What’s happening to the mother?
Your hormones are changing, and both thoughts and feelings can fluctuate greatly. You may feel anything from great joy to worry and grief. It is not uncommon to worry about having a miscarriage, your relationship with your partner, changes to your body, or your work and life situation.
The mucous membranes are also more fragile than usual. This may result in some bleeding from the gums when you brush your teeth, nosebleeds or minor bleeding from your vagina during sexual intercourse. This isn’t dangerous.
Your womb is continuing to grow, but it is still positioned safely down in the pelvis. Your pregnancy will therefore not necessarily be apparent to anyone else. If you have been pregnant before, your stomach may become visible earlier.
If you have experienced gestational nausea, you might find that this issue gradually disappears during this period. A few women are still nauseous after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Development of the fetus
By this stage, the embryo is usually about 2 cm long. The face will develop gradually over the coming period. The lenses in the eyes are starting to form, although there is still a long way to go before the whole eye is fully developed. The eyelids develop and will eventually cover the entire eye. Hints of the nose, ears and neck emerge.
The internal parts of the genitals are already present and the embryo has either ovaries or testicles. The external genitalia currently look quite similar in all embryos. The embryo’s tail will also disappear during this period.