11 Weeks Pregnant
Here's what's happening during Week 11 of your pregnancy:
Your Growing Baby
Nearly all the organs and body structures are formed and beginning to function. Genitals begin to take on either male or female form. The head makes up about half of the fetus’s body. Length: about 2 inches. Fetus fact: The fetus can sigh, stretch, move its head and suck its thumb.Your Growing Belly
Your body's expanding, inside and out. The next ten weeks will be a period of rapid growth for you and the baby. You'll need more water as you produce more blood, sweat, oil, and amniotic fluid. You may feel desperately thirsty at times. It's a good idea to carry a beverage with you wherever you go, to keep your fluid levels up. Drink plenty of water and milk, but steer away from carbonated beverages.
Tips & To-Do's
10 (surprising!) Prenatal Power Foods
As you know, folate, fiber and iron are essential nutrients for you and your growing baby. What you may not know is that you can get all three by eating chives. Or, how about adding figs to your diet to boost your calcium intake? From The 100 Healthiest Foods to Eat During Pregnancy, here are 10 unexpected (and delicious!) foods that will provide the nutrition you need during pregnancy. Foods that provide the nutrition you need for a healthy pregnancy >>
Things to think about this week
Typically, an ultrasound is done between weeks 11 and 13 as part of the first-trimester screening for chromosomal abnormalities, including Down syndrome. (The other part of the screening consists of a blood test.) The nuchal translucency, or NT, test uses ultrasound to measure the clear (translucent) space in the tissue at the back of the fetus’s neck. Here’s how ultrasounds work, and what they can and can’t tell you >>
