June 6th

Mother:

May 30th

Mother:

You may actually start feeling better from your extreme tiredness and nausea this week. Others will hang on to it for awhile longer. Your abdomen may start expanding, especially if this is not your first pregnancy.

Your placenta will take over the production of hormones around this time. If you have suffered from corpus luteum cysts they may begin to dissolve now. Your risk of miscarriage is reduced even further.

Baby:

While your baby's brain is not the same size it will be at birth, it does have the same structure. Bile is being secreted by this time. S/he weighs about 14 grams and is approximately 3.54 inches in total length.

Your baby has its reflexes and also practice movements in the digestive tract. All of this in preparation for extrauterine life.

If your practitioner uses a doppler, you may be able to hear your baby's heart beat at this office visit. It will sound very fast. Some say that they hear clicking or the sounds of horse hooves. Either way it is a joyous sound to hear! Your risk of miscarriage is greatly reduced once you hear this sound.

Me:

I don't feel very pregnant. Still more morning sickness, and a new pain in my sternum.

Weight:

120

Mother:

Weight gain is a concern of a lot of women during pregnancy. By this stage of pregnancy most women have gained very little weight. Generally we say that you will gain about 1-2 lbs. a month in the first trimester. Some women will actually lose weight and be perfectly fine, particularly if they were ill. Some will gain no weight whatsoever. While yet others will gain 10+ pounds. The key is a healthy diet.

However, your focus should be on nutrition rather than weight. Despite folk lore, you are not eating for two, but you should make everything you eat count. You will only need about 300-500 calories extra a day while you are pregnant.

Avoid junk foods, and try to ensure that you are getting a variety of fruits and vegetables and protein. One word about protein, even in pregnancy it does not have to come from meat. There are a lot of successful vegetarian pregnancies.

Baby:

If you have seen pictures of babies at this stage you will notice that the head is about 1/2 of the body size. This will change as the baby grows. The iris will begin to develop this week and finger nails appear! Your baby weighs about 7 grams.

 

Mother:

You are still tired, and nauseated, hang on only a few more weeks for most of you! Your abdomen may begin to pooch out, but it will be more from bowel distension than the uterus. Your waistline is slowly disappearing! Remember to measure your waist and belly now! Comparing later can be a lot of fun!

Baby:

The baby now enters it's fetal period. The average size is approximately 27-35 mm crown to rump length (CRL), or 1.06-1.38 inches. S/he weighs in at 4 grams, or 4 paper clips. Tiny toes have formed. The eyes are largely open, but the eyelids are beginning to fuse, and will stay that way until 25-27 weeks. External genitalia is beginning to differentiate. External ears are completely formed, as well as the upper lip. The biggest accomplishment this week is the disappearance of the tail!

Me:

Still getting nauseas here and there, headaches. Food cravings for BLT subs.

Weight:

126