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From the moment a woman learns she is pregnant, she is filled with a mix of emotions ranging from joy and excitement to fear and apprehension. And unfortunately, no matter how much research or preparation you do, it’s impossible to fully prepare yourself for the changes that come with becoming a parent.
To help enlighten and inform expecting parents, let’s take a look at some interesting facts about pregnancy, delivery, and newborns to help you better understand the entire process.
Only 5% of babies are born on their due date
While you might think most babies are born on their due date, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Most babies are born within a week of their due date but the rest are born either well before or well after.
While we use nine months as a guideline, there really is no exact science behind when a baby will be born. That’s why it’s important to be prepared a few weeks before your due date and a few weeks after.
Unless you’re having a C-section on an exact date, your baby’s due date will ultimately remain unknown until it happens.
Newborns also have more bones than adults.
Adults have 206 bones in their bodies but babies are actually born with around 300. That’s quite a bit more. Why is this the case? It’s because some of the bones in their bodies will fuse together as they get older so the number of bones will eventually go down.
The bones of the skull are some of the major bones that end up fusing together as your baby becomes older.
Babies Can Hear in the Womb
Another interesting fact about newborns is that they can hear while in the womb. They can hear outside noises, their mother’s voice, and any music being played. This is often why they recognize their mother’s voice after they are born and feel so comforted by it.
Your Blood Volume Goes Up When You’re Pregnant
When you’re pregnant, your blood volume goes up significantly. While it’s understandable that your blood volume would go up because you’re making a whole new human, it actually increases by 40-50%. Besides helping your baby grow in the womb, it also helps support the extra oxygen needed for a healthy pregnancy.
The Uterus Expands Quite A Bit
This might be obvious but you may be surprised by how much the uterus actually expands during pregnancy. During the first trimester, the uterus is about the size of an orange, and by the third trimester, it can be as big as a watermelon.
It also gets much heavier as well. By the end of pregnancy, it can weigh as much as two pounds. Considering it usually weighs an ounce, that’s quite an increase in weight.
Your Baby Only Makes Up Part Of Your Weight Gain
Gaining weight is a well-known part of pregnancy, but while you may think that weight is mostly the baby, that’s not entirely true. Your baby typically makes up only about 8 pounds of that weight gain.
The rest comes from fat, protein, amniotic fluid, blood, breasts, and other body fluids. The amniotic fluid is about two pounds, extra blood can be four pounds, the placenta is about a pound and a half, and extra fat and proteins can make up anywhere from six to eight pounds.
Babies Have Taste Buds In The Womb
At about eight weeks of gestation, the human fetus starts to determine one taste from another as the taste buds are formed. At fourteen weeks, they will begin to notice the taste molecules in the amniotic fluid. So after your baby is born, they have had taste buds for several months.
Pregnancy Requires More Calories
The fact that you need to eat more when you’re pregnant is well-known but how many extra calories do you actually need? It’s not as much as you may think. You really only need about 300 extra calories per day.
Where those calories come from also matters. Getting 300 calories from a bag of chips does not provide your baby with the necessary nutrients. And if they aren’t getting the nutrients from the food you’re eating, they will take it from your own body.
Schedule An Appointment
If you’re looking to learn more about pregnancy, delivery, and newborns or are looking for an experienced OBGYN for your upcoming pregnancy, Dr. Tepper and the team at Alex Tepper MD is more than happy to answer any questions and concerns you may have.
To schedule an appointment, call our New York, NY office today at 212-828-0900 or use our online contact form.
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Whether you are a new or returning patient, Dr. Tepper can assess your concerns and discuss your options to find the most comfortable and convenient care for you. To get started, call our office to set up an appointment.
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