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Human embryonic development covers the first eight weeks of development, which have 23 stages, called Carnegie stages. At the beginning of the ninth week, the embryo is termed a fetus (spelled "foetus" in British English). In comparison to the embryo, the fetus has more recognizable external features and a more complete set of developing organs.
The embryo upregulates hCG, drives growth of the cell, and upregulates P4 production driving development. hCG and P4 direct changes in the mother to enable successful pregnancy (see below) via upregulation of specific hormones that act to direct both endocrinological and biological changes within the mother for successful pregnancy.
The development of the human embryo follows fertilization, and continues as fetal development. By the end of the tenth week of gestational age, the embryo has acquired its basic form and is referred to as a fetus. The next period is that of fetal development where many organs become fully developed.
During continued fetal development, the early body systems, and structures that were established in the embryonic stage continue to develop. Sex organs begin to appear during the third month of gestation. The fetus continues to grow in both weight and length, although the majority of the physical growth occurs in the last weeks of pregnancy.
Embryonic age: 7 weeks and 0 days until 9 weeks and 6 days old. Fetus at 10 weeks. Embryo measures 30–80 mm (1.2–3.1 in) in length. Ventral and dorsal pancreatic buds fuse during the 8th week; Intestines rotate. Facial features continue to develop. The eyelids are more developed. The external features of the ear begin to take their final shape.
The stages are delineated through the development of structures, not by size or the number of days of development, and so the chronology can vary between species, and to a certain extent between embryos. In the human being, only the first 60 days of development are covered; at that point, the term embryo is usually replaced with the term fetus.
There are three stages of fetal development. The first stage is the germinal stage begins at conception and is the shortest stage. The second stage is the embryonic stage which begins around the third week of pregnancy and ends at the eighth week. The final stage is the fetal stage which begins at the ninth week of pregnancy and lasts until birth.
A fetus or foetus (/ ˈ f iː t ə s /; pl.: fetuses, foetuses, rarely feti or foeti) is the unborn mammalian offspring that develops from an embryo. [1] Following the embryonic stage, the fetal stage of development takes place. Prenatal development is a continuum, with no clear