
tube, and is the cycle from the
available to be day of ovulation until
cycle.
fertilized. the next period
begins.
 PRENATAL FERTILIZATION
DEVELOPMENT
❑ The ❑ If one sperm does make its way
development into the fallopian tube and burrows
and liberation into the egg, it fertilizes the egg.
of the male The egg changes so that no other
and female sperm can get in.
gametes are
steps ❑ At the instant of fertilization, your
preparatory to baby's genes and sex are set. If
their union the sperm has a Y chromosome,
through the your baby will be a boy. If it has an
process X chromosome, the baby will be a
of fertilization. girl.

❑ The sperm then propel themselves past the follicle

cells and attach to the surface of the gelatinous zona
pellucida enclosing the oocyte (immature egg). Some
sperm heads successfully penetrate this capsule by
means of an enzyme they secrete, hyaluronidase, but
only one sperm makes contact with the cell
membrane and cytoplasm of the oocyte and proceeds
farther.
 PRENATAL CONCEPTION
DEVELOPMENT

Occurs The union of

when a the mother’s
female egg
and father’s Successful conception
(ovum) is
sex cells, also depends on:
penetrated
known as
and
gametes or • Ovaries releasing one
fertilized by
germ cells. healthy egg cell.
the male • Egg cell migrates
sperm. • Mother’s sex
cell are eggs most of the way down
the fallopian tube.
• Father’s sex
• One sperm must
cells are penetrate the ovum to
sperm form a zygote.
 PRENATAL MILESTONES in PRENATAL
DEVELOPMENT DEVELOPMENT

Stage/Time Frame MILESTONES

GERMINAL Day 1: Sperm and ovum unite, forming a

Conception zygote containing genetic
instructions for the development
of a new and unique human
being.

Days 10 to 14: The zygote burrows into the lining

of the uterus. Specialized cells
Implantation that will become the placenta,
umbilical cord, and embryo are
already formed.
 PRENATAL MILESTONES in PRENATAL
DEVELOPMENT DEVELOPMENT

Stage/Time Frame MILESTONES

EMBRYONIC Weeks 3 to 8: All of the embryo’s organ systems

Organogenesis form during the 6-week period
following implantation.

The fetus grows from 1 inch long and 1⁄4 ounce to a length of about 20
Weeks 9 to 38: inches and a weight of 7–9 pounds. By week 12, most fetuses can be
Growth and identified as male or female. Changes in the brain and lungs make
Organ viability possible by week 24; optimum development requires an
Refinement additional 14 to 16 weeks in the womb. Most neurons form by week 28,
and connections among them begin to develop shortly thereafter. In the
last 8 weeks, the fetus can hear and smell, is sensitive to touch, and
responds to light. Learning is also possible.
 PRENATAL MILESTONES in PRENATAL
DEVELOPMENT DEVELOPMENT

Stage/Time Frame MILESTONES

FETAL

WELL-DEVELOPED
12 – WEEK FETUS 14 – WEEK FETUS FETUS
(age not given)
 PRENATAL MILESTONES in PRENATAL
DEVELOPMENT DEVELOPMENT

PERIOD Weeks 9–12 Weeks 13–16 Weeks 17–20 Weeks 21–24

Fingerprints; Hair follicles; Fetal movements Vernix (oily

grasping reflex; responses to felt by mother; substance)
facial expressions; mother’s voice heartbeat protects skin;
WHAT swallowing and
rhythmic
and loud noises;
8–10 inches long;
detectable with
stethoscope;
lungs produce
surfactant (vital to
DEVELOPS “breathing” of weighs 6 ounces. lanugo (hair) respiratory
amniotic fluid; covers body; eyes function); viability
urination; genitalia respond to light becomes possible,
appear; alternating introduced into the although most
periods of physical womb; eyebrows; born now do not
activity and rest. fingernails; 12 survive.
inches long.
 PRENATAL MILESTONES in PRENATAL
DEVELOPMENT DEVELOPMENT

