Fetal development: Week 12

Your baby now spans between 5 and 7 centimetres and weighs around 14 grammes, or half an ounce. He has formed all his essential parts and for the next six months will devote most of his energy to growing and developing ready for life outside your womb. His body is becoming more elongated and his arms and leg limbs are developing into upper and lower parts while the hands and feet continue to develop their fingers and toes.

With the rest of his energy he’ll be busy moving around, kicking and punching while floating in the amniotic fluid.

What’s happening with Mum?
Your uterus is now rising from your pelvis and stretches up into the abdomen - the doctor will be able to feel it in an external examination. The uterus will stay in this position until descending back into the pelvis shortly before birth. You may see a dark line of pigmentation, the linea nigra, forming along the midline of your abdomen. Your 12-week scan should enable you to hear the baby’s heart beat and be reassured that everything is going well: it's a somewhat arbitrary line to draw, but one you've seen that the baby is fine from here on in the risks of miscarriage drop considerably. Many couples wait until this stage to tell others about their pregnancy, particularly if the woman has experienced a past miscarriage.

As you come towards the end of the first trimester most women can look forward to leaving behind some of the discomforts of early pregnancy, such as nausea and vomiting, though others may have to put up with them for a while longer.

NB: All pregnancies are different and fetal growth rates vary, this is meant only as an approximate guide to development. If you have any concerns about your developing pregnancy then speak to your doctor.

Caring for your pregnancy

Exercise during pregnancy - Not only is moderate exercise safe for most pregnant women, but it brings plenty of important benefits too, so here's the how and why of pregnancy exercise.

Watching what you drink - Not all pregnant women go off alcohol naturally when they're pregnant, if you've still got a taste for it then here are some tips for cutting back.

Pregnancy experiences

Crazy cravings? - I was just writing my blog about the latest pregnancy weirdness, and I wondered if anyone else was as freaky as me with a craving, well, maybe not that strong, but a bit of an urge to drink red wine. I haven't given in! Barb tells us on the forum. People can get all sorts of strange cracings during pregnancy, though many people don't get any at all, why not share yours on the forum.

If you want to keep a daily, weekly, monthly or entirely random record of your pregnancy then why not write your own pregnancy blog?

Other weeks