April 2008 Birth Club

This is the month of the heartbeat. Using a special tool called a Doppler monitor, doctors can detect the tiny thump-thumps of a 10-week-old fetus.

This is also a time of rapid growth inside the womb. By month’s end, the fetus will weight roughly 1 ounce, and it will double in length, uncurling from a tight C-position until it’s about 3 inches long. The tail will disappear and its eyelids, earlobes, limbs and digits will continue to form.

Other developmental milestones for this period include thumb-sucking, head-nodding and balling tiny fingers into fists. And though the fetus’s reproductive organs now are under construction, it’s still a bit early for the doctor’s gender declaration. That news (should you want it) usually arrives early in pregnancy’s second trimester.

Get out the headphones and tune the radio dial to Mozart—this month, the fetus can hear its mother’s heartbeat, her voice and other outside noises. The fetus is also developing at warp speed; by now, all its major organs are complete.

In addition, its bones are growing stronger and its muscles longer. Its reflexes also are sharpening up—it can now swallow, kick and execute an occasional somersault with relative ease. And by month’s end, the baby-to-be will weigh around 6 ounces and stretch some 7 inches long. Sweat glands will dot its palms and soles, and its wrinkly skin will shine transparent pink.

At this stage, the baby-to-be may look like a complete package, but it still has a few more months of growing to do. By the end of month four, most doctors can perform an ultrasound test and identify the baby’s gender.