Congratulations! You are now 8 weeks pregnant and very close to completing the 2nd month of your pregnancy. Just 7 months more and this ordeal would be over. The most important thing to happen in the 8th week of pregnancy is your first prenatal visit. Most of the women have it between the 7th-10th week. So, be prepared for a few tests, including a Pap Smear test!
But more importantly, if this would be your first prenatal visit, it’ll also be the first time that you’ll get to see your baby in the ultrasound and listen to his/her heartbeat. Isn’t that amazing? While this information would probably be adequate to be excited throughout the week, you should also remember that you need to focus on your growing baby.
Just like the past few weeks, the growth would continue this week too. As for you, the normal symptoms like morning sickness, tiredness, and nausea would keep you occupied. And now that you are getting closer to your first prenatal visit, it is also the time to start thinking about how you’ll spread this amazing news with others if you haven’t already. The growth of your baby, physical changes in you, ultrasound, tips, and more in this 8th week pregnancy post.
Baby’s Development in the 8th Week
The embryo has come a very long from bring close to nothing in the initial weeks to being as big as a raspberry in the 8th week. While it is still small, think about the fact that it has grown thousands of times bigger from the first week to now being as big as something that can be easily seen with naked eyes. It’d continue to grow at the rate of about 1mm every single day.
The baby has now almost developed the spinal cord and steadily the cartilage formation is beginning. Even the intestines are formed by now and they’d soon start working too. Even the arms and legs are growing rapidly and now there are defined spaces where their elbows, knees, ankles, and wrists would be placed. Just a couple of weeks more and the baby would already be moving the hands and legs.