Week 6 :: My sweet lil' quasi-mermaid

Your tiny manatee has a busy calendar chock full of epic growth and development this week.

The very beginnings of wee hand plates and the early formations of what will be their fingers are already visible! And of course their genius brain is still growing like - well, a brain on fire.

The bottom half of your tiny sea-creature's body will not develop quite as fast, so they're starting to look a little bit like a quasi-mermaid/man with their hand plates on top and flipper legs and tail.

In the past weeks, your sea-monkey has been very curled up with their head and tail in close proximity, but this week their trunk and neck are beginning to grow and straighten as their tail recedes into its resting position in the back.

Even though your little one is only 6 weeks old, they're already capable of demonstrating reflex responses to touch!

Week 5 :: BRAINS! BRAINS! BRAINS!!!

The changes to your growing embryo are not quite as drastic this week as they've been in the last few weeks.

Growth is now focused on your wee manatee's head, which is developing and growing much more rapidly than the rest of their tiny body. This is because their amazing brain is undergoing some very critical changes in order to effectively regulate their heart rate, blood circulation, and other vital functions.

As for the rest of their tiny body, what were only limb buds last week have grown into wee limb flippers this week and their sea-creature tail is even more visible.

Amazingly, within five short weeks of existence, your hard-working miniature manatee is already sporting the rudimentary forms of their liver, pancreas, lungs, stomach and nasal pits while their heart is increasing its circulatory capacity.

And if you were wondering about size, your sea-monkey has grown to an impressive 5 mm in length. Growing like this only happens once in a lifetime!

Week 4 :: When pear baby becomes manatee

By the end of this week the round and pointy ends of your pear-baby will become more defined leaving them looking something like a miniature manatee.

Despite your baby looking like a sea creature without any eyes, ears or mouth, the earliest forms of what will become the larynx, internal ear, and eye lens are already present, although you'd have to be a trained expert to recognize them for what they're going to be in the future.

At the same time, tiny bumps are forming on your little embryo which will eventually become arms, elbows, fingers, legs, knees and toes - in all their miniaturized perfection.

Lastly, your magical sea creature will be sprouting a tiny tail by the end of this week! Don't worry, it's just the end of their developing spinal cord that'll eventually recede into their lower back. 

A microscopic photo would reveal what seems to be their vertebrae filling out the spine and tail. Although they aren't bones yet, but rather, the "bone seeds" that will give rise to your baby's vertebrae, ribs and sternum.

Week 3 :: My teeny tiny miracle pear

Most women are still completely unaware that their body has been hi-jacked by a tiny life-form despite the many wildly dynamic changes taking place inside of them.

Just imagine, your tiny baby is now about the size of sesame seed! Which is massive growth considering that they were but a microscopic pack of cells just two weeks ago.

Even more impressive, your seed baby is now composed of three complex "germ" layers: the ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm, which is just a fancy name for what will one day be your baby's nervous system, vital organs, and skeleton, respectively.

In terms of their looks, your uterus squatter looks something like a very tiny pear, where the round part of the pear will become their head and the pointy part will become their spine.

Undoubtedly the most exciting development of this week is somewhere around the 21st day, when your pear-baby's heart will start to beat! Still, the heart chambers and valves will not be fully developed until approximately 8 weeks.