Babies Tale

As your baby grows, he also becomes stronger. All that exercise in the uterus pays off. The amniotic fluid serves as a wonderful medium for the baby to exercise in; its buoyancy allows him to move around freely. The muscles develop, and the baby becomes more and more physically capable.

He also gains a layer of fat, which will help him maintain his body temperature after birth. Also helping the baby maintain body temperature is the maturing of the adrenal glands, which make adrenalin [also called epinephrine]. Adrenalin, secreted when the body is chilled, mobilizes energy to warm him up.

Another major area of development in the last three months is the maturing of the baby’s lungs. Of course, while your baby is in the uterus, he does not need to use his lungs for breathing. In fact, they are filled with fluid. Oxygen is breathed in by you and is carried to the placenta and through the umbilical chord to the baby’s body. But towards the end of the pregnancy, the lungs gain the ability to perform the breathing functions. Within seconds after birth the baby takes his first breath, which is usually followed by a good bellow or two. It is with this first breath that hiss lungs become inflated, and they will not stop functioning for as long as he lives. So this dramatic first breath of life is being prepared for in the last trimester of pregnancy.
The Placenta

The placenta is a complex organ that develops along with the baby. Here the exchange of nutrients, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and waste products between mother and baby takes place. The mother sends to the placenta via the blood stream all the nutrients and other substances that the baby needs to grow and develop. The baby sends waste products and his own hormones to the placenta for the mother to take up and either dispose or use.

The placenta is also an endocrine gland. It produces hormones that maintain the pregnancy. By the mid-point of pregnancy, the placenta has taken over many of the functions of the ovaries, producing many of the same hormones, including progesterone. Progesterone causes relaxation of involuntary muscles, including the uterus. It is present in large quantities throughout most of the pregnancy, and keeps the uterus from contracting very much. But during the last few weeks of pregnancy, the amount of progesterone produced by the placenta decreases. This is associated by stronger contractions of the uterus.

Many women report that they are aware of stronger contractions of the uterus in late pregnancy. You may wonder if this is true for you. How can you tell if your uterus is contracting, or whether your baby is simply moving? The best way to tell is to press your hand in several places around the uterus when you feel any strange sensations in the area. If the sensation is caused by the baby’s moving, you will feel firmness in only one area and softness in other areas of the uterus. The firmness may be the baby’s back, and the strange sensations may be caused by the baby’s stretching and pressing his back against your abdomen. If it is a contraction, your entire uterus will be very firm.

The structure of the placenta changes as it ages. For example, the membrane separating the mother’s circulation from the baby’s becomes more open to the exchange of some substances, allowing the baby to extract from the mother’s blood supply some beneficial substances. For example, we all have immunoglobulins and antibodies circulating in our bodies, which protect us from many illnesses. During late pregnancy you are able to pass some of these to your baby, giving him protection against some illnesses that lasts for months after birth.. This protection continues for as long as you breastfeed your child, because these same immunoglobulins and antibodies also pass into breast milk.

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