Your baby is now over 15 centimetres crown to rump and weighs 225-250 grammes, around half a pound. The nerves and spinal cord are now being coated with a fatty matter called myelin that protects the nerves and helps impulses flow smoothly along them.
Teeth buds for the baby’s milk, or first, teeth have already formed and behind his shut eyelids your baby’s eyes are now moving from side to side, usually during dream sleep, strengthening the eye muscles.
If your baby is a girl she will have developed all her sex organs, uterus, vagina and fallopian tubes and will be storing around 6 million eggs in her ovaries that hold part of the genetic makeup of your future grandchildren: By birth the number of eggs will have fallen to one million. In boys, testes will now be apparent.
By now an ultra-sound scan should be able to distinguish easily between a boy and a girl, so if you don’t want to know the sex of your baby be sure to say so when you go for your mid-term scan around week 20. The scan is to check up on fetal development and verify the gestational age of the fetus. It can be quite an experience and if your partner can be with you to share in it then so much the better. You may get to see your baby moving around in the womb and should also be able to take away printouts of a few stills from the scan, which is particularly useful if your partner couldn’t be with you.
What’s happening with Mum?
Your breasts will be growing and getting ready to produce milk and the areola - the dark areas around your nipples - become larger. Over the course of your pregnancy you will probably go up a couple of bra sizes and your breast will become a lot heavier. Look for a bra with plenty of support to help you carry the extra weight.
As your skin grows rapidly to accommodate your new shape your skin will most probably be quite itchy and dry and most women develop stretch marks and even rashes where the skin is stretched. Applying creams or oils won’t guarantee that your stretch marks will disappear after pregnancy, but they should help with the dryness and itching. Make sure that whatever you massage onto your bump to soothe it is safe for use during pregnancy.
If you notice your belly jerking rhythmically don’t be alarmed, your baby probably has the hiccoughs!
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.
Culling the booze - You know you shouldn't be drinking more than a little during pregnancy, but sometimes it's not so easy to stick to your resolve, if you find it tough going now and then then here are some tips to help out.
Exercise during pregnancy - It's hugely beneficial to maintain a suitable exercise programme throughout your pregnancy, here's the how and why of pregnancy exercise.
To know or not to know? - 
Should we find out whether our little bundle is going to be a boy or a girl? We can't decide.
Your 20-week scan is rapidly approaching, find out what advice Paul received on the forum about whether or not to find out your baby's gender.
You can join in the discussions and share pregnancy experiences and advice with other ThinkBaby members in the pregnancy folder.
Blog it - Whatever you decide for your 20-week scan , you can keep a record of it all in a pregnancy blog on the site, so why not update or start your own?
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