Stages and Birth

Wow! It's been a very long time since my last entry. I guess I was so busy with my midterms that I forgot about my blog which I'm very upset about. The last thing I wrote about was how I was doing with my project. However I forgot to write about our final lesson before the exam. In that lesson we talked about the stages and later talked about birth. We had discussed the stages in our previous lesson but in this lesson we added some more. These are some of the things we said in class:
• Implantation occurs in the germinal stage.
• Embryonic stage is important since the development of some major organs like the lungs, heart occur in this stage. Organ systems are formed. Also the development of placenta takes place in this stage. We also noted that the embryo is very small at this time but will get bigger in the fetal stage.
• In the fetal stage, the fetus is maturing, it is gaining weight and getting larger.

An interesting thing we talked about in class was that if the mom drinks alcohol, uses drugs during pregnancy, these can be passed to the fetus which can cause significant damage. I was shocked when I learned that some babies are born addicted to cocaine or heroine. We also learned that babies can be responsive to mothers’ psychological states. Later we talked about the amniotic sac and the fluid it contains which is the amniotic fluid. We said that it is nutrient rich and it protects the baby. The baby breathes the amniotic fluid which makes the lungs develop.

Then we talked about birth. We said that the first stage begins with contractions. The baby goes down and moves to the cervix. Sometimes amniotic fluid is released during this time. Later the cervix dilates up to 10cm, the membrane across the cervix gets thinner and thinner. While talking about birth, I learned that if a baby is coming upside down it can be a huge problem. Also another interesting thing I learned is that there are some birth hormones which have an important effect on the mothers’ brains. Some people say that the size of women’s brain increases after birth and this increase makes the women more responsive to their babies. Later I learned a new term “crowning” which means that the head of the baby shows through the vaginal track. This is when the second stage begins. From crowning till birth is the second stage. Later comes the third stage in which the placenta and the umbilical cord is released from the mother’s body. However we said that sometimes the umbilical cord can be wrapped around the baby’s neck which is very dangerous since it can cause fetal death.

Probably the most interesting and disgusting part of this lesson was when we started watching the birth videos. Although they are so miraculous and fascinating, this still doesn’t change the fact that they are disgusting to watch. But I have to say that I have never watched a birth video or a live birth before so I learned a lot of things. I also have to say that birth in water was very interesting and it seemed a bit more relaxing that giving a normal birth. But when we started watching the C-section, I thought I was going to vomit so I had to close my eyes most of the time. Also I didn’t realize that the placenta we were always talking about in class was a very big part so I also got a chance to see it by watching the video.

In my next entry, I will write about baby reflexes.