Week 11 is here! Can you believe how long you've been pregnant? Have you told many people yet? If not, you're so close to spilling the beans as most women will after they past week 12. So one more week mama! You're doing great!
This week you're probably dealing with a lot of the unpleasant aspects of being pregnant: constipation, gas, heartburn and nausea are all common during the first trimester. Your hormones are still working to regulate everything. The increase in progesterone is slowing down your bowels (constipation) and relaxing the muscles of the throat and stomach causing lots of ladylike belches, gas and bloating, and some heartburn. While you may not be experiencing the typical burning sensation of heartburn, GERD is also pretty common for pregnancy at this stage. You'll feel like all your food is right up near your throat, and can be the cause of getting sick for a lot of mamas. Do your best to keep carbonation, beans, and fatty or fried foods to a minimum if these symptoms are causing you major grief. Though, honestly, some mamas get heartburn from drinking water, so what can ya do? Thankfully, most of these symptoms will subside once the second trimester starts, and then may show up again in the third trimester. Some lucky mamas find that they've got a bit more energy now than earlier on, and that their morning sickness has started to subside around the 11-12 week mark. If you have the motivation, try to get to the gym or go on a walk to get those muscles moving. It'll help with sleep, and to make sure that you're not gaining too much weight during your pregnancy (recommended to gain about 1 lb/week).
Over the last few weeks, your babe has been working hard, and his body is almost completely formed! At this stage in development your baby has lost most of his frog-like features like it's elongated tail bone and webbed hands and feet. The ears are almost completely formed, the mouth and nose are starting to take shape, and baby is even starting to grow hair follicles! The newest addition to the body is babe's fingers and toes. Baby is testing out his new parts by making firsts, and little nail beds are starting to form as well. Though you won't be able to see from an ultrasound yet, your babe's internal sex organs are being formed (ovaries for girls, testes for little boys) at this stage. Their diaphragm has also formed, so they may actually be hiccuping right now, but, unfortunately, you won't be able to feel it for another couple of months. This week baby measures a little over an inch long and weighs about a quarter of an ounce- the same size as a brussels sprout. Your little sprout is moving around a lot, and is definitely making himself at home, though right now he is still too small for you to feel any of his movements. Ultrasounds during this time are always super fun, because your little one refuses to stay put and it looks like they're just trying to snuggle up and get comfy.
This is the earliest you can find out the gender but don't rely on it very heavily. On ultrasound, you may not get a clear reading until you're a few more weeks pregnant. You can also opt for the blood test to get a chromosome screening to find out gender after 10 weeks if you're dying to find out!
