During pregnancy, the woman undergoes many physiological changes, which are entirely normal, including cardiovascular, hematologic, metabolic, renal and respiratory changes that become very important in the event of complications. The body must change its physiological and homeostatic mechanisms in pregnancy to ensure the fetus is provided for. Increases in blood sugar, breathing and cardiac output are all required. Levels of progesterone and oestrogens rise continually throughout pregnancy, suppressing the hypothalamic axis and subsequently the menstrual cycle.
The fetus inside a pregnant woman may be viewed as an unusually successful allograft, since it genetically differs from the woman. The main reason for this success is an increased maternal immune tolerance during pregnancy.
Pregnancy is typically broken into three periods, or trimesters, each of about three months. Obstetricians define each trimester as lasting for 14 weeks, resulting in a total duration of 42 weeks, although the average duration of pregnancy is actually about 40 weeks. While there are no hard and fast rules, these distinctions are useful in describing the changes that take place over time.
Minute ventilation is increased by 40% in the first trimester. The womb will grow to the size of a lemon by eight weeks. Many symptoms and discomforts of pregnancy (further described in later sections) appear in the first trimester.
Weeks 13 to 28 of the pregnancy are called the second trimester. Most women feel more energized in this period, and begin to put on weight as the symptoms of morning sickness subside and eventually fade away. The uterus, the muscular organ that holds the developing fetus, can expand up to 20 times its normal size during pregnancy.
Although the fetus begins to move and takes a recognizable human shape during the first trimester, it is not until the second trimester that movement of the fetus, often referred to as "quickening", can be felt. This typically happens in the fourth month, more specifically in the 20th to 21st week, or by the 19th week if the woman has been pregnant before. It is common for some women not to feel the fetus move until much later. During the second trimester, most women begin to wear maternity clothes
Final weight gain takes place, which is the most weight gain throughout the pregnancy. The woman's abdomen will transform in shape as it drops due to the fetus turning in a downward position ready for birth. During the second trimester, the woman's abdomen would have been very upright, whereas in the third trimester it will drop down quite low, and the woman will be able to lift her abdomen up and down. The fetus begins to move regularly, and is felt by the woman. Fetal movement can become quite strong and be disruptive to the woman. The woman's navel will sometimes become convex, "popping" out, due to her expanding abdomen.
Head engagement, where the fetal head descends into cephalic presentation, relieves pressure on the upper abdomen with renewed ease in breathing. It also severely reduces bladder capacity, and increases pressure on the pelvic floor and the rectum.
It is also during the third trimester that maternal activity and sleep positions may affect fetal development due to restricted blood flow. For instance, the enlarged uterus may impede blood flow by compressing the lower pressured vena cava, with the left lateral positions appearing to providing better oxygenation to the infant.
Since these are spread over a significant period of time, the duration of pregnancy necessarily depends on the date selected as the starting point chosen.
As measured on a reference group of women with a menstrual cycle of exactly 28-days prior to pregnancy, and who had spontaneous onset of labor, the mean pregnancy length has been estimated to be 283.4 days of gestational age as timed from the first day of the last menstrual period as recalled by the mother, and 280.6 days when the gestational age was retrospectively estimated by obstetric ultrasound measurement of the fetal biparietal diameter (BPD) in the second trimester. Other algorithms take into account a variety of other variables, such as whether this is the first or subsequent child (i.e., pregnant woman is a primipara or a multipara, respectively), the mother's race, parental age, length of menstrual cycle, and menstrual regularity), but these are rarely used by healthcare professionals. In order to have a standard reference point, the normal pregnancy duration is generally assumed to be 280 days (or 40 weeks) of gestational age.
There is a standard deviation of 8–9 days surrounding due dates calculated with even the most accurate methods. This means that fewer than 5 percent of births occur on the day of being 40 weeks of gestational age; 50 percent of births are within a week of this duration, and about 80 percent are within 2 weeks. For the estimation of due date, mobile apps essentially always give consistent estimations compared to each other and correct for leap year, while pregnancy wheels made of paper can differ from each other by 7 days and generally do not correct for leap year.
The most common system used among healthcare professionals is Naegele's rule, which was developed in the early 19th century. This calculates the expected due date from the first day of the last normal menstrual period (LMP or LNMP) regardless of factors known to make this inaccurate, such as a shorter or longer menstrual cycle length. Pregnancy most commonly lasts for 40 weeks according to this LNMP-based method, assuming that the woman has a predictable menstrual cycle length of close to 28 days and conceives on the 14th day of that cycle.
As measured from the day of ovulation, the average time to birth has been estimated to be 268 days (38 weeks and two days), with a coefficient of variation of 3.7%.
Accurate dating of pregnancy is important, because it is used in calculating the results of various prenatal tests, (for example, in the triple test). A decision may be made to induce labour if a fetus is perceived to be overdue. Furthermore, if LMP and ultrasound dating predict different respective due dates, with the latter being later, this might signify slowed fetal growth and therefore require closer review.
The stage of pregnancy defined as the beginning of legal fetal viability varies around the world. It sometimes incorporates weight as well as gestational age. It ranges from 16 weeks in Norway, to 20 weeks in the US and Australia, 24 weeks in the UK and 26 weeks in Italy and Spain.