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Overview

The placenta is an organ that develops in the uterus during pregnancy. It provides food and oxygen to the fetus.

What is the placenta?

The placenta is a temporary organ that connects your baby to your uterus during pregnancy. The placenta develops shortly after conception and attaches to the wall of your uterus. Your baby is connected to the placenta by the umbilical cord. Together, the placenta and umbilical cord act as your baby's lifeline while in the uterus. Functions of the placenta include:

• Provides your baby with oxygen and nutrients.
• Removes harmful waste and carbon dioxide from your baby.
• Produces hormones that help your baby grow.
• Passes immunity from you to your baby.
• Helps protect your baby.

When does the placenta form?

The placenta begins to form after a fertilized egg implants in your uterus around seven to 10 days after conception. It continues to grow throughout your pregnancy to support your baby. The placenta starts as a few cells and grows to be several inches long.

When does the placenta take over?

The placenta takes over hormone production by the end of the first trimester (12 weeks of pregnancy). Up until this time, the corpus luteum handles most of the hormone production. Many people's first-trimester symptoms of nausea and fatigue go away once the placenta takes over in the second trimester.

Function

What does the placenta do?

The placenta helps to keep your baby alive and healthy during pregnancy. Your blood passes through the placenta and provides oxygen, glucose and nutrients to your baby through the umbilical cord. The placenta can also filter out harmful waste and carbon dioxide from your baby's blood. The placenta enables the exchange of oxygen and nutrients between the bloodstreams of you and your baby without ever mixing them. It acts as your baby's lungs, kidneys and liver until birth.

As you get closer to delivery, the placenta passes antibodies to your baby to jumpstart its immunity. This immunity sticks with your baby for the first several months of life.

The placenta produces several important hormones like lactogen, estrogen and progesterone during pregnancy. These pregnancy hormones are beneficial to both you and your baby. For example, the placenta produces a hormone that suppresses milk production during pregnancy.

Does the placenta move?

Sort of. The placenta appears to move only because the uterus expands as the pregnancy and fetus grow. Your healthcare provider will look at the location of your placenta during your 20-week anatomy ultrasound and determine if its position may cause complications. Most placentas move to the top or side of the uterus by 32 weeks of pregnancy.

Anatomy

Where does the placenta form?

The placenta can form anywhere in your uterus. It develops wherever the fertilized egg implants into your uterine wall. Some of the positions of the placenta are:

• Posterior placenta: The placenta grows on the back wall of your uterus.
• Anterior placenta: The placenta grows on the front wall of your uterus closest to your abdomen.
• Fundal placenta: The placenta grows at the top of your uterus.
• Lateral placenta: The placenta grows on the right or left wall of your uterus.

The placenta can move up until about 32 weeks of pregnancy. It's common to have a placenta that moves upwards and away from your cervix as your baby gets bigger.

What does the placenta look like?

The placenta looks like a disc of bumpy tissue rich in blood vessels, making it appear dark red at term. Most of the mature placental tissue is made up of blood vessels. They connect with the baby through the umbilical cord and branch throughout the placenta disc like the limbs of a tree.