The sixth week of pregnancy has come. It is from this point in many women begin early toxicosis: nausea and vomiting in the morning, changing taste, the desire to eat something salty. The age of the fetus at 6 weeks of gestation is only 4 weeks (as fertilization occurs 2 weeks after the start of the obstetric period). A future mother is probably eager to find out what an embryo is about 6 weeks old, how it looks and develops.
Embryo development 6 weeks
If you remember, last week the kid looked like a hollow tube. By the end of the sixth week, the neural tube of the embryo is tightened. This is one of the most important moments of pregnancy: if complete closure does not occur, the child can be born with severe developmental malformations. Scientists managed to establish that folic acid has a great influence on the process of neural tube formation. That is why obstetrician-gynecologists all over the world prescribe a mandatory intake of folic acid for pregnant and planning pregnancy for women - dosage is only important to observe correctly.
After closing the head end of the neural tube, the formation of the brain and spinal cord begins. Somites, formed last week, gradually begin their transformation into a vertebral column and ribs. Appear the first, as yet cartilaginous, bones. At the 6th week of pregnancy, the embryo acquires the rudiments of the arms and legs. Now the future limbs look like small knobs, with the handles appearing slightly before the legs and forming faster.
At the embryo 5-6 weeks already beats a tiny, no more poppy dew, a heart. While it is immature and represents a curved tube, it is already pulsating, distilling the baby's blood to the forming placenta. The fetal heartbeat at week 6 can already be registered with the help of a modern ultrasensitive ultrasound sensor.
In addition, the embryo of 6 weeks begins to form the intestine, there are rudiments of vital organs (lungs, liver, thyroid and pancreas). On the sides of the head are formed sensory organs: ear cavities and visual vesicles - future ears and eyes. Although the person as such is not yet, there are rudiments of the mouth and nose. Vocal cords, inner ear, retina and lens of the eye are formed.
The embryo of 6-7 weeks is no more than a bilberry or rice berries: its length from the crown to the coccyx is only 2-4 mm. A tiny little man hovers in the amniotic fluid, the volume of which is 2-3 ml. He is connected with the mother by the umbilical cord and the future placenta, which is still much larger than the baby itself.