Gynecology and Obstetrics

Pregnancy and Child Birth

Pregnancy is the term that is used to define a period of time in which the fetus grows and develops inside the mother’s womb. This period usually lasts about 40 weeks or 9 months. Pregnancy period is divided in to 3 trimesters. The first trimester lasts for 1-12 weeks. It is the phase where the zygote is formed from cluster of cells and gets converted into fetus. The second trimester lasts up to 28 weeks. It is the phase where we can detect the birth defects of the fetus through ultrasound, footprints are formed and sleep wake cycle begins. The third trimester lasts up to 40 weeks. The infants born in the week 40 is considered to be a full-term baby. The pregnancy stage ends with the child birth or labor. The child birth is scheduled as three stages. The first stage is shortening or the opening of the cervix followed by child birth in the second stage which is followed by delivery of the placenta. The strong uterine contractions are induced by the hormone oxytocin.