PERIOD Weeks 25-28 Weeks 29-32 Weeks 33-36 Weeks 37+

Recognition of Very rapid growth; Movement to Vernix (oily

mother’s voice; antibodies head-down substance)
regular periods of acquired from position for birth; protects skin;
WHAT rest and activity;
14–15 inches long;
mother; fat
deposited under
lungs mature; 18
inches long;
lungs produce
surfactant (vital to
DEVELOPS weighs 2 pounds; skin; 16–17 inches weighs 5–6 respiratory
good chance of long; weighs 4 pounds; virtually function); viability
survival if born pounds; excellent 100% chance of becomes possible,
now chance of survival survival if although most
if delivered now delivered born now do not
survive
 PRENATAL
DEVELOPMENT
PRINCIPLES of
GROWTH First
TRIMESTER
The embryo’s gastrointestinal tract, spinal cord,
heart, and brain are the first organs to develop.
This starts about one week after conception.
The placenta also develops in the embryonic
stage and it plays a vital role in pregnancy
because it carries nutrients, oxygen, and water to ▪ morning
your baby. This development takes place about sickness
The first trimester is the first 12 ▪ increased
Your baby’s ▪ Facial weeks of your pregnancy. This is urination
features also the embryonic stage, which
body also ▪ swollen
begins to ▪ Eyes continues through the 10th week
▪ Ears ▪ Arms of your first trimester. Your baby breasts
form. This
▪ The nasal ▪ Legs is called an embryo at this stage. ▪ fatigue
includes
development passage ▪ Hair follicles Since you’re early in the
▪ Mouth pregnancy, you may experience
of: early pregnancy symptoms, such
as:
 PRENATAL PRINCIPLES of SECOND
DEVELOPMENT GROWTH
TRIMESTER
As your baby’s muscles develop and grow, it’s also around THE FETUS
this time that your baby’s skin develops a white substance BEGINS:
called vernix, which protects the skin from amniotic fluid. ▪ sucking and
swallowing,
During the final weeks of your second trimester, fat
▪ as well as
starts to develop on your baby’s skin, and its major
organs — such as the liver and pancreas — become moving inside
stronger. the womb,
Your second trimester of although it may
Your baby will begin making facial movements pregnancy begins at week be too early to
inside the womb, and you may catch a glimpse 13. At the end of the feel these
of the fetus appearing to smile or squint on a 3- embryonic stage, your movements.
D ultrasound. baby is about 3 inches
long and weighs about 1
The fetus’s middle ear typically develops at
ounce. Once the
week 20, and with this development your
embryonic stage ends,
baby can hear your heartbeat and voice.
your baby enters the fetal
stage.
 PRENATAL PRINCIPLES of THIRD
DEVELOPMENT GROWTH
TRIMESTER
All of your baby’s organs have developed, and movement
inside the womb increases over the next couple of months. By your sixth
Sometimes, it may feel as if you’re being punched and month your body
kicked in the stomach. But that’s just your baby exploring its experiences a lot
surroundings. of changes, such
Since you’re nearing the home stretch, the fetus will as:
grow rapidly over the final weeks and you may notice ▪ Weight gain
Your final trimester begins 25 ▪ Heartburn
less movement. Don’t panic if your baby doesn’t move as weeks after conception. All of
often. Since the fetus is getting bigger every day, it ▪ And you may
your baby’s organs have
doesn’t have as much room in the womb to move around. have trouble
developed, and movement
sleeping.
The final weeks of the third trimester — and your inside the womb increases
pregnancy — begin 35 to 38 weeks after conception, over the next couple of
which is 37 to 40 weeks since your last period. Your months. Sometimes, it may
baby’s organs are developed, the fetus is fully matured, feel as if you’re being punched
and you can deliver at any day. and kicked in the stomach.
But that’s just your baby
exploring its surroundings.
 PRENATAL LAYERS of an EMBRYO &
DEVELOPMENT it’s FUNCTION

GERM LAYER
❑ Ectoderm (outer ❑ Mesoderm ❑ Endoderm (inner
layer) (middle layer) layer)

- develops skin, - develops muscles, - develops pharynx,

hair, nails, sense bones, circulatory tonsils, thyroid,
organs, nervous system, lymph trachea, lungs,
tissue system, kidneys, digestive system,
gonads bladder, urethra
 PRENATAL LAYERS of an EMBRYO &
DEVELOPMENT it’s FUNCTION

EMBRYONIC MEMBRANES
During the second week of development, with the embryo implanted in
the uterus, cells within the blastocyst start to organize into layers. Some grow to
form the extra-embryonic membranes needed to support and protect the
growing embryo: the amnion, the yolk sac, the allantois, and the chorion.
❑ THE AMNION ❑ THE YOLK SAC ❑ THE ALLANTOIS ❑ THE CHORION
Amnion is a Yolk sac attaches The functions
membrane that closely outside the developing embryo The function of of the chorion are to
covers the embryo when first and is connected to the the allantois is to protect and nurture the
formed. It fills with the umbilical cord by a yolk stalk. embryo. The chorionic
collect liquid waste
amniotic fluid which causes This yolk sac acts as the fluid protects the
the amnion to expand and
from the embryo, as
preliminary circulatory system embryo from shock, and
become the amniotic sac well as to exchange
and is eventually absorbed into the chorionic villi allow
which serves to provide a gases used by the the exchange
the gut of the embryo.
protective environment for the embryo. of nutrients, oxygen and
The yolk sac is lined by extra-
developing embryo or fetus. embryonic endoderm and waste products with the
mesoderm. mother
 PRENATAL LAYERS of an EMBRYO &
DEVELOPMENT it’s FUNCTION

