The fetus is growing quickly and starting to look like a tiny person. Fingers and toes are fully separated, tooth buds are forming under the gums, and the brain is producing an astonishing 250,000 new neurons every minute.
Your Baby This Week
Size: Strawberry (about 3 cm, or 1.2 inches)
Weight: About 4 grams
- Fingers and toes: Fully separated with tiny nails beginning to grow
- Bones: Skeleton is shifting from soft cartilage to hardened bone
- Brain: Rapid neuron production. The head makes up about half the body length.
- Stomach and kidneys: Producing digestive juices and urine
- Tooth buds: Forming under the gumline (they will not emerge until months after birth)
- Limbs: Can bend at the elbows and knees. The fetus kicks and stretches, but you cannot feel it yet.
The critical period for major birth defects is mostly past. The risk of miscarriage also drops significantly from this point forward.
Your Body
- Morning sickness may start to ease for some. For others, it continues a few more weeks.
- Increased blood volume continues, which may cause visible veins and a warmer body temperature
- Round ligament pain: Brief, sharp pains on one or both sides of the lower abdomen as the uterus grows
- Fatigue remains common but should improve soon
Your uterus is now about the size of a grapefruit.
What to Do This Week
- Consider NIPT if offered. This blood test, available from week 10, screens for Down syndrome (trisomy 21), Edwards syndrome (trisomy 18), and Patau syndrome (trisomy 13). It can also reveal the baby's sex if you want to know.
- Keep up good dental hygiene. Pregnancy hormones can increase the risk of gum disease. Brush twice daily and do not skip dental checkups.
- Eat calcium-rich foods. The fetus is building bones, and your body will pull from your calcium stores if your intake is low. Aim for 1,000 mg per day from dairy, fortified plant milks, or supplements.
Common Questions
What is NIPT and should I get it?
NIPT (Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing) is a blood test that analyzes fragments of fetal DNA circulating in your blood. It is a screening test, not a diagnostic test, meaning a positive result would typically be confirmed with amniocentesis or CVS. ACOG recommends offering it to all pregnant patients regardless of age.
When will morning sickness end?
For most people, nausea improves significantly by weeks 12 to 14. A smaller percentage continue to experience it into the second trimester, and a few have it throughout pregnancy.