Fetal development in pregnancy week 9:

Voila! Your amazing growing baby has now been accepted into to the fetus club, a very exclusive and exiting new stage in their prenatal development. Basically, this means the little sweet pea has graduated from swimming embryo creature to a recognizable human being!

This week in particular, the irises of their little eyes can function, but (frustratingly for them?) their eyelids remain fused shut for a while yet. The external ears are formed, and their inner ears are now filled with fluid—so your little one actually has started to develop their sense of balance. Your baby’s little swimmer legs are still relatively short, although other developments are going forward at a nice pace: their kidney is actually functioning now, which means they’ve started urinating (this might seem charming now but wait till you have to start buying diapers!).

And how’s mom doing?

You’re nearing the end of the first trimester and while there are plenty of dynamic and noticeable changes going on inside of you, not many changes are noticeable to you save a mildly bulging midline– which doesn’t quite look pregnant enough to be exciting. Although your body might seem a little boring right now, you can expect the creeping up effect as you will gain roughly 1-2 lbs gain per week (some more and some less). It’s not a bad idea to chart this to make sure you’re not over or underfeeding both of you. As you’ve entered into the Fetal Period, it might be a good time to evaluate your personal health regimen—that is, if you haven’t already. Are you eating enough protein? Remember, protein can be found in beans, soy products and nuts—it doesn’t have to be a 12 ounce sirloin! Sleeping well, exercising right, drinking enough (non-sugary) fluids and getting your vitamin C? Having a baby is the ultimate test for your body—if you take care of your health now you’ll come out of the pregnancy on top of your health and ready to be an energetic mother, if not, well, let’s just say, you’re increasing the chances of suffering from depression, osteoporosis, diabetes, obesity, and a multitude of little nasty viruses (think colds and flues) that good health could beat before you even noticed they’d invaded.

From http://pregnancy.baby-gaga.com/calendar/week9

A Note from Me: My morning sickness seems to have eased a little over the last couple of days. My mornings are bearable, not much nausea at all, but it seems to hit me in the afternoon. I’m still really tired all the time but hopefully over the next couple of weeks I’ll get a bit more energy back. I can’t beleive that I’m 9 weeks pregnant already. The weeks seem to be going pretty quickly which is good considering this part of the pregnancy is not much fun.

I’ll be going to see my Doctor in the next two weeks. I haven’t bothered until now because he doesn’t do any tests and scans until 12 weeks if all is going well, which it is. I can’t wait to see his face when I tell him I’m pregnant again. I’m sure he thinks I’m already nuts…. which I am :)

Filed under: Family

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!