Pregnancy is a beautiful topic to explore with children and it is best approached with honesty and candor.

Children love learning the facts about pregnancy – from fertilisation to birth – and will be excited by the fascinating details.

Here are ten cool facts about pregnancy to share with your kids.

1. All babies start as a tiny egg inside the mother, an egg so small you can’t see it unless you use a magnifying glass.

Every month an egg is pushed out of a little pouch inside the mother’s belly called the ovary and it travels through a fallopian tube into the

uterus. Once the egg is fertilised, it begins to divide. One cell becomes two, two becomes four, four becomes eight, and so on.

2. When a sperm from the father merges with the egg inside the mother, this is the moment when a new human life begins!

Even though the fertilised egg is no bigger than a grain of sand, it still contains all of the information that makes this new person different from anyone else. From the moment the sperm and egg join together, it is determined whether the new baby is a boy or a girl, what colour eyes it will have, and whether its hair will be curly or straight.

3. It takes nine months for the egg to grow into a fully developed baby ready to be born.

Nine months is a long time if you compare it to a chipmunk baby, which is only inside its mother for one month, and it’s a short time if you compare it to an elephant, which grows inside its mother for two whole years!

4. By the end of the 3rd month, the baby will be roughly the size of a lemon and will have all of his or her body parts – head, body, arms, legs, fingers and toes.

The baby can move its legs and wave its arms, but the baby is still so tiny that the mother can not feel the movements inside her.

5. The baby does not breathe inside the belly. Instead, the baby receives oxygen and nutrients through the umbilical cord.

The umbilical cord is connected to the placenta, an organ that provides oxygen and nutrients and removes waste products from the baby’s blood. The umbilical cord enters the baby through its belly. Our bellybuttons mark the spot where the umbilical cord was once connected to us when we were inside our mother’s belly.

6. By the end of the 4 th month, the baby will be able to hear the mother’s heartbeat and even some sounds and voices from outside the belly!

When the baby is born, he or she will be able to recognise its mother’s voice and the familiar voices of other family members.

7. By month seven, the baby is big enough that when it moves, you can feel it from the outside.

You can even watch the mother’s belly move and jiggle! And sometimes the baby will get the hiccups and you can feel those too.

8. By the 8 th month, the baby will be curled up in a fetal position and will have positioned itself upside down in the mother’s belly.

Most babies turn themselves upside down because it is the best position for them to be born. However, some babies still have their head up and their feet down – this is called the ‘breech position’.

9. The baby is born through the mother’s vagina (but not always).

When the baby is ready to be born, it is squeezed out of the womb and into a narrow passage called the birth canal and out through the vagina. Most babies are born with their head first and then their body follows. In some cases, it is necessary for the doctor to perform a caesarean section, in which the doctor will make a small cut in the mother’s belly and gently pull the baby out. In either case, as soon as the baby is born he or she will take its first breath of air!

10. What started out as one tiny cell is now a newborn baby made up of trillions of cells, and it all happened in just nine months!

How is mummy feeling?

Month 1 – How is Mummy Feeling?

Amazingly, all of this is taking place inside the mother’s belly and is completely invisible from the outside. At this early stage, even though a lot is happening inside her body, the mother will most likely not feel any different at all!

Month 3 – How is Mummy Feeling?

The doctor or midwife regularly checks the health of the mother and listens to the heartbeat of the baby. He or she has a special machine, called a scanner, which can be used to see inside the mummy’s tummy and show a picture of the baby on a screen. The parents will see their baby on a screen for the first time, which is a very special moment! The parents might start to share the news about the pregnancy.

Month 7 – How is Mummy Feeling?

Often when Mummy sits still or lies down, the baby wakes up and becomes more active. The baby is big enough now that when he’s active you might be able to see the mummy’s belly move and jiggle!

When Mummy moves around or goes for a walk, the baby is rocked to sleep.

Month 9 – How is Mummy Feeling?

Like a mother bird prepares her nest before she lays eggs, the mother will also start to prepare for her baby’s arrival, most likely setting up a cosy bed for the baby with soft, clean blankets. She will also have bought nappies and tiny clothes for the baby, ensuring that everything is ready. And then she will wait…!

About the book

9 Months is an illustrated, fact-based book to prepare your child for the arrival of their new baby brother or sister. It is a month-by-month guide to pregnancy for the family to share.

The book is perfect for parents and expectant mothers who want a natural and comfortable way of explaining the process of pregnancy and childbirth to their children.

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Image via Getty

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