12 weeks !!!!

Helen Wed Oct 08, 2008 4:57 am

I'm 12 weeks and 2 days !!!!! Smile/happy

Your baby's face is beginning to look more human, even though she is only about 2 inches / 5.5 centimetres long from her crown to her rump and weighs slightly less than half an ounce/ 14 grams. The eyes, which started out on the sides of the head, have moved closer together. The ears are almost in their normal position on the side of the head. The liver is making bile and the kidneys are secreting urine in the bladder.

The fetus squirms if your abdomen is prodded, although you cannot yet feel movement. Fetal nerve cells have been multiplying rapidly and synapses (neurological connections in your brain) are forming. The fetus has acquired more reflexes: touching the palms makes the fingers close, touching the soles of the feet makes the toes curl down and touching the eyelids makes the eye muscles clench.

Your midwife can now feel the top of the uterus, also known as the fundus, low in the abdomen. As you enter the second trimester, you may find yourself donning looser, less restrictive clothing. Soon you won't be able to fit into your regular clothes any more.

You may now find that once the "sickness" feeling has passed, your appetite returns. Check out how to eat well over the next few weeks.

• Note: Experts say every baby develops differently - even in utero. These fetal development pages are designed to give a general idea of how a fetus grows in the womb.