Week-by-week guide to pregnancy
happy couple looking at pregnancy test results
When you're pregnant, you have lots of questions. Our week-by-week pregnancy guide is packed with lots of useful information. From what's happening inside your body, to how your baby is developing, and tips and advice on having a healthy pregnancy – this is your one-stop pregnancy guide!
1st trimester
2nd trimester
3rd trimester
1st trimester
Our week-by-week pregnancy guide is full of essential information. From early pregnancy symptoms to how your baby is growing and developing, you'll find it all here.
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 12 – your 1st trimester
Hopefully you are starting to feel much better as the 1st trimester comes to a close.
What's happening in my body?
There's a good chance that the placenta is now feeding your baby, having taken over from the yolk sac, and once this happens your hormones will calm down a bit.
Your waist is probably thickening, as your breasts grow bigger. As the sickness subsides you may start to feel hungrier and worry if you're eating enough for you and the baby.
You may wonder if your bump should look bigger or smaller. There are so many factors that determine how big your stomach gets including:
your hormones
pre-pregnancy weight
how many babies you've already had
the strength of your muscles
Gaining weight
Many women worry about how much weight they should put on during a healthy pregnancy. The answer is not as much as you might think. Most mums-to-be will put on between 10kg to 12.5kg (22lb to 26lb), and that's usually after week 20. But some may not put on any weight at all. You can find out more about weight gain in pregnancy on the NHS website.
Try to follow a healthy pregnancy diet, you do not need to eat more for the baby. When you enter the 3rd trimester in week 28 you can add another 200 calories a day to your diet – that's about 2 slices of wholemeal toast with margarine.
If you maintain a healthy weight, your baby is more likely to be a healthy weight too. Being overweight makes you more prone to conditions such as pre-eclampsia and high blood pressure.
Foods to avoid in pregnancy
There are certain foods you should while you're pregnant. Read about foods to avoid on the NHS website.
Want to know when the baby's due?
Use the NHS pregnancy due date calculator. You'll get a more accurate date from your doctor or midwife when you have a dating scan (usually at eight to 14 weeks).
Early pregnancy symptoms (at 12 weeks)
Your signs of pregnancy may include:
an aching stomach
nausea
mood swings
a metallic taste in your mouth
sore breasts
indigestion and heartburn
headaches
dizziness
new likes and dislikes for food and drink
a heightened sense of smell
a white milky pregnancy discharge from your vagina
light spotting (see your doctor if you get bleeding in pregnancy)
cramping, a bit like period pains
darkened skin on your face or brown patches - this is known as chloasma or the "mask of pregnancy"
greasier, spotty skin
thicker and shinier hair
bloating and the feeling of being bloated (read ways to cope with bloating on week 10's page)
Read Tommy's guide to common pregnancy symptoms.
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What does my baby look like?
Your baby, or foetus, is now 5.4cm long from head to bottom, which is about the size of a plum. The weight is about 18g, which is around the same as 3 grapes.
The internal organs and muscles have been created. The heartbeat can be picked up on an ultrasound scan. The skeleton is made up from tissue and hardening into bone. The sex organs are formed, although most scans will not be able to tell your baby's sex until later.
Action stations
As you start to feel more energetic, you could go and visit local maternity units and try and think about where you would like to have your baby. You can always change your mind later. You may already have ideas about how you want to give birth – this is known as your birth plan. Try and stay flexible at this stage and we'll come back to birth plans in future weeks.
12 weeks pregnant: symptoms?
