The artist looks at pregnancy from the inside with nine large sculptures depicting the development of a fetus from 22 days to just before birth.

They have been carved in a pink marble whose mottling conveys the fine veins below the growing child’s skin.
The embryo works continue Quinn’s fascination with issues of genetics and DNA manipulation and have been developed from images in medical textbooks and scans of the 43-year-old artist’s own two children, aged six and two.

The show runs until 23 February.

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PHOTOCREDIT:ALEXLENTATI

The researchers at QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation compared more than 15,000 ultrasounds done on fetuses between 13 and 26 weeks gestation to air pollution levels within a 14km radius of the city of Brisbane.

“The study found that mothers with a higher exposure to air pollution had fetuses that were, on average, smaller in terms of abdominal circumference, head circumference and femur length,” said Dr Adrian Barnett, senior research fellow Queensland University of Technology

“To our knowledge this is the first study of its kind as it uses ultrasound measurement as a direct estimate of growth, rather than using birth weight as a delayed measure of growth. When analysing scans from women at different distances to monitoring sites, we found that there was a negative relationship between pollutants such as sulphur dioxide found in diesel emissions, and ultrasound measurement. If the pollution levels were high the size of the fetus decreased significantly,” said Dr Barnett.”

Fetus size during pregnancy is important because babies that were born bigger tend to be healthier in childhood and adulthood.

“Birth weight is a major predictor of later health, for example, bigger babies have been shown to have higher IQs in childhood and lower risk of cardiovascular disease in adulthood,” he said.

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This video shows your baby from conception to birth. It is done via 3D modeling with animation.

It is the most extensive video I have ever seen on fetal development. The students list all changes each week with an approximate weight at each stage.

Many women don’t understand how they gain so much weight when the baby only weighs 7lbs (average). Aside from the fact that you are probably gaining some extra weigh with the new foods you may have introduced to your diet, there are other factors that add to your pregnancy weight gain.

Pregnancy Weight Breakdown
Average Baby	7.5 pounds
Placenta	1.3 pounds
Amniotic Fluid	2.2 pounds
Uterus Growth	2.2 pounds
Enlarged Breasts	1.1 pounds
Expanded Blood Volume	3.3 pounds
Maternal fat stores	6.6 pounds
Retained water	3.3 pounds
TOTAL	27.5 POUNDS

Women who begin pregnancy at a normal weight and who are expecting one baby usually are advised to gain 25 to 35 pounds over nine months. Women of normal weight who are expecting twins are usually advised to gain 35 to 45 pounds. Women pregnant with triplets should probably aim for a gain of 50 to 60 pounds.

Studies show that gaining enough weight in the first 20 to 24 weeks of pregnancy is especially important for women carrying multiples. In a twin pregnancy, a gain of at least 24 pounds by the 24th week of pregnancy helps reduce the risk of having preterm and low-birthweight babies. A good early weight gain may be especially important in multiple gestations because these pregnancies tend to be shorter than singleton pregnancies. Studies also suggest that a good early weight gain aids in development of the placenta, possibly improving its ability to pass along nutrients to the babies.

SOURCE:MARCHOFDIMES, NESTLEBABY

I get a lot of requests for a general idea of how big the fetus is inside the uterus. I found this chart at babycenter.com and wanted to post it for all of those curious mommies to be.

Gestational Age	Length(US)	Weight (US)	Length(cm)	Weight(cm)
	(crown to rump)		(crown to rump)
8 weeks	0.63 inch	0.04 ounce	1.6 cm	1 gram
9 weeks	0.90 inch	0.07 ounce	2.3 cm	2 grams
10 weeks	1.22 inch	0.14 ounce	3.1 cm	4 grams
11 weeks	1.61 inch	0.25 ounce	4.1 cm	7 grams
12 weeks	2.13 inches	0.49 ounce	5.4 cm	14 grams
13 weeks	2.91 inches	0.81 ounce	7.4 cm	23 grams
14 weeks	3.42 inches	1.52 ounce	8.7 cm	43 grams
15 weeks	3.98 inches	2.47 ounces	10.1 cm	70 grams
16 weeks	4.57 inches	3.53 ounces	11.6 cm	100 grams
17 weeks	5.12 inches	4.94 ounces	13 cm	140 grams
18 weeks	5.59 inches	6.70 ounces	14.2 cm	190 grams
19 weeks	6.02 inches	8.47 ounces	15.3 cm	240 grams
20 weeks	6.46 inches	10.58 ounces	16.4 cm	300 grams
	(crown to heel)		(crown to heel)
20 weeks	10.08 inches	10.58 ounces	25.6 cm	300 grams
21 weeks	10.51 inches	12.70 ounces	26.7 cm	360 grams
22 weeks	10.94 inches	15.17 ounces	27.8 cm	430 grams
23 weeks	11.38 inches	1.10 pound	28.9 cm	501 grams
24 weeks	11.81 inches	1.32 pound	30 cm	600 grams
25 weeks	13.62 inches	1.46 pound	34.6 cm	660 grams
26 weeks	14.02 inches	1.68 pound	35.6 cm	760 grams
27 weeks	14.41 inches	1.93 pound	36.6 cm	875 grams
28 weeks	14.80 inches	2.22 pounds	37.6 cm	1005 grams
29 weeks	15.2 inches	2.54 pounds	38.6 cm	1153 grams
30 weeks	15.71 inches	2.91 pounds	39.9 cm	1319 grams
31 weeks	16.18 inches	3.31 pounds	41.1 cm	1502 grams
32 weeks	16.69 inches	3.75 pounds	42.4 cm	1702 grams
33 weeks	17.20 inches	4.23 pounds	43.7 cm	1918 grams
34 weeks	17.72 inches	4.73 pounds	45 cm	2146 grams
35 weeks	18.19 inches	5.25 pounds	46.2 cm	2383 grams
36 weeks	18.66 inches	5.78 pounds	47.4 cm	2622 grams
37 weeks	19.13 inches	6.30 pounds	48.6 cm	2859 grams
38 weeks	19.61 inches	6.80 pounds	49.8 cm	3083 grams
39 weeks	19.96 inches	7.25 pounds	50.7 cm	3288 grams
40 weeks	20.16 inches	7.63 pounds	51.2 cm	3462 grams
41 weeks	20.35 inches	7.93 pounds	51.7 cm	3597 grams
42 weeks	20.28 inches	8.12 pounds	51.5 cm	3685 grams
43 weeks	20.20 inches	8.19 pounds	51.3 cm	3717 grams

∗This is an average of the baby’s size. If your baby is bigger or smaller, please don’t be alarmed. Contact your physician if you are concerned about any issues you are having with your pregnancy.

This video is fabulous. It shows you the development of the fetus from 4 weeks straight through to 39 weeks. For every parent who is reading the week by week books to see what stage you baby is at, this video great.

Related Videos:

You Tube “Baby Moving Inside Belly”

You Tube “Pregnancy In 15 seconds”