Eighth month.—­Sixteen inches long; weight 3-1/2 pounds.  Left testicle has descended into the scrotum.  Nails protrude to end of finger tips.

Ninth month.—­Eighteen inches long; weighs 4-1/2 to 7 pounds.  Features are complete.

While this growth goes on in the embryo the womb itself shows changes.  The virgin womb averages 2-3/4 inches in length, 1-3/4 inches in width and 1 inch in thickness and weighs about 12 drams.  At term (confinement) the womb is about 14 inches long, 10 inches wide, and 9-1/2 inches thick.  This increase in size is necessary for its growing contents and is due to both an enlargement of its tissues (hypertrophy) and to an increase in the number of its cells (hyperplasia).  The muscular fibres are elongated to about 11 inches, and they are five times thicker than they are in a womb that is not pregnant.  The cervix or neck of the womb participates but little in these changes, and remains practically the same until a few weeks before confinement.  It becomes softened as the result of congestion, and the glands are more active, secreting a thick glairy mucus.  The canal also is more or less dilated.

While this process is going on in the womb, various other conditions show themselves, sometimes in the parts of the body so distant that it may not be easy to discover the connection with the womb.  Almost any part of the body is liable to show changes from its normal condition; and yet some of these changes are so constant and regular as to be regarded as signs of pregnancy.  It must not be forgotten, however, that sure signs of pregnancy, such as cannot be induced by other causes, are very limited, especially in the early months.

[Obstetrics or midwifery 517]

Changes occur in the genital organs that may lead a physician to suspect that pregnancy may exist; but the first symptom that attracts the attention of the woman, is the passing of the monthly period.  This is not an absolute sign of pregnancy, since other things or conditions may cause it.  The effect of the mind upon the body may cause it, and it also occurs sometimes in early married life without any appreciable cause, unless it may be then due to the effect upon the nervous system of the marital relation.  Again, the monthly sickness sometimes continues in a greater or less degree, during a part or even the whole of pregnancy.  Usually this discharge is due to some diseased condition of the cervix.  The fear of impregnation in unmarried women after illicit intercourse will occasionally suspend menstruation for one or two months.

Nausea and Vomiting.—­Another symptom upon which considerable dependence is placed is the morning sickness (nausea and vomiting).  While this symptom is common, yet its absence does not prove that the woman is not pregnant.  Some women go through the whole pregnancy without any sign of this symptom.