Fetus (3rd Trimester)

In the final stages of pregnancy, the fetus becomes capable of life outside the womb. Fat begins to accumulate, filling out a scrawny body and preparing the baby for warmth in the outside world. The normal fetus gains three to four pounds during the eighth and ninth months. At the time of birth, a normal fetus is so big that it has almost outgrown its food supply, since the placenta has stopped growing and cannot keep up with the growing need for nourishment. In the last three months, the brain develops very rapidly. In the last two months, a fatty substance called "myelin" develops. This speeds up the transmission of nervous impulses and forms a sheath around the nerve fibers. All this time, the baby is becoming more attractive because of weight gain. It sheds the down which covers most of the body and the hair on its head may grow very long - long enough, in fact, that the mother may tie a ribbon in a female baby's hair right after birth. To "cut the umbilical cord," when applied to adults, means to become independent of the parents. The navel, which is all that remains of the umbilical cord after birth, is a word derived from "nave" (or "nafe" in Anglo-Saxon), meaning "the hub of a wheel." The navel was named from the belief that it was the center of the human body.