is the carrying of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or
embryo, inside the uterus of a female human. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or
triplets. Human pregnancy is the most studied of all mammalian pregnancies. Obstetrics is the
medical field that studies and treats pregnant patients.
Childbirth usually occurs about 38 weeks from
fertilization, i.e., approximately 40 weeks from the start of the last menstruation. Thus, pregnancy lasts about nine months, although the exact definition of the English word “pregnancy” is a subject of controversy.
One scientific term for the state of pregnancy is
gravid, and a pregnant female is sometimes referred to as a gravida. Both words are rarely used in common speech. The term embryo is used to describe the developing human during the initial weeks, and the term fetus is used from about two months of development until birth. A woman who is pregnant for the first time is known medically as a primigravida or "gravida 1", while a woman who has never been pregnant is known as "gravida 0". Similarly, the terms "para 0", "para 1" and so on are used for the number of times a woman has given birth. If a woman has never given birth, she is referred to as nulliparous.1
In many societies' medical and legal definitions, human pregnancy is somewhat
arbitrarily divided into three trimester periods, as a means to simplify reference to the different stages of
prenatal development. The first trimester carries the highest risk of
miscarriage (natural death of embryo or fetus). During the second trimester, the development of the fetus can be more easily monitored and diagnosed. The beginning of the third trimester often
approximates the point of viability, or the ability of the fetus to survive, with or without medical help, outside of the uterus.
