|
Pregnancy Week By Week
Week 9 and Week 10
What's Happening Inside You?
By the end of the third month, your baby is fully formed. Your baby has arms, hands, fingers, feet and toes and can open and close its fists and mouth. Fingernails and toenails are beginning to develop and the external ears are formed. The beginnings of teeth are forming. Your baby's reproductive organs also develop, but the baby's gender is difficult to distinguish on ultrasound. The circulatory and urinary systems are working and the liver produces bile.
At the end of the third month, your baby is about 4 inches long and weighs about 1 ounce.
Since your baby's most critical development has taken place, your chance of miscarriage drops considerably after three months.
Week 9
Baby: The embryo measures about 0.9 inches to 1.2 inches from crown to rump, or the size of a strawberry. The arms and legs are longer, and the fingers might be a little swollen where the touch pads are forming. The head is more erect and neck is more developed. Your baby now moves its body and limbs, and this movement can be visible during an ultrasound, but you won't be able to feel it yet.
Mother: Your uterus is continuing to grow, and you may begin to see your waistline thickening. But unless you tell people the good news, your pregnancy still won't be noticeable to others. Weight gain is still small, if at all, since you could be experiencing food aversions, cravings, heartburn, indigestion, nausea and bloating. Mood swings and weepiness similar to PMS symptoms are common, too.
Dad: We're going to let you in on a little secret...ok, maybe it's a big secret. You're probably feeling a tiny tinge of guilt every time the mother-to-be is leaning over the toilet waiting to throw up. We don't blame you. Fortunately, there's something great you can do to take all that guilt off your shoulders: surprise her!
Take it from us, 99.999% of women love to be surprised (no, not by jumping out at her in the dark!) We're talking good surprises--like gift wrapping some Godiva chocolate and laying it on her pillow. Or surprising her with theater tickets. Or making a homemade dinner (but please, make sure you can actually cook before delving into that!)
Do's and Don'ts: Cheese is a great source for calcium, but avoid soft or mold-ripened varieties like Brie, Camembert, and Stilton. They may contain listeria, a bacteria that can cause a rare but serious infection in pregnant women called listeriosis. Cream and cottage cheeses are fine, as are hard and American cheeses. Listeria can also live in hot dogs and deli meats, so steer clear of them completely or heat them until they're steaming hot before you take a bite.
Exercise: Nosh on carb-filled foods like whole grain breads and cereal an hour or two before you hit the gym so you're not hungry, and include water before, during, and after so you're properly hydrated.
Tips for this week: Eat plenty of foods that contain calcium -- such as cheeses, sardines and broccoli -- to provide sufficient calcium for the development of your baby's teeth and bones.
Week 10
Baby: Congratulations! Your baby is now officially called a "fetus." It looks a little like a medium shrimp, measuring 1.25 to 1.68 inches from crown to rump, and weighing a little less than two-tenths of an ounce. You might be reassured to know that most physical malformations, when they occur, have occurred by the end of this week, so the most critical part of your baby's development is safely behind you. But other developmental processes, such as those affecting behavior and intelligence, will continue throughout pregnancy. Eyes are covered by skin that will eventually split to form eyelids.
Mother: You still probably don't show, but you may be wearing looser clothes. You may even be starting to eye maternity clothes, although you probably still don't need them. You may continue to feel tired and moody, but take heart: These symptoms shouldn't last too much longer.
Dad: Ay, yi yi! You might be noticing her moodiness more than ever. Hang in there, daddy. She's approaching the second trimester, and soon her placenta will take over the hormonal duties. (If you're wondering, the second trimester starts around week 13--you're now in week 10. That's 3 more weeks, or 21 more days. (Start the countdown and stay strong.)
Do's and Don'ts: Do eat for two--just don't eat twice as much! Add an extra 300 calories to your diet. It may sound like a lot, but it's actually the equivalent of only about two and a half cups of low-fat milk. Make those calories count by choosing healthy snacks like yogurt and fruit that will boost your calcium intake and help you get your daily dose of vitamins and minerals. But there's no more health risk to the occasional slice of cake than there was before you were pregnant.
Exercise: "Om" your way to good health with prenatal yoga--it tones your upper body and thigh muscles, making it easier to carry the extra weight. It also strengthens your pelvic floor muscles, which will make a difference when it comes time to push, and eases lower back pain.
Tips for this week: If you're going to have chorionic villus sampling (CVS), a prenatal test used to detect genetic defects such as Tay-Sachs, sickle cell anemia, most types of cystic fibrosis and Down syndrome, it will probably be scheduled between now and 12 weeks.
|
