The article entitled,"The mystery of fetal life: Secrets from the womb" (Pekkanen, 2001) starts out with a brief discussion about an embryo's development (e.g. rapid cell division, cell differentiation, development of organs) capabilities (e.g. movement of arms/legs, swallowing, awareness, sending hormonal signals) and threats (e.g. mother's emotions, health and behaviors, environmental factors) while in the mother's uterus. The importance of positive prenatal development to not only fetal life, but also to post-labor life is strongly stressed in this article.
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