Life Unto Life™: New Display to Highlight
the Importance of Early Prenatal Care
For health educators, helping expectant parents understand the importance of early prenatal care is key to ensuring the healthiest outcomes for both mother and baby.
The first 16 weeks of pregnancy (including the first trimester and the beginning of the second trimester) set the foundation for fetal development and a healthy pregnancy. These weeks include crucial milestones in the development of the fetal organs and the placenta. They also are an important time to help mothers establish healthy habits that will affect their entire pregnancy.
By effectively communicating the significance of the early weeks of pregnancy to expectant parents, health educators play an invaluable role in building healthier babies, mothers, and families. At Childbirth Graphics, our mission is to partner with health educators with the shared goal of imparting life-giving education. Our dedicated line of
pregnancy education materials and models is perfect for teaching parents about all aspects of pregnancy, including the vital importance of the earliest weeks.
Our New Life Unto Life: The Early Weeks of Pregnancy Display
Our new
Life Unto Life: The Early Weeks of Pregnancy Display (18" x 11¾" x 7½") is the perfect tactile teaching tool for educators to use to help expectant parents understand the vital importance of the early weeks of pregnancy. With a durable, sturdy base, the display features four lifelike models of a developing baby inside models of the mother’s growing uterus at 8, 10, 12, and 16 weeks.
When expectant parents pick up each carefully crafted model, they can easily visualize their growing baby in the womb, sensing the importance of taking steps to keep the fetal environment safe and secure. The small size and incremental growth of the fetus during the early weeks of pregnancy emphasize how much a developing baby is changing, moment to moment, from the very beginning.
Versatile and reversible, the display background provides easy-to-read text in English on one side and Spanish on the other.
The text explains what is happening at each stage of a baby’s development as depicted by the fetal models, including the growth of the placenta, the lifeline between mother and baby. The display is perfect for discussing how all of a baby’s major organs begin forming in the early weeks of pregnancy, highlighting the importance of proper nutrition and avoiding harmful substances during pregnancy—especially in the very sensitive period beginning mere weeks after conception.
Teaching Points Using the New Life Unto Life Display
- The importance of avoiding harmful substances. A developing baby experiences rapid growth and development during the first 16 weeks of pregnancy. Only about 4 weeks after conception, the neural tube (which eventually develops into a baby’s brain and spinal cord) closes. By 8 weeks, a developing baby’s essential organs and body systems are already starting to develop, and by 12 weeks, all of a baby’s organs, limbs, muscles, and bones are in place and continue to develop. Because the early weeks of pregnancy are a time of intense growth and development, the fetus is extremely vulnerable to harmful substances, such as alcohol, tobacco, certain medications, and other potentially toxic substances. Health educators can use the Life Unto Life: The Early Weeks of Pregnancy Display to highlight the vulnerability of the developing baby in the early weeks, stress the importance of avoiding harmful substances, and discuss the role of folic acid supplementation prior to becoming pregnant and during early pregnancy.
- The vital importance and role of the placenta. The placenta starts developing at the very beginning of pregnancy, once a fertilized egg implants in the uterus. The placenta attaches to the wall of the mother’s uterus—usually to the back, front, top, or side of the uterus. The umbilical cord connects the fetus to the placenta. When properly developed, the placenta provides the fetus with nutrients and oxygen, removes waste products from the fetus, creates hormones to promote fetal growth, and helps keep the fetus protected. Placental problems can lead to potentially serious complications, such as restricted fetal growth in the uterus, preeclampsia, and preterm birth. Health educators can use the new display to discuss the importance of placental development in the early weeks of pregnancy, how conditions such as high blood pressure and gestational diabetes can impact fetal development, and the importance of regular prenatal screening.
- The importance of routine prenatal visits. Picking up the tiny uterus and fetal models in the Life Unto Life: The Early Weeks of Pregnancy Display is a great way for expectant parents to understand the vulnerability of a developing baby and the importance of doing everything possible to help the mother provide a nurturing, protective environment within her body. Health educators can use the display to discuss how early prenatal care is essential to help identify and manage risks to the mother and her baby. Health assessments can help detect conditions that can lead to negative health outcomes for both mother and baby if left untreated, such as syphilis and other STDs, high blood pressure, and gestational diabetes.
Find More Great Pregnancy Education Resources
Childbirth Graphics has the pregnancy teaching materials health educators trust to emphasize the importance of prenatal care and highlight the many changes that occur for mother and baby throughout pregnancy. Find more great resources in our product section dedicated to
pregnancy education materials, models, and displays.
The information contained in this newsletter article is not intended to replace the advice of a healthcare professional.
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