Clear watery fluid fills the amniotic

sac. The embryo is suspended in
this fluid and thus can maintain its
shape and mold its body form
without hindrance. Throughout
pregnancy the amniotic sac serves
as a water cushion, absorbing
jolts, equalizing pressures, and
permitting the fetus to change
posture. At childbirth it acts as a
fluid wedge that helps dilate the
neck of the uterus. When the sac
ruptures, about a quart of fluid
escapes as the “waters.” If the sac
does not rupture or if it covers the
head at birth, it is known as a caul.
 PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT of the
DEVELOPMENT PLACENTA

During prenatal weeks

4–12, the developing placenta
gradually takes over the role of
feeding the embryo, and the ❑ The placenta is a vital
decidual cells are no longer connecting organ between the
needed. The mature placenta is maternal uterus and the fetus.
composed of tissues derived ❑ It supports the developing fetus,
from the embryo, as well as in utero by supplying nutrients,
maternal tissues of the
eliminating waste products of
endometrium. The placenta
connects to the conceptus via the fetus and enabling gas
the umbilical cord, which exchange via the maternal
carries deoxygenated blood and blood supply.
wastes from the fetus through
two umbilical arteries; nutrients
and oxygen are carried from the
mother to the fetus through the
single umbilical vein.
 PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT of the
DEVELOPMENT PLACENTA

❑ The placenta
develops throughout ❑ As a fully developed organ,
the embryonic period the placenta provides
and during the first nutrition and excretion,
several weeks of the respiration, and endocrine
fetal function. It receives blood
from the fetus through the
period; placentation
umbilical arteries.
is complete by weeks
14–16. ❑ Oxygen, carbon dioxide, and any
❑ Nutrients and oxygen other lipid-soluble substances
are transferred from take this route. Other substances
maternal blood move across by facilitated
surrounding the villi diffusion. This includes water-
through the capillaries soluble glucose. The fetus has a
and into the fetal high demand for amino acids
bloodstream. Some and iron, and those substances
substances move are moved across the placenta
across the placenta by active transport.
by simple diffusion.
 PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT of the
DEVELOPMENT PLACENTA

❑ The placenta is permeable to lipid-

❑ Although blood cells are not exchanged, the
chorionic villi provide ample surface area for the
two-way exchange of substances between
maternal and fetal blood. The rate of exchange
increases throughout gestation as the villi
become thinner and increasingly branched.
soluble fetotoxic substances: alcohol,
nicotine, barbiturates, antibiotics, certain
pathogens, and many other substances
that can be dangerous or fatal to the
developing embryo or fetus.

❑ For these reasons, pregnant women should avoid

fetotoxic substances. Alcohol consumption by
pregnant women, for example, can result in a
range of abnormalities referred to as fetal alcohol
spectrum disorders (FASD). These include organ
and facial malformations, as well as cognitive and
behavioral disorders.
 PRENATAL SUPPORT SYSTEMS &
DEVELOPMENT BRAIN DEVELOPMENT

THE PRENATAL BRAIN

As you learned Once they have
earlier, the reached their final Several changes
foundational in fetal behavior
destinations in the
structures of all of signal that the
fetal brain, the
the body’s organ process of
neurons begin to s y n a p s e
systems are
develop formation is under
formed during the
embryonic stage. connections. These way.
Neurons, the connections, called For instance, the
specialized cells synapses, are tiny fetus exhibits
of the nervous spaces between alternating
system, actually neurons across periods of activity
begin developing which neural and rest and
during the impulses travel from begins to yawn.
embryonic stage, one neuron to the
in week 3. next.
 PRENATAL
DEVELOPMENT
STRUCTURE OF THE
NEURON
The structure of a single
developed neuron. The cell
bodies are the first to be
developed, primarily between 10
and 20 weeks of gestation. Axons
and dendrites begin to develop in
the last 2 months of gestation and
continue to increase in size and
complexity for several years after
birth.
SUPPORT SYSTEMS &
BRAIN DEVELOPMENT
FETAL YAWNING GLIAL CELLS
Fetal yawning
appears between the Glial cells that develop during the
last few months of prenatal development hold
10th and 15th week. Its
neurons together and give form and structure
presence signals the
to the fetal brain. These cells are the “glue”
beginning of sleep that hold the neurons together to give shape
stages in the fetal brain. to the brain’s major structures.
 PRENATAL AGE, FACTORS AFFECTING PRENATAL
GROWTH and their DISTURBANCES
DEVELOPMENT

