Mortality Rate and Pregnancy

Fetus Development

The author of this brief report has been asked to answer several questions relating to the development of a fetus after conception and what can happen along the way in terms of issues or external influences. Questions that will be answered to include the major periods and developments in pregnancy, what percentage of pregnancies end in life births, the organism most at risk for firth defects, the role of folic acid when it comes to birth defects, what teratogens are, the difference for a low birth weight baby and a small-for-gestational age baby, how poverty can have an effect on the entire situation and the process that is typified by a normal uncomplicated birth in terms of tests and assessments. While all pregnancies are a work in progress sand are subject to setbacks, there is a normal ebb and flow to a pregnancy and this is usually seen with most pregnancies.

Analysis

As for what the normal stages of a pregnancy happens to be, the Women's Health website from the federal government makes this clear. As many are wont to know, there are three "trimesters" that are part of the pregnancy. Basically, the pregnancy is broken into three different parts of about 11 to 15 weeks. In their first trimester, the woman who is pregnant can become very tired, have tender or swollen breasts and have a headache, among other things. These symptoms ebb and flow over pregnancy. At about four weeks, the heart has begun to form and the legs and arms are starting to sprout. The brain and spinal cord are also forming at four weeks. At eight weeks, the major organs have started to form as are the sex organs, eyes and umbilical cord. At about twelve weeks, the nerves and muscles are starting to work together to the point that a baby can form a fist. At sixteen weeks, the muscle tissues and bones are continuing to develop and the skin of the fetus is starting to grow around the exterior of the child's body. At twenty weeks, the baby is more active and there can be a slight fluttering from the fetus. The eyebrows, fingernails and toenails are all present. At twenty-four weeks, there is the presence of bone marrow and taste buds, among other things. At thirty-two weeks, there is the emergency of the third trimester and many things are wrapping up. For example, the baby's bones are full formed, albeit rather soft. The eyes of the fetus can open and close and the lungs are "practicing" their breathing. When the baby reaches thirty-seven weeks, the baby is considered full term and can likely exist just fine outside of the womb if there is a need to induce labor or the baby otherwise comes early (Women's Health, 2016).

When it comes the amount of births that are live, it would be a little under 99.4%. The Washington Post had a recent article that suggested that the death rate per 1,000 births is 6.1, although there are major variances in some regions such as Alabama. In any event, that 6.1 rate would be about 0.61%. This would mean that 99.39% of births are live. Of course, the rates would vary based on precise location due to things like access to hospitals, the presence of prenatal care facilities, the focus on the same among the local cultures and people and so forth. The Washington Post also points out that the rate for the United States is alarmingly high when compared to many other industrialized countries. Just as a few examples, Finland and Japan are tied for the best with 2.3 and Portugal/Sweden is both 2.5 (Graham, 2016).

When it comes to birth defects, a developing embryo is indeed very susceptible to birth defects. Just a few things that can arise include cerebral palsy, congenital disorders, cytomegalovirus (CMV), fetal alcohol syndrome, genetic disorders, PKU, rubella, spina bifida, teratogens and toxoplasmosis (Human Illnesses, 2016). Folic acid is something that is commonly touted as a way to help avoid birth defects. Planning ahead and using the supplement in advance of and during the pregnancy is seen as a way to prevent birth defects from coming up later on. Some birth defects, such as fetal alcohol syndrome, requires other actions or inactions. However, folic acid is a way to ward off a lot of the ones that are otherwise preventable in an easy fashion (CDC, 2016). As mentioned before, one of the things that can come up in terms of birth defects are teratogens. These are substances that are known or suspected to cause malformations in an embryo. Fetal alcohol syndrome as a birth defect, as mentioned before, is a byproduct of the use of a teratogen, that being alcohol. Three other teratogens that are common include Dilantin, a drug that used to be commonly used to prevent seizures, as well as varicella and other drugs besides alcohol such as crack cocaine and heroin (CHW, 2016). Overall, there are four categories of teratogens. Those would be recreational drugs (e.g. tobacco), prescription or over-the-counter (OTC) drugs (e.g. warfarin), environmental exposure (e.g. pesticide) and infectious diseases (e.g. diabetes, rubella, etc.) (Indiana, 2016).

As for the difference between low birth weight babies and those that are simply small for gestational age, that is indeed an important distinction. As one might imagine, babies that are born with a low birth weight are surely at risk. Premature babies are those that are born before thirty-seven weeks of gestation. This is about three weeks before the normal delivery date for a baby. This can be the result of a number of things including cervical incompetence and other certain clinical conditions. In some cases, there will be the decision by the doctor to induce labor even though the baby is not to term as of yet. Typically, it is done as a way to proactively deliver the child to avoid further issues and/or because allowing a normal term could endanger the baby, for whatever reason. The different with babies that are simply smaller than normal for their gestational age is that they are generally otherwise healthy despite their smaller size. This by no means that the baby is out of the woods despite its small size. It could very well be that there are indeed problems. However, babies that are truly premature and below where they should be and need to be in terms of weight are obviously of more concern although all babies should be monitored and compared to the norm in terms of development, function and weight, just to name a few things (Reed, 2016).