Eleven Weeks, 2 Days - The Twelth Week

My Symptoms
I feel much better this week. I have hardly any nausea, although I'm still being picky about what I eat. Speaking of eating, I'm hungry! All the time. I eat every two to three hours, but still not everything sounds that great. Unless it's potatos. Mashed, french fries, chips, I don't care. I thought fatigue was getting better, but this weekend really wiped me out. Maybe I haven't been as tired because I've been going to bed early and napping whenever I get the chance. The waistline is also expanding. I'm still seriously considering wearing maternity tomorrow. Nothing too obvious, but my regular clothes are just too tight. If only I had a real belly instead of just looking fat. I promise to do another belly picture soon. What else, oh yes. The heartbeat. I love the sound. I listen twice a day. The baby must move around alot too. It's never in the same place and there are some weird sounds that just might be movement. I can't wait until I get to feel it. Ok, here's what the resources say will happen this week.

The Baby
Your baby weighs between 0.3 and 0.5 ounce (8 to 14g), and crown-to-rump length is almost 2.5 inches. The baby's size has almost doubled in the past 3 weeks. Length of the baby is a better measure at this time than fetal weight. Few, if any, stuctures in the baby are formed after this week in pregnancy. However, the structures already formed continue to grow and develop. At your 12-week visit (or close to that time), you'll probably be able to hear your baby's heartbeat! The skeletal system now has center of bone formation in most bones. Fingers and toes have separate, and nails are growing. Scattered rudiments of hair appear on the body. External genitalia are beginning to show distinct signs of male or female sex characteristics. The fetal nervous system has developed further. Your baby is moving inside your uterus, but you won't feel it for a while yet.

The fetus’s urinary tract is on line, and the fingernails are growing. A big portion of the amniotic fluid from this point on will be baby urine. Your fetus is looking like a baby and has advanced to the stage that its brain can transmit messages. Vocal chords are complete, and the child can and does sometimes cry (silently). The brain is fully formed, and the child can feel pain. The fetus may even suck his thumb. The eyelids now cover the eyes, and will remain shut until the seventh month to protect the delicate optical nerve fibers.

Your baby's hit the 2-inch mark (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce. Her face is beginning to look more human. Her eyes, which started out on the sides of her head, have moved closer together on her face, and her ears are near their final positions on the sides of her head. Your baby's intestines, which have grown so rapidly that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into her abdominal cavity about now. Her kidneys are secreting urine into her bladder. Her nerve cells have been multiplying rapidly, and synapses (neurological pathways in the brain) are forming. Your baby may have acquired more reflexes by now, including sucking, and she'll even squirm if you prod your abdomen, though you still won't be able to feel her movement for several weeks.

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.

The Mom
By the end of 12 weeks, your uterus is too large to remain completely in your pelvis. You may feel it above your pubic bone. The uterus has a remarkable ability to grow while you're pregnant. Before pregnancy, your uterus is almost solid. It hold about 0.3 ounce or less. The uterus changes during pregnancy into a comparatively thin-walled, muscular container big enougth to hold the fetus, placenta, and amniotic fluid. When your baby is born, your uterus weighs almost 40 ounces comapred to only 2.5 ounces before pregnancy. You are probably starting to feel better than you have for most of your pregnancy. At this point, morning sickness often begins to improve. You aren't extremely big and are probably still quite comfortable. If it's your first pregnancy, you may still be wearing regular clothes. If you've had other pregnancies, you may start to show earlier and feel more comfortable in looser clothing, such as maternity clothes.

You are right on schedule if you've gained 3-10 pounds. Now is a good time to record your growth in your pregnancy journal. Your uterus now rises above your pubic bone. YOU can tell you’re pregnant -- can anybody else? Heartburn and indigestion are common side effects of pregnancy. Try eating small meals more often, avoiding greasy and fatty foods, and sleeping with your top half elevated. Tums (all calcium) are fine -- and have the added advantage of giving you some of the calcium your body needs!

Your uterus is rising above your pelvic bones, and your practitioner can now feel the top of it (the fundus) low in your abdomen. Though you probably won't need maternity clothes for several more weeks yet, you've no doubt noticed that your waist is thickening and that you're more comfortable in looser, less restrictive clothing. You may also start getting heartburn (also called acid indigestion), a burning sensation that often extends from the bottom of your breastbone to your lower throat. It's caused by both hormonal and physical changes in your body — and can take the pleasure out of eating a meal or sleeping. Eating small meals and avoiding foods that make the problem worse, such as fried, spicy, or fatty foods, can help.

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.