THE ❑ Have you heard sensationalized media reports about

women giving birth in their 50s and even into their 60s?
MOTHER’S Such late-in-life births are very rare, but it is the case that
AGE the average age at which women give birth for the first
time has increased over the past few decades.
❑ In most cases, older mothers have uncomplicated
pregnancies and deliver healthy babies, but the risks
associated with pregnancy do increase somewhat as
women get older.
❑ Their babies are also at greater risk of weighing less
than 5.5 pounds at birth, a finding that is partly explained
by the greater incidence of multiple births among older
mothers.
❑ When comparing the rates of problems seen in teenage
mothers with those seen in mothers in their 20s, almost
all researchers find higher rates of problems among the
teens.
❑ Teenage mothers are also more likely to be poor, less
 PRENATAL AGE, FACTORS AFFECTING PRENATAL
GROWTH and their DISTURBANCES
DEVELOPMENT

STRESS and
EMOTIONAL STATE
❑ Real connection is a
matter of maternal
genes and/or ❑ A mother with
❑ Exposure of the ❑ Likewise, studies
parenting style; depression may
pregnant female to in humans show ❑ Fetuses of
emotionally negative eat less, or her
stressors such as that stressful life and depressed mothers who
heat, light, noise, have been weakened
events, emotional mothers may use immune system
shock, or crowding distress, and ineffective parenting diagnosed
may limit her
significantly physical stress strategies or simply with
ability to fight off
increases the risk of are all linked to be more likely, for depression
viruses and
low birth-weight slight increases in genetic reasons, to tend to grow bacteria, either
offspring as well as problems of have children who are more slowly of which may
later problems in the pregnancy, such less emotionally than others.
 PRENATAL AGE, FACTORS AFFECTING PRENATAL
GROWTH and their DISTURBANCES
DEVELOPMENT

TERATOGENS A teratogen is any environmental

substance or agent—biological,
chemical, or physical—that can have a
detrimental effect on a developing fetus.
Exposure to teratogens during the
prenatal stage can significantly raise the
risk of birth defects. Several factors
influence the amount of damage a
teratogen can have, including dose or
level of exposure, heredity, age of the
teratogen, and any other negative
influences (for example, several
teratogens or a teratogen combined with
poor health). There are several known
teratogens that expectant mothers are
advised to avoid during pregnancy,
 PRENATAL AGE, FACTORS AFFECTING PRENATAL
GROWTH and their DISTURBANCES
DEVELOPMENT

TERATOGENS
MATERNAL DISEASES POSSIBLE EFFECTS
Cancer Fetal or placental tumor

Toxoplasmosis Brain swelling, spinal abnormalities

Chicken pox Scars, eye damage

Parvovirus Anemia

Hepatitis B Hepatitis

Chlamydia Conjunctivitis, pneumonia

Tuberculosis Pneumonia or tuberculosis

 PRENATAL AGE, FACTORS AFFECTING PRENATAL
GROWTH and their DISTURBANCES
DEVELOPMENT

TERATOGENS
DRUGS POSSIBLE EFFECTS
Inhalents FAS-like syndrome, premature labor

Accutane/vitamin A Facial, ear, heart deformities

Streptomycin Deafness

Penicillin Skin disorders

Tetracycline Tooth deformities

Diet pills Low birth weight

 PRENATAL AGE, FACTORS AFFECTING PRENATAL
GROWTH and their DISTURBANCES
DEVELOPMENT
 PRENATAL ASSESSMENT and
DEVELOPMENT COUNSELING

✓ Prenatal genetic counselors

work with individuals, couples,
or families who have an
increased chance of having a
child with a birth
defect or genetic condition.
✓ During pregnancy, if a baby is found to have
a birth defect or genetic condition you may be
referred to a prenatal genetic counselor. The
counselor will help the expecting parent(s)
understand the medical information, what to
expect, how to prepare, and options.
✓ Prenatal counselors also help many families who do
not have an increased chance of having a child with a
birth defect or genetic condition to understand prenatal
screening and testing options. Procedures such as
blood tests and ultrasounds may be able to give a
better idea if a developing baby has a chance of
having birth defects or a genetic condition..
 PRENATAL ASSESSMENT and
DEVELOPMENT COUNSELING

Why See
a
If you:
Prenatal •Are worried about a genetic condition or a disease that runs in your family.
•Have a child who is affected with a genetic condition and are thinking about
Genetic having another child in the future.
Counselo •Have family members with an intellectual disability or birth defects.
•Have a history of infertility or pregnancy losses (miscarriages or stillbirths).
r? •Are concerned that your health or lifestyle poses a risk to the pregnancy.
•Are concerned about risks to the pregnancy associated with increasing parental
age.
•Receive abnormal prenatal screening or ultrasound results.
•Are concerned that you are at increased risk of being a carrier of a genetic
condition because of your ethnic background (some diseases are more common
in certain ethnicities).
•Are pregnant and the baby has been diagnosed with a birth defect or genetic