Does anyone know where to search on the web for fetus development while in the womb or anything about pregnancy that I can easily find on the web? I am writing a novel from the POV of the fetus, and I can't quite seem to find what I need.
There is nothing to writing; all you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein~ Red Smith
I think you may be typing in the wrong keywords. I typed in 'fetal development' on Google and it came up with several helpful links. I had a look at some of them and found the one below to be most helpful.
http://www.babycenter.com.au/pregnancy-week-by-week - It details the fetus's development on a week by week basis and goes through conception and everything else. There are of course a lot of other resources out there, but make sure they are reliable. Britannica Online can be good, or any medical related sites. Don't limit yourself to the Internet either, books are a wonderful way to get information. Go visit your local library and look up some books on fetal development and pregnancy if you've got the time.
Can I ask why you're writing from the view of a fetus, I'm just intrigued by that idea.
Previously Flite
'And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.' ― Friedrich Nietzsche
I am writing from a fetus' POV because my favorite type of writing is when you make inanimate things come to life. For example, I wrote a piece about the life of a leaf. I know fetus' are animate because they are human, but we can't see or hear them while they are in the womb; it is like they have they own world in there.
There is nothing to writing; all you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein~ Red Smith
I don't know much about this >.< But you could probably Google (carefully) what it looks or sounds like in the womb, so you'll know how much of the outside world makes it in.
Unborn babies respond more to the mother than to the outside world, so many of their emotions will be based on her hormonal reactions, and most of their world exists in movement or sensory.
The hardest part is the fact that this will eventually become a fully fledged human. With a leaf you can give it as much cognitive ability as you want, since there isn't really a gauge set for leaves. With babies, however, they usually don't start thinking rationally until about the age of two, so you can't be medically accurate and still have a character that can reason or contemplate, and that would be a character much harder to write than a leaf.
Good luck with this, though. It sounds like it could be really interesting! The Lovely Bones is one of my favourite novels and it's written from the perspective of someone who has died. I don't see why a novel written from the perspective of someone not yet born couldn't work just as well.
Pregnancy calenders and week by week things are eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeverywhere. Trust me. I obsessed over them while I was pregnant. XD Go check them out! They're sort of amazing. I flailed with excitement with every single development. Every week, it was like, "OMG. OUR BABY HAS ARMBUDS." Or, "OMG. OUR BABY'S ARMBUDS HAVE GROWN AND NOW BABY HAS FINGERBUDS." It was disgustingly cute how crazy excited I was with all her little developments, trust me. I had a bazillion pregnancy apps on my phone that would tell me what fruit (each of them different, of course) she was as big as. And then, when she started moving, I just got even more excited!
I've only had one kid, but I've heard from other mothers who've had two that the sort of things they do outside the womb, when they are born, kind of match what they do in the womb.
For my kid, she was suuuuuuch a kicker. When she was awake, she would kick. But, because she was really deep inside of me, nobody could really tell. So I would say, "My baby's going to be a black belt, just like her father!" and people would be like, "Yeah. Sure. Whatever." She would even kick when my OBGYN tried to hear her heartbeat to make sure she was okay! BUT. When she came out, guess how she would amuse herself? You guessed it! Kicking! Her legs were so strong... by two weeks, she was able to put her weight on her legs.
Also, she reeeeeeeeeally liked waking up (and staying up) at night and getting up at noon. And, guess what?! She still does (much to her mother's despair, might I add).
When I first felt her, probably around 17 weeks, the movement felt like someone was tickling me from the inside. So I would laugh and joke that she was definitely going to be a funny little girl. And sure enough, she loves to make me laugh because, as soon as I start laughing, she always smiles a biiiiig smile.
Another funny thing that happened... when I was pregnant, I would sing and belt out Broadway songs or whatever was on the radio. I have a different sounding singing voice (which I think is beautiful, but I am biased) that sounds different from my regular voice. Anyway, when Mary was first born, there was this one point in which she was just crying because she missed me and I was finishing up a chore as quickly as I could. I tried talking with her, but she continued crying. I was really upset. So finally, I started singing to her, just like I had done before when I was pregnant. Instantly, she became quiet. She hadn't recognized my voice when I was just talking, but when I started singing, she realized I was around again.
And, when we first saw her on the ultrasound at ten weeks? She kept on spinning around, as if she was in some sort of womb ferris wheel. It was so funny! I might have fallen in love more...
...and now I want to get pregnant again. XD
Things to keep in mind while writing this!
- The womb is a warm, safe, secure environment for the baby in which the baby is continually fed, continually held, and protected. When babies finally come out, they are shocked by how cold the world is, how much effort it is to feed, and how they are not constantly being comforted and held. When you write about what it means to be in the womb, you should emphasize this sort of comfort. When my baby falls asleep in my arms, especially at the very beginning, her whole body relaxes because she knows she is with me, and thus she is safe. A baby would probably feel like that inside the womb. Maybe they don't have the cognitive powers to understand how rare this is or how fleeting this moment will be, but they would probably be happy and content.
- They have freedom of movement in the womb. I spoke of my baby doing ferris wheel moves and spinning around when she was just ten weeks old. It was wonderful. All throughout the pregnancy, I would feel her move and shift and do things, just because she could. Towards the end, it was a little bit cramped for her (and me) but she would still move as much as she could. As soon as she got out of the womb, this changed and at first she couldn't move very much at all. Plus, you could tell that she was frustrated because it was easier to move around in me than it was outside where it was cold.
- They can hear and feel stuff from the outside, but in a muffled sort of way. My baby used to react to music inside, and move around, for instance. If I rubbed my belly when she was being particularly boisterous, she would calm down. When her daddy was there with us and we were talking, she would usually be a lot more active. Furthermore, she probably heard the inside of me... my stomach gurgling or my heartbeat or whatever, and that was probably comforting to her.
- I know... I know... there is a tendency for people to say that fetuses are just inanimate blob of cells. But, they do respond to things and their movements change. They sleep and are awake at different times and, eventually if the pregnancy progresses that far, you can get a feeling when this happens. I know that there were several times at night when I was asleep that my husband would touch my belly and feel her kicking inside, since he knew she would be active around that time. They stretch out in different ways and respond to different things differently. And, according to my mother, when she had me and my brother (we were twins) we responded to each other quite a lot. When we were finally born, we used to hold each other's hands in the crib while we slept. Something we couldn't do in the womb... maybe we were glad about that? I don't know. But it's a cute idea. So, they are not inanimate blobs but living, reacting beings that are still growing up.
ANYWAY. As you probably guessed, I love talking about babies and pregnancy. If you have anymore questions, you can throw them my way.
EDIT: Also, Umbert the Unborn can be very funny. I love the womb service comics, in particular! SO TRUE.
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
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