Within two weeks of fertilization, a blood test can confirm that you are pregnant. Congratulations! In this, your first trimester, your body is very busy not only preparing itself for the rest of your pregnancy, but also growing your baby's organs. Stem cells begin to specialize into other cells to create your baby's pancreas, liver, brain, heart, etc. In your first month, you will notice that your breasts are swollen and sensitive; then, you will find that your areolas and nipples are darker and the veins on your breasts are more visible. By your second month, you may experience the nausea commonly referred to as morning sickness and you may be find yourself needing to urinate much more frequently as your body increases its blood flow to nourish your baby, which in turn causes your kidneys to process more fluids. And, of course, as your uterus expands it will begin to press on your bladder. Surging progesterone will make you feel sluggish and tired. By week 12, your placenta has taken charge of hormone production and will continue to provide your baby with nourishment, eliminate its wastes and exchange respiratory gases for the remainder of your pregnancy.
By the end of this trimester, your baby will weigh approximately one ounce and will measure about three inches long. Your baby will have all its major organs, eyes, hands with fingernails, teeth and even vocal cords!
Welcome to your second trimester - often considered the honeymoon period of pregnancy as the nausea and fatigue of your first trimester are (hopefully) behind you yet you are not too big to be uncomfortable. You will gain the majority of your weight in this trimester and you also may notice more symptoms, such as skin changes, forgetfulness, swelling, clumsiness, backaches, nosebleeds, and Braxton Hicks contractions. You will also begin to feel your baby moving inside you, an event called quickening. He or she will spend the next few months somersaulting around in your amniotic fluid, reacting to loud noises and changes in light.
Your baby's ability to react to the outside world is thanks to his or her new ears that can hear and eyes complete with brows and lashes. Your baby can do so much now! On an ultrasound you may see your baby sucking his or her thumb or touching his or her face. Twins may even hold hands! You may notice your baby making regular, sudden movements; even unborn babies get the hiccups! His or her hands and feet are fully formed, nails and all, and brain tissue is developing quickly. By the end of this trimester, your baby will weigh approximately three pounds and measure about 11 inches in length.
While your weight gain is slowing, your baby's growth is still at full throttle. But you may notice that he or she isn't moving around as much as before. No need to worry, he or she is simply running out of room in there! Other than positioning himself for birth, he's not going to do too much moving around towards the end of this trimester. What he or she will be doing is shedding the lanugo and vernix that have been blanketing and protecting her, while her lungs and brain are racing toward maturity. Although your baby's immune system is still immature, your placenta - and later your breast milk - will provide the necessary antibodies. Your baby's sight has improved: she can now track movement and differentiate between light and dark. Thanks to this development, she's now on a regular sleep cycle.
As your baby continues to put on that adorable baby fat, his or her increasing size will make it harder for you to get comfortable and you may develop "the pregnancy waddle." Relaxin, one of those hormones running rampant through your system, softens your pelvic joints in preparation for childbirth, which causes you to waddle a little bit. Your growing belly has also thrown your posture into a swayback curve, which can intensify your backaches, so remind yourself to stand up straight. But all these symptoms will be over soon as you near the end of your pregnancy. Your baby is considered full term at 37 weeks and labor ideally lasts between 11 and 15 hours.
By the time he or she is born, your baby probably will weigh about seven and a half pounds, measure about twenty inches from head to toe, and be the most beautiful little person you will ever meet.
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