First Trimester (0 to 13 Weeks) The first trimester is the most crucial to your baby's development. During this period, your baby's body structure and organ systems develop. Most miscarriages and birth defects occur during this period. Your body also undergoes major changes during the first trimester.
In general, major defects of the body and internal organs are more likely to occur between 3 to 12 embryo / fetal weeks. This is the same as 5 to 14 gestational weeks (weeks since the first day of your last period). This is also referred to as the first trimester.
A miscarriage is the loss of a pregnancy before 20 weeks' gestation. Most miscarriages happen in the first trimester of pregnancy. Chromosomal problems cause most miscarriages.
Most birth defects occur in the first 3 months of pregnancy, when the organs of the baby are forming. This is a very important stage of development. However, some birth defects occur later in pregnancy.
Babies born too early may have more health problems at birth and later in life than babies born later. Being pregnant 39 weeks gives your baby's body all the time it needs to develop.
Warning Signs of Premature Labor
Menstrual-like cramps felt in the lower abdomen that may come and go or be constant. Low dull backache felt below the waistline that may come and go or be constant. Pelvic pressure that feels like your baby is pushing down. This pressure comes and goes.
Most babies (91%) in Australia are born at term (37–41 weeks). This is similar across the states and territories and has been stable over time. Almost 1 in 10 babies (8.3%) were born pre-term and of these the majority were born between 32 and 36 completed weeks.
If “early” means preterm — before 37 weeks of pregnancy — first babies are more likely to be early. Based on live births recorded in the National Survey of Family Growth, about 12% of first babies are born preterm, compared to 10% of other babies.
The most common birth defects are: heart defects. cleft lip/palate. Down syndrome.
February 3rd is the only day where no one in history has ever been born. Despite much scientific study, there is no explanation for this phenomena. Historically it has been referred to as “the empty day” or “nobody's birthday”.
Current supplementation policies designed to prevent neural tube defects may incidentally prevent Down's syndrome, provided a sufficiently high dose of folic acid is used.
Down syndrome occurs in people of all races and economic levels. The risk increases with the mother's age (1 in 1250 for a 25 year old mother to 1 in 1000 at age 31, 1 in 400 at age 35, and about 1 in 100 at age 40). However, 80% of babies with Down syndrome are born to women under age 35 years.
About 95 percent of the time, Down syndrome is caused by trisomy 21 — the person has three copies of chromosome 21, instead of the usual two copies, in all cells. This is caused by abnormal cell division during the development of the sperm cell or the egg cell.
December 25 (Christmas Day) is the least common birthday, while January 1 (New Year's Day) is the second least common. December 24 (Christmas Eve) also makes the list as the 3rd least common birthday while July 4 (Independence Day) is the 4th least common birthday.
So, although the 9th of September is the most common birthday in the world, it's time to look at what may influence more people to conceive nine months before that – that is, mid-December, or the 9th if you'd like to be precise.
The most common birthday is Sept. 9. In second and third place are Sept. 19 and 12. In fact, the entire top 10 list is made of September birthdays between Sept. 9 and 20. Count backward and you're just in time for the holidays, since pregnancy is an average of 40 weeks from last menstruation.
Results: The overall prevalence of major defects at birth was 3.9% among males and 2.8% among females. All but two of the major categories of birth defects (nervous system defects and endocrine system defects) had a higher prevalence among males.
According to the report, Sudan has the most birth defects, with 82 per 1,000 live births, compared with 39.7 in France, which had the lowest number among the 193 countries surveyed.
More than 90% are born two weeks either side of the predicted date. But, as noted above, only 4% (or 4.4%, ignoring pregnancies with complications etc) are born on the predicted date itself - in other words, the chance of this happening is less than one in 20.
Boys are more likely to be born before their due date. After the 40-week mark, however, the odds slightly favor a girl.
About half of first-time mothers will give birth by 40 weeks and 5 days after the first day of their last menstrual period, with the other half giving birth after that time point.