There’s really been nothing of note to report that’s happened in the last week, we’re just playing the waiting game. GP appointment in 3 days, midwife appointment in 9 days and NT scan in 11 days.
Info from Birth.com.au:
You are now 11 weeks pregnant (63 days after conception), which is the beginning of week 12. Your baby is now around 5 cm long from crown to rump and weighing about 8 grams. Nearly doubling in size during the last week! By the end of this week your uterus will grow up out of the bones of your pelvis. If you see your caregiver around this time for your first pregnancy visit, they should be able to just tip the top of your uterus (called the ‘fundus’), by feeling your belly. If they use a special Doppler machine, they may also be able to detect your baby’s heartbeat and let you hear it for the first time!
Your baby now has the early components of sucking and swallowing (although not mature until 24 to 28 weeks) and their taste buds are mature enough to taste the amniotic fluid that surrounds them. Your baby’s kidneys are now functioning and secreting fluid into their bladder. Fluid they will soon pass as a type of ‘urine’ into the amniotic fluid. This cycle of swallowing and urinating amniotic fluid continues up until birth.
Your baby now starts breathing amniotic fluid into their lungs. This strengthens the muscle under them (called the ‘diaphragm’) and allows your baby to regularly practise rhythmic expansion of their lungs. Their stomach now produces gastric juices and they have about 20 baby teeth in their gums.
Your baby’s sex organs are still developing but their typical male or female characteristics are not yet obvious to the naked eye. Under the influence of increased testosterone for boys (or the lack of testosterone for girls), the sex organs now start to take their individual shape. The gonads move into place as either testes or ovaries, the ‘shaft’ of tissue in the middle either enlarges to become a penis or reduces in size to become a clitoris (usually by 15 weeks) and the bags of tissue on each side become either scrotum or labia.
Your baby’s movements now become more coordinated and purposeful. Although not common, a few women will sense their baby moving as early as 12 weeks. Regular movement is now important for your baby’s growth and development. Without it their muscles would waste, their joints would seize and their bones would become brittle and liable to break. Therefore movement of some description will now become a daily part of your unborn baby’s life (when they are awake!)
