Life Before Birth

Birth marks not the beginning of life, but a change in location and the means of obtaining food and oxygen. In fact, an individual’s life begins at the moment of conception — normally about 9 months before his or her birthday.

The adventure of life begins at the moment of fertilization — when the sperm and egg unite. At this moment, a complete genetic code for a new, unique human individual is present.

In about six days, the new human life has traveled through the mother's Fallopian tube and reached the uterus, where implantation takes place.

In about three weeks, the baby has a beating heart that is pumping blood through his or her tiny body — often a blood type completely different than the mother's.

Seven weeks after conception — the baby is a recognizable member of the human family, needing just food, oxygen, and love to grow.

By the eighth week, all the body systems are present. The baby's heart has already been beating for several weeks, pumping blood throughout his body.

Eight weeks after conception — the baby is able to feel pain and may be starting to suck her thumb.

At 12 weeks, the new little one looks and acts like a baby. Still very small (less than two inches long), the baby can move freely in the amniotic sac. He or she sleeps and wakes. All bodily systems are present. An ultrasound done at this age shows the little one waking, sleeping, yawning, stretching, and thumbsucking.

At seven months of age, the baby can hear and recognize his mother's voice. He sleeps and wakes and practices breathing the amniotic fluid in and out. Babies born at this stage often survive.

Birth marks a change in the baby's location and  method of obtaining food and oxygen. But nothing else has changed — he or she is still the same human person whose life began nine months earlier.

Educational Resources
(Order these from the web sites of the artist, Linda Brenegan)

Watch Me Grow!
(illustrated brochure showing the baby's progress from conception to birth)

Little One Poster Series
(set of ten 16" x 20" posters showing month by month development)