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Week 9

Your baby has reached a milestone as it officially leaves the embryo status and moves up the ranks to become a fetus. This means your baby is developing into a proper little person. On another happy note, you only have four weeks left to go before the first trimester comes to an end, and those pesky pregnancy symptoms that have most likely caused you to break down and cry a couple of times will now begin to subside. Your trip to the gynae should also be an exciting one as you’ll most likely be able to hear the heartbeat, which will make everything seem a bit more real.

Your Baby

At nine weeks, your new housemate is the size of a grape and roughly 25mm long. All their essential body parts are intact but still require plenty of fine-tuning. At this stage your baby’s head has straightened out and is much more developed. New organs such as the liver, spleen and gallbladder are forming too. With each passing day, your baby is starting to look more human. Their fingers, toes and knees have developed, and hair follicles are also starting to form.

Your Body

Don’t be alarmed if the scale is slowly starting to creep upwards. View it as a positive sign that your little one is growing nicely. You should be gaining anywhere between 500g – 2kg. Sadly frequent trips to the toilet, fatigue, nausea, nasal congestion and headaches are all still very much part of your daily routine thanks to your pregnancy friends: your hormones.

Sensible Tips

  • Most couples decide to make their exciting news public after the 12-week mark, so start thinking of some fun ways to make the announcement to friends, family and colleagues.
  • Now would also be a good time to find out what the company policy is around maternity leave as well as discuss with your partner how to budget for the little one’s arrival. It may seem too early to think about finances, but eight months will be up before you know it.
  • Decide whether you want to know the sex of your baby. The scan is coming up soon and they might just be able to tell what you’re having (if baby behaves on the day).