1st trimester: Week 10

The fetus now has more definition and movement in arms, hands, and feet.

Your Baby

This week, your baby measures about 1 1/2 inches from top to bottom--about as big as a cocktail shrimp and similar in shape. Tooth buds are forming, bones are growing, and hair is starting to sprout. Her eyelids are fused shut and will remain closed until week 27, but she can hear you now since the inner workings of the ear are complete. Neurons appear at one end of the spinal cord, and the basic divisions of the brain are present. She can also bend her arms at the elbows and has distinct fingers. Genitals continue to form, but your doctor would not be able to determine the sex yet, even by sonogram.

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Your Body

Your emotions may be in flux, sending you on a wild emotional ride punctuated by gleeful highs and frustrating lows. Pregnancy hormones are driving the mood roller coaster. It doesn't help that you may have spent much of the past weeks queasy, exhausted, or anxious (possibly all of the above). But the second trimester is just around the corner, and with it may come welcome emotional relief as hormonal fluctuations even out.

Your Pregnant Body:

Do's and Don'ts

Do eat for two--just don't eat twice as much! Add an extra 300 calories to your diet. It may sound like a lot, but it's actually the equivalent of only about two and a half cups of low-fat milk. Make those calories count by choosing healthy snacks like yogurt and fruit that will boost your calcium intake and help you get your daily dose of vitamins and minerals. But there's no more health risk to the occasional slice of cake than there was before you were pregnant.

Health

Talk to your doctor or midwife about whether you should get a chorionic villus sampling (CVS) test. CVS, usually performed between weeks 10 and 12, checks for genetic abnormalities and is comparable to amniocentesis. Women who choose CVS usually have a family history of genetic disease and are 35 years old or older.

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