I'm not disputing anything you're saying - I'm just saying that picture is pro-life propaganda. It's not realistic and it doesn't take into consideration any of the things that people like you who have VERY premature babies go through, or any actual real life situations.

And I have to correct myself - I didn't mean `advanced development' as in developmental stages of childhood - I meant it as you described it (much better than me). I.e. that medical intervention mimics the state of the womb and helps the baby outside the womb develop physically more quickly to cope with the requirements of being out of the womb - for example, lung development. I know from a study I worked on (data entry), on premature births, that the actual childhood development of very early term babies can be severely compromised.

As for eyes opening - I got my information from a brochure called `The NICU Experience'

Here's the link:

http://www.nationaldb.org/documents/...Experience.swf

It specifically says that eyes do not open before month 7 - therefore for premature babies born before week 26 - 27, the eyes can still be sealed shut and therefore very distressing for the parents. Their eyelids are only forming in week 22 - so I wasn't just talking out of my butt!!

__________________
We've got rules and maps and guns in our backs, but we still can't just behave ourselves. Even if to save our own lives, we are a brutal kind. The Shins

Here's another excerpt from the American Pregnancy Association:

Weeks 9 thru 13 - Gestational Age (Fetal Age - Weeks 7 thru 11):
The fetus has grown to about 3 inches in length and weighs about an ounce. The genitalia have clearly formed into male or female, but still could not be seen clearly on an ultrasound. The eyelids close and will not reopen until the 28th week of pregnancy. The fetus can make a fist, and the buds for baby teeth appear. The head is nearly half the size of the entire fetus.

And here is one from babycenter.org

By week 28, your baby weighs a little over 1 kilogram and may measure 38 centimetres from top to toe. At about this time, your baby can open his eyes and turn his head in utero if he notices a continuous, bright light shining from the outside. His fat layers are forming and his fingernails appear.

So it looks like I was wrong after all - I had it too early. They don't open their eyes until around week 28.

__________________
We've got rules and maps and guns in our backs, but we still can't just behave ourselves. Even if to save our own lives, we are a brutal kind. The Shins

Ok, I can agree that it is propaganda. But then that does not mean it was faked. There is no way to know for sure without admission of the one that faked it.

But anyway moving on.

Thank you for the links. But I do not think they are talking about gestational age. Gestational age and duration of pregnancy are two different times. A lot of sites will put out information in duration of pregnancy to simplify things for the parents. I will look more on it, and I do remember reading a deal about finding that it actually happens sooner. I will try to find it.

But yes, altered not just delayed is a good way to put it.

__________________
The National Science Foundation announced the following study results on U.S. military recreation preferences:
1. Sport of choice for Marines: bowling.
2. Sport of choice for Sailors: football.
3. Sport of choice for Soldiers: baseball.
4. Sport of choice for Coast Guardsmen: tennis.
5. Sport of choice for Airmen: golf.
Notice how the farther down the list you go, the smaller their balls get.

i've seen some disabled people who look like that..

Yes they are different by two weeks - give or take a few days. Gestational age is taken from the first date of your LMP (last menstrual period) and that's what makes pregnancy 40 weeks when it is `technically' 38. Ovulation takes place approximately 14 days after the first date of your LMP, which is why gestational age is nearly always two weeks more than the date of conception.

For example, the first date of my LMP was October 13, so my foetus's gestational age is 25 weeks and a few days. However my date of conception was the October 27, so her `foetal age' is 23 weeks and a few days. In medical terms though, things are always done by gestational age.

Those websites go by gestational age, because that is how your pregnancy is defined by your doctors and medical care. So to say that a foetus opens its eyes at 28 weeks actually means 26 weeks after conception - does that make sense? I don't know why they do it that way, but there must be a good reason!! Lol.....

__________________
We've got rules and maps and guns in our backs, but we still can't just behave ourselves. Even if to save our own lives, we are a brutal kind. The Shins

I am still looking for that paper I read on the opening of eyes earlier deal. I know I read it, but can not find it.

But this is all kind of moot.

__________________
The National Science Foundation announced the following study results on U.S. military recreation preferences:
1. Sport of choice for Marines: bowling.
2. Sport of choice for Sailors: football.
3. Sport of choice for Soldiers: baseball.
4. Sport of choice for Coast Guardsmen: tennis.
5. Sport of choice for Airmen: golf.
Notice how the farther down the list you go, the smaller their balls get.

Yeah - it kind of is, huh? But I like the way these discussions progress....

__________________
We've got rules and maps and guns in our backs, but we still can't just behave ourselves. Even if to save our own lives, we are a brutal kind. The Shins