Your body
You may now be gaining weight – it is not unusual to put on 1-1.5kg (approximately 10 per cent of your total weight gain) by the end of the first trimester. This is normal – now is not the time to start a diet!
What’s happening to your uterus?
Your uterus (womb) is beginning to rise into the abdominal cavity and your midwife or doctor can feel the top of it above the brim of your pelvis. As your baby grows your uterus loses it usual position and becomes erect, and maybe slightly tilted to the right.
Back-breaking work
Carrying a baby is hard work and you may already be getting backache. Your ligaments are softening because of your hormones and it is easier to strain yourself, so take it easy. Try to avoid lifting heavy objects. If you do have to pick up something, don’t bend your back, but bend your knees first and get a good hold before standing up again.
Feeling constipated?
It’s not unusual to be constipated during pregnancy. You are retaining more water so your stools are harder to pass out, but also hormones relax the intestines and bowel, making them less efficient. Make sure you eat lots of fruit and vegetables, wholegrains and drink plenty of water.
Have you found out your baby’s gender? Time to start buying teeny baby clothes.
Your baby
Your baby is now progressing well and is less likely to form any congenital abnormalities at this stage. She weighs around 10g and is about 5.5cm long.
Grow baby, grow!
Now internal organs, limbs, fingers and toes and so on are in place, they need to mature over the following weeks and months. The body continues to grow while the head slows down. The arms and legs elongate, to become more in proportion. Fingers and toes lengthen and taper and fingernails start to cover the tips. Facially, features are becoming more defined.
Boy or girl?
Your baby’s sexual organs will now be more easily recognisable as a boy’s or girl’s, although it would still be very difficult to know for sure from an ultrasound scan because of your baby’s small size. Up until now, the genitalia of boys and girls look very alike, because the penis and clitoris are very similar in size and shape. Internally, the reproductive organs are well established: the ovaries contain a store of ova, and by the time she’s born, they will hold all the eggs she’ll have for the rest of her life. A boy’s testicles will not yet have descended into the scrotum and will not do so until just before the birth, or even after it.
Fascinating…
Your baby will find comfort from sucking her thumb.
