Your Pregnancy - Week 8

This week your baby gets a new title, foetus. But you’ve probably just been calling it your baby! 

Just last week Read: Your Pregnancy: Week 7 your baby was an embryo, which just means it was a teeny human in the process of developing. But this week it all starts to change as your baby grows beyond those very basic building blocks. 

What does my baby look like? 

How do you feel about chilli con carne? You know the little kidney beans in it? That’s how big your baby is this week (about 1.5-2cm). 

You might even have your first scan this week (they usually happen somewhere between 8-14 weeks) and your scan pics can look like anything from a tiny baby to a bean, prawn or even a smudge.  You won’t be able to see this detail yet but there’s tons happening, their tiny baby bodies start to straighten out, their arm and legs buds get longer and fingers and toes start to form. 

Read: What scans do I have when I'm pregnant?

And if you think that’s mind-blowing their intestines take shape, but not in their stomach as there isn’t enough room. They move into the umbilical cord and then back into their tummy once there’s enough space. On their face a nose, upper lip, eyelid folds and ears start to appear. 

Desperate to find out if you’re having a boy or girl? Hold your horses, that won’t happen until your 20 week scan (or maybe before depending on tests you have). But this is the week when either ovaries or testes form. 

What should I expect at my first appointment? 

If you’ve contacted your GP, you should have your first midwife appointment either this or next week. You should have it before 10 weeks so if you haven’t heard anything give them a nudge. 

• Your first appointment is usually with a midwife at your GP surgery but sometimes it’s at the hospital or at home. 
• It’s also known as a booking in appointment and lasts about an hour. 
• They don’t generally do pregnancy tests as home kits are so reliable. 
• They’ll ask you lots of questions to understand your background, health and what kind of care you’ll need. This is also your chance to ask questions and discuss any worries. 
• If you agree, the midwife weighs and measures you, takes your blood pressure, does a wee check for pre-eclampsia and takes some blood to test for HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B. And if they think there’s a chance you could have sickle cell or thalassaemia they’ll ask to test for that too. 
• You’ll have a good chat about all things pregnancy - from how your baby develops during pregnancy, what foods to avoid, exercise when you’re preggers, antenatal classes, breastfeeding, benefits you can get (free dental and prescriptions), scans and tests you’ll have and where you might have your baby. 

You’ll leave this appointment with a folder of notes which you should keep somewhere handy and take to all your appointments. It has all your pregnancy info in and contact details for your midwife.

Have you followed the official Bump, Baby & You accounts on Facebook, Instagram & TikTok yet?

Read: Your pregnancy - week 9