Development of the Baby
Let us herald the exciting development as your little baby grows inside you: At 12 weeks, the baby can perform acrobatic movements in the womb. At 12 weeks, your baby can climb inside your uterus, stand upside down, stretch backwards, or even flip over. He can kick with his tiny legs. He makes boxing movements with his arms. He’s probably having a lot of fun inside and he’s in a good mood.
At 12 weeks pregnant, your baby’s organs have already taken their place and are continuing to develop. The placenta and umbilical cord maintain their function perfectly. His kidneys have been working just fine for a few weeks. Your baby swallows the amniotic fluid it grew in and filters it through its intestines and kidneys, releasing it back into the gestational sac as urine. Don’t worry; since your baby’s kidney system does not have a filtering function yet, it does not remove waste materials from the body with urine. For this reason, it does not cause any damage to the amniotic fluid. On the contrary, as the gestational sac grows, it contributes to the increase of valuable amniotic fluid in the sac. The waste materials reach the placenta through the umbilical cord from the baby’s body and are transported to the mother’s blood. The weight of the amniotic fluid is 30-40 milliliters at week 12. In the middle of pregnancy, this amount approaches half a liter. When the pregnancy is completed, it comes to about 1 liter.
In addition, the amniotic fluid contains tissues such as hair, hair and nails that fall out of the body as your baby grows. In this way, the chromosome structure of the babies can be examined with the application of amniocentesis, that is, the process of taking samples from the amniotic fluid with a needle.
In the 12th week of pregnancy, your baby continues to try to breathe in water in a way that contributes to the development of his/her lungs, and he/she can even hiccup since last week.
Some of the baby’s body systems have been working for the past few weeks. This week he may move or even curl his fingers faster. He/she can open and close his/her fingers faster. Some babies can even suck their thumbs at 12 weeks. He can squeeze his eyes.
Many of the 12-week baby movements are in the form of reflexes. But as their muscles develop, they will gradually begin to respond to brain signals. For example, as you touch your belly and press it slightly, your baby will feel it too.
At 12 weeks of pregnancy, the baby’s genitals and reproductive system continue to develop. Fingernails and toenails continue to develop.
His cartilaginous bones had begun to harden in bone forms in recent weeks. This development will continue in the 12th week.
At the 12th week of gestation, a thin layer of hair began to form in many parts of your baby’s body.
During the embryo phase, the egg sac that first feeds the baby, that is, the yolk sac, disappears in 12-13 weeks.
Ultrasound Image
The 12-week-old baby image is very clear as if it had been photographed on a 4-dimensional ultrasound. Your baby’s head is no longer half the size of her body, so her body has begun to grow. She now has a more proportionate body! It can stand steeper than its curvy form, which looks like a comma in recent weeks.
You can see your baby sobbing in the 12-week gestational ultrasound image.
In the 12-week ultrasound image, it can be seen that your baby’s face develops much more clearly; his nose, mouth, upper lip, ears and eyes are more prominent. If you have a doctor’s appointment this week and you saw your baby on the profile, you may find yourself making comments about who she looks like…
Your doctor can make you listen to the heartbeat on the ultrasound image of the 12-week-old baby. You might be amazed at his heart rate. The heart rate of babies in these weeks is 120-160 beats.
In the ultrasound scan performed at 12 weeks of pregnancy, the doctor can tell whether the twin babies are identical twins or fraternal twins. It does this by looking at the thickness of the tissue that separates the pouch from each other. Although there is a thin amniotic membrane between them in these weeks, it is stated that twin babies feel each other through touch.
Changes in the Mother's Body
You are close to completing the 4th month of your pregnancy.
In the 12th week of pregnancy, your uterus grew to the size of a large grapefruit. It’s normal to feel occasional muscle aches on your sides as your uterus grows.
Among the changes in the mother at 12 weeks of pregnancy, here is one of the positive developments: Since last week, your uterus has settled a little higher, you will feel a relief in your bladder.
During pregnancy, you should have the dual test (11-14 test) within a few weeks. In this test, the thickness of your baby’s nape will be examined.
At the 12th week of pregnancy, nausea and fatigue may decrease in some pregnant women. This can be replaced by a feeling of revival and being energetic.
If your blood type is Rh negative and your partner’s blood type is Rh positive, you may have some problems both during pregnancy and with your baby. Your doctor will perform the necessary applications during pregnancy and after birth.
Points need to be considered
It is important that you have a complete blood count at twelve weeks of pregnancy in order to determine the missing vitamins and minerals in your body.
If you did not start last week, you should definitely start taking iron tablets at the 12th week of pregnancy. If your doctor has forgotten to recommend iron supplements, remind them and consult them. Otherwise, you may experience anemia. This can make you feel sluggish. In addition, with iron supplementation, you take a big precaution against the possibility of excessive bleeding at birth.
In the 12th week of pregnancy, if your breasts hurt, applying an organic nipple cream to the entire breast every day, which you can use after birth, can help you relax. Do not extend the application time of the cream. Because a long-lasting application in the form of massage can cause effects that will initiate labor, as it will cause a feeling of arousal in your breasts.
From the 12th week of pregnancy, you may get tired quickly and be out of breath. This is due to the increased oxygen demand of the body. This can be triggered when you exercise. Don’t forget to rest and take small breaks in between.
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