It won’t be long before your baby is fully grown, especially now that they already have little fingernails and their hands will start opening and closing. It goes without saying that as your baby grows; you are going to be growing as well!

Your baby’s head is already pretty well developed and their face bones are in place now, with their ears moving closer to the right position. Nasal passages will open at the tip of their nose and the tongue and palate will now be in place, even little hair follicles will start sprouting around their crown at this stage!

Your baby’s little body is starting to straighten out in order to become more proportionate, but their little head will still make up for a third of their overall length, and while you may not yet be feeling it, baby is going to start wriggling, stretching and doing somersaults in your womb, along with a few hiccups along the way as their little diaphragm starts forming.

Your baby’s body is not the only one undergoing so many changes, your skin is also going to fall under the category of change, and if you skin starts getting a bit drier or a bit oilier than normal, which happens, it is a simple matter of adjusting your skin care routine a bit. Every pregnant woman dreads stretch marks, without a doubt, but it is a matter of pre-disposition, you either will or you won’t unfortunately, but what you can do is keep your skin flexible and soft with anything from anti-stretch mark products to the cocoa butter and coconut oil many women swear by. Using whatever works best for you during your pregnancy and after baby is born, as it could assist stretch marks to fade a bit faster after birth.

If yours is a normal, healthy pregnancy, this would be a good time to start thinking about lining up a few approved pre-natal workouts to prepare you for the birth of your baby as well as to make things easier for your body and moods during your pregnancy! You will have a bundle that is going to require a lot of lifting, better to be prepared!

By this time, you more than likely have that exciting first trimester ‘dating scan’, which is so the most exciting part of this early period, where you get to see your baby on a screen for the first time (take tissues!) as well as getting a clearer indication of your due date.

This will be the time by which you may already have had your first batch of antenatal tests, gone through your medical history with your obstetrician or midwife. Ask about pregnancy testing and screening so that you have more information on what your blood will be tested for, and, if you have decided that you would like to do a Down’s syndrome test, this would be the right time to get it included in your tests.

This is a time to do make sure that all the little fears that may niggle you more than normal pregnancy issues are put to rest so that you can enjoy the rollercoaster until the day you hold your baby for the first time! Get excited, the best is yet to come!