Features

All about baby

Your baby's bones are forming rapidly now and, although they are still malleable, they are beginning to harden or ‘ossify’. Limbs are lengthening too, the arms and legs can be flexed, and at last your baby’s body is more in proportion to the head.

Even at this young age, your unborn baby can pull complex facial expressions such as yawning and frowning. Your baby will also be able to move its hands quite intricately - clasping them together, touching the cord and sucking its fingers and thumb.

  • Measures about 14 cm crown to rump
  • Weighs in at around 7oz

Over to you

By now, your heart is working 40 to 50% harder than normal. Assuming that you’ve been eating a healthy diet (i.e. not too many chocolate muffins) you've probably gained about 10 to 12 pounds and you can probably feel your uterus just under your navel.

Even if you haven’t yet felt your baby ‘quicken’, you’ll probably notice the first little fluttering foetal movements at some point over the next month. You may have been waiting anxiously for this moment to come and for most women it’s a reassuring and magical feeling to know that your baby is moving freely inside you.

Hopefully you’re feeling fine at the moment with more energy than you've had for a while. With any luck, all that extra energy and your heightened blood supply may have boosted your libido too (though some women have the opposite experience during pregnancy!)

In the know

Sex in pregnancy

With all those extra hormones surging around, you might find that your sex drive is higher than ever during pregnancy. Or, if you're plagued by tiredness, nausea and other niggles, it could be a case of “In your dreams!” However you feel, if you’re having a straight-forward pregnancy, sex is considered safe right up until your waters break.

Your growing baby is so well-protected during a normal pregnancy that you can relax and enjoy sex whenever you want - and many women find it even better at this stage, with increased blood flow and body fluids making responses more heightened. Not having to worry about contraception, your bump still being quite small and connecting with your partner at this emotional time also make it very fulfilling.

But pregnancy can put some women - and men - off the idea of sex. Most often because of fears that sex might harm the baby in some way, some also feel weird about it - particularly if they've felt the baby move. Rest assured that your baby will be totally oblivious to what's going on, cocooned by strong uterine muscles and amniotic fluid,  and protected by a thick mucus plus.

For some women, conditions like symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD) - when ligament-relaxing hormones cause the pubic bones to part - can make sex in pregnancy excruciatingly painful. Painkillers can help; speak to your midwife or doctor if you think you could be suffering from SPD - or if you're finding sex at all painful.

There are some instances when sex might be off the menu. Your midwife or GP may advice you to abstain if:

  • You have a history of miscarriage – some doctors don’t recommend penetrative sex during the first 14 weeks
  • You've been diagnosed with cervical incompetence – where the cervix may open prematurely, or placenta praevia – where the placenta attaches itself to the uterus low down
  • You experience bleeding at any time
  • You are expecting twins, or have a history of premature labour, you may also be advised to avoid sex in the last trimester.

If you have any concerns about having sex in pregnancy, talk to your midwife or doctor for advice.

Go to next week's article: Pregnancy Week 19

Please note that the contents of this section are for information only and are not intended as medical advice or as a substitute to your doctor's advice. For medical care and advice, you should consult your doctor on a regular basis. If you have any problem which concerns you, consult your doctor immediately.

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