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gestational age
the estimated age or stage of maturity of a conceptus. Gestational age of the newborn infant can be estimated by noting various physical characteristics that normally appear at each stage of fetal development. A preterm infant emerging from the birth canal will be covered with a rather heavy coating of vernix caseosa, whereas the term infant has only a light coating. By the 40th to 42nd week of gestation the skin of the newborn is pale and opaque, whereas the skin
of the baby born before that point may be thin and transparent, with venules visible under the skin of the abdomen.
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