Your baby goes through an amazing growth this week, 1mm per day! During these seven days, your baby more than doubles its length. By the end of this week it will be the size of a pea. The little heart is beating and pumping blood out to all its tissues. There is already hectic activity in the cells which will form the brain. The various parts of the primitive brain are each taking on their own special function. So your baby’s brain is continuing to become more complex, and there is already activity here – new connections are formed between nerve cells all the time. And already your baby can move. Your baby’s face is taking shape. The eyes develop, the lenses have formed and even the colour of the iris may be visible. The umbilical cord is fully formed (by around 40 weeks it will be about 55 cm long and 1-2 cm thick). It will provide your baby with oxygen, nourishment and take away waste products. The intestines are forming inside the umbilical cord since there is no room inside the baby’s tummy yet. Illustration by Karoline Lenhult
You
An early symptom of pregnancy for some women is nausea, with or without vomiting. This is often called “morning sickness” (which kind of feels like a bad joke when you are nauseous all day long). You are not alone; 7 out of 10 women feel sick at the start of their pregnancy. There is some good news though; women feeling nauseous and experiencing vomiting have a lower chance of miscarriage. The main reason for this awful state is the major hormonal changes taking place in the body. Another reason is that the hormones are still being transported around the body, because the placenta hasn't yet taken over production. Some other, sort of, good news - if you are going to have morning sickness it will appear before the 12th week. So cross your fingers if you still feel ok (perhaps just tired, achy, cranky, bloated and in search of your waist line…!). Sometimes the nausea overshadows the joy of expecting a baby. You don’t have to feel guilty about that. This will, in all certainty, pass when the nausea fades away.