Baby Stage during Pregnancy

You feel the baby stage during pregnancy from the time your baby starts to grow rapidly, during the latter half of the second trimester and throughout the third trimester. The first stage of pregnancy or first trimester lasts for about three and a half months or 14 weeks. The second stage of pregnancy or second trimester lasts until the end of the seventh month. Taking over from the seventh month, the third stage of pregnancy is the third trimester. It ends at the ninth month with the baby's birth. During the baby stage, making up the second and third trimesters, interesting things happen to the baby. The baby is both putting on weight, but also laying down fat stores to help her survive after birth. She registers a dramatic increase in length during this period. At five months the baby is almost ten inches long, and by the beginning of the ninth month, baby is over 18 inches long or so! You have a mite growing in your belly.

Baby Begins to Kick and Twist

Now, your baby becomes very active in the stomach. This is the most dramatic of the pregnancy stages when the baby begins to twist and turn, and even kick you in the belly and in the ribs. In sum, make her presence felt. These kicks can be painful, but are a sign that all is well with your baby. Your baby's eyes and ears will finish developing during this period, and she or he will begin to recognize the sound of your voice. When the time for labor and delivery approaches, your baby will be more than 20 inches long and over six pounds in weight! A full grown infant awaits you on delivery!

Baby Makes Her Presence Felt through Pregnancy Discomforts

There are certain symptoms you will identify as belonging to the baby stage of pregnancy. Referred to as pregnancy discomforts, these symptoms hit you even as the D day of your baby's birth approaches. They include back pain, when your uterus and abdomen are both expanding, and causing pressure on your lower back. Hair growth is noticeable among many pregnant women, who notice that their hair becomes increasingly thick and coarse. This hair may typically disappear within 6 months of delivery. Swelling, owing to the retention of fluids in the body, commonly accompanies this last phase of pregnancy. You are then advised to stay off your feet as much as is possible. Then there are the false labor contractions called Braxton Hicks Contractions, which will begin to affect you irregularly from the 20th month onwards. All signal that the baby stage of pregnancy is fully on.

More Visits to the Doctor

The baby stage during pregnancy is when you find yourself increasing the frequency of your prenatal tests. Throughout these later weeks, get your health care provider to measure your blood pressure and baby's heart rate at every visit; the visits could be at the frequency of a week or so. An ultrasound scan of your stomach would check on a few things for your baby-that baby's growth and development are progressing normally, that your placenta or the organ that provides for nourishment to your baby, is in the correct position, and that there is sufficient amniotic fluid, the fluid in which the growing baby is suspended, for the baby to draw from. Some pregnancy tests may include Rh screening, Group B Strep screening, STD screening and glucose screening, to determine that the baby is kept in comfort.

Water Breaks

The baby stage during pregnancy is when you begin to experience growing labor pains. The baby's head drops down into the pelvic region, and you find intense contractions marking the stage. These are also known as Braxton Hicks contractions or false labor contractions, because you may be fooled into thinking this is labor. Certain fluids begin to trickle through your bladder. The mucous plug that blocks off the cervix during pregnancy is passed on by many women; and the amniotic sac is broken just prior to labor and delivery for many women. This is the rush of water or a slow trickle of water from the vagina that is otherwise known as water breaking.

Baby's Birth

The water breaking is followed by the labor and delivery stage, this is the stage when the baby is finally forced out into the world. A very scary process for many women, labor involves three stages. The first stage of labor in the baby's stage during pregnancy will be marked by contractions, regular tightenings of the uterine muscles that occur throughout labor. During the first stage, the cervix helps dilate these contractions. In the second stage, the contractions help to push the baby down the birth canal. This stage can last for a few hours. In the final stage of labor, you will pass your placenta, you will notice at the same time that your body will continue to experience contractions even after giving birth.

The baby stage during pregnancy ends with a live and kicking baby who has been weighed and measured. Then she is swaddled and brought to your bedside. You can begin breastfeeding her within an hour or two of birth.