Weeks of
pregnancy
A great gift for any midwife, doula, or pregnant person!
“Week 1”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
The first week of pregnancy isn’t actually “pregnant” at all. Your uterus is shedding the rich lining to prepare for new life.
“Week 2”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Second week the ovaries release an egg to prepare for conception. Great visualization for anyone with PCOS or who is trying to conceive!
“Week 3 - Conception”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
This week, sperm has met egg and, voilà! Your baby was created! While many people believe that the egg passively waits to meet the flood of sperm, recent research shows that eggs are actually quite picky. They choose which sperm to let in.
A favorite illustration! Perfect gift for anyone trying to conceive.
“Week 3 - Implantation”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Sperm and egg fuse and rapidly begin dividing and multiplying into a ball of cells that floats down the fallopian tubes (tubes that connect the ovaries to the uterus) to nestle and implant into the lush uterine wall.
Perfect gift for a birth worker or anyone trying to conceive!
“Week 5”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Even though your baby is tiny, they are already starting to develop their internal organs such as:
heart
lungs
kidneys
nervous system
“Week 6”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Your baby has already started to circulate blood and is continuing to grow vital organs and structures. Your baby's arm and leg buds are forming and starting to protrude from your baby's body.
“Week 7”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Your baby is cushioned by a bubble of amniotic fluid that protects it and gives it room to grow. This bubble, protected by the amniotic sac, will continue to grow with your baby and is created by your baby.
Your baby's brain is already rapidly growing! 100 new brain cells are created every minute.
“Week 8”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Your baby's bones are growing within their body and are starting to ossify (harden). Soon your baby's paddle-like hands and feet will resemble more like fingers and toes. Your baby is starting to look less like a tadpole and more like a human baby.
“Week 9”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Reproductive organs are forming which will determine whether your baby has male or female genitalia, though they are too tiny to see. Your baby is also developing their own sweet facial features.
“Week 10”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Congratulations, your baby is no longer an embryo, they are officially a fetus! This is the next stage of development where the existing organs your baby created continue to develop and grow.
Fingernails are forming and hair is starting to sprout on top of your baby's head. Your baby's brain is rapidly forming as well, as many as 250,000 neurons are created every single minute!
“Week 12”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Congratulations! This week is the last week of your first trimester! Though you can't feel your baby's movement yet, your baby is starting to kick, roll, and squirm in response to your movements. Your baby's intestines have been forming in their umbilical cord because there wasn't enough room inside their body, but now those intestines have enough room to start moving into their tummy.
“Week 14”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Your baby's kidneys are starting to make urine and your baby is starting to grow peach-fuzz-like "fur" all over their body called lanugo. Lanugo helps to hold vernix on your baby's skin to protect them in their watery environment. Vernix is your baby's first "lotion:" A creamy, cheesy substance that helps keep your baby moisturized.
“Week 15”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Smile baby! Your baby is now able to make expressions!
“Week 16”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Sing a lullaby because your baby can now hear the sound of your voice! Your baby's bones are continuing to harden from rubbery cartilage to bone but will still be somewhat flexible to help them fit through the birth canal. If your baby is a girl, you now hold your future grandchildren inside your body. She is forming hundreds of thousands of tiny eggs within her ovaries.
“Week 17”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Your baby is growing muscle and fattening up a bit. This fat is important for storing calories and keeping baby warm. Your amazing placenta is about the same size as your baby and is nourishing and protecting them.
“Week 18”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Your baby is behaving like, well, a baby. Complete with hiccups, wiggling, sucking, swallowing, and facial expressions. The two things your baby hears most are the sound of your voice (and the voice of your partner/friend/family) and the whooshing noise of the blood coursing through the placenta.
“Week 19”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Hello baby! Around the 18th or 19th week of pregnancy you may feel the flutters and stirrings of your baby's movements. If you have an anterior placenta (a placenta that implants at the front of your uterus) you may have extra cushioning that makes it difficult to feel your baby's movements until later. Don't worry if you don't feel anything yet!
Your baby's heart is beating about double what yours is (120-160 beats per minute). Your baby's first "moisturizer," called vernix, is forming on your baby's skin to protect it and help them keep in body heat.
“Week 20”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Congratulations! You've reached 20 weeks, roughly the half-point of your pregnancy. Your "due" date is calculated at the 40 week mark, but baby is considered full term at 37 weeks. A normal range for pregnancy is 37-42 weeks. That's a window of over a month that your baby could be born in! Don't get too attached to your "due" date (call it a "guess"date), it's not an expiration date! On average, people pregnant for the first time tend to go about 10 days past the "guess" date.
Often you will have a 20-week ultrasound that will check to make sure your baby is growing normally and all their organs and systems are where they are supposed to be.
“Week 22”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Up until this point your baby's skin has been pretty see-through. Now, as they are filling in, the skin becoming more opaque (you can't see through it). Your baby also is starting to have sleep/wake cycles, just like a newborn!
“Week 24”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Around this time you may have your glucose screening test to test for Gestational Diabetes. Typically, you are asked to fast (not eat) and then consume a set amount of sugar. Exactly one hour later, your midwife or doctor will draw your blood to check your glucose levels. If you "fail" your first test, try not to worry. The first test usually has a high false-positive, meaning you may test positive for Gestational Diabetes and not actually have it. This would mean you need to go in for a three-hour glucose test which is more accurate, but more inconvenient so they don't recommend every person do it.
“Week 25”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
At this point you are likely feeling lots of kicks and rolls as your baby explores their watery world. They are also learning which way is up and which is down and may babies will migrate towards a head-down position to prepare for birth. While most babies present head-first, some babies decide butt first is the way to go. This is called breech presentation. While there are different risk factors to consider with a breech baby, it is possible for baby to be born vaginally with a skilled care provider.
“Week 26”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Your baby is building their immune system, soaking up your antibodies. Your baby already has eyelashes, even if the eyelids aren't open yet.
Breathe a sigh of relief! Although not ideal, babies born at this week or after have a pretty good survival rate, though it may require weeks in the NICU and other medical interventions. The longer your baby can stay in the womb up to 42 weeks the better!
“Week 27”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Congratulations, you're through your Second Trimester! Your baby's eyes are continuing to develop, forming their retinas, and the membrane that covers the eyes is splitting to create eyelids. Soon your baby will be able to open their eyes in the womb, though it's dark and watery.
“Week 28”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Your baby's skin is starting to smooth out as they put on more fat in preparation for life on the outside. Your baby eyes are now open!
“Week 30”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
From this point on your baby should gain about a half pound per week!
“Week 31”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Your baby's bone marrow is now producing red blood cells. Before this point the liver had this task.
“Week 32”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
By now all of your baby's organs are fully functioning, except the lungs which still need to develop a bit more as you tick closer to your birth.
If your baby were born now they would have an excellent chance of thriving with just a little medical help, but of course it's best for babies to cook at least until 37-42 weeks. Labor is usually started by a chain reaction of hormones started by the baby when the lungs develop, so it's best to let baby decide when to be born if there are no other complications.
“Week 33”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Your baby looks less like a miniature alien and more like a tiny newborn as they add some more chubby fat. Your baby can now tell the difference between light and dark, though it's still pretty dark inside.
“Week 34”
Pen and ink, watercolor - 8x8”
Your baby's bones are now completely formed. The bones of your baby's skull aren't fused together yet. These plates form indentations in their skull called "fontanelles" or "sutures." This helps baby fit through the birth canal and is why many babies appear "cone-headed," but don't worry, their heads don't stay that way for long! The bones of the skull don't fuse until early adulthood when your kid's brain has stopped growing.