Swallowed<unk>  (in later stages of development) creates urine and contributes to the formation of meconium.<unk>  protects the developing baby by cushioning against blows to the mother's abdomen, allowing for easier fetal movement and promoting muscular/skeletal development.<unk>  swallowed by the fetus helps in the formation of the gastrointestinal tract. It also protects the fetus from mechanical jerks and shocks. The fetus, which develops within a<unk> -filled<unk>  sac, relies on the placenta for respiratory gas exchange rather than the lungs. While not involved in fetal oxygenation, fetal breathing movements (FBM) nevertheless have an important role in lung growth and in development of respiratory muscles and neural regulation. FBM are regulated differently in many respects than postnatal respiration, which results from the unique intrauterine environment. At birth, the transition to continuous postnatal respiration involves a fall in temperature, gaseous distention of the lungs, activation of the Hering-Breuer reflex, and functional connectivity of<unk> ferent O2 chemoreceptor activity with respiratory motoneurons and arousal centers.
Amniotic fluid
Peritoneal fluid
Body fluid
Tubular fluid
Cord blood
Fluid compartments
Fetal circulation
Human liquor