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A kick chart is a form or graph used by a pregnant woman in the later stages to record the activity of her fetus. [1] If too few kicks are felt within a specified time (usually 12 hours) this could indicate a problem. [1] A frequent question posed by midwives is how "many times has the baby kicked in the last twelve hours?"
Fetal movement refers to motion of a fetus caused by its own muscle activity. Locomotor activity begins during the late embryological stage and changes in nature throughout development . Muscles begin to move as soon as they are innervated .
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.
Fetal viability refers to a point in fetal development at which the fetus may survive outside the womb. The lower limit of viability is approximately 5 + 3 ⁄ 4 months gestational age and is usually later. [20] There is no sharp limit of development, age, or weight at which a fetus automatically becomes viable. [21]
Some degree of weight gain is expected during pregnancy. The enlarging uterus, growing fetus, placenta, amniotic fluid, normal increase in body fat, and increase in water retention all contribute weight gain during pregnancy. The amount of weight gain can vary from 5 pounds (2.3 kg) to over 100 pounds (45 kg).
A baby's chances for survival increases 3 to 4 percentage points per day between 23 and 24 weeks of gestation, and about 2 to 3 percentage points per day between 24 and 26 weeks of gestation. After 26 weeks the rate of survival increases at a much slower rate because survival is high already. [16]
The growth rate of an embryo and infant can be reflected as the weight per gestational age, and is often given as the weight put in relation to what would be expected by the gestational age. A baby born within the normal range of weight for that gestational age is known as appropriate for gestational age (AGA).
Fetal height, fetal weight, head circumference (HC), crown to rump length (CR), dermatological observations like skin thickness etc. are measured individually to assess the growth and development of the organs and the fetus as a whole and can be a parameter for normal or abnormal development also including adaptation of the fetus to its newer ...