Wake up sleepy head! If you are pregnant, you may feel like you are actually dozing through month three and that is normal. Keep watching to see what else is.
If you felt like you have been asleep on your feet during the past three months, it is little wonder. Your rapidly growing baby has just made the progression from embryo to fetus. That means your little guy or gal is just that his or her genitals are beginning to show definitive signs of male or female gender, and your baby is bigger as well. It has grown to about two and a half inches or the length of a plum. Although that may sound small it represents a doubling in size during this month alone.
During this period, your baby will begin to move his or her arms and legs, but you will not feel this butterfly movement yet. You will have to wait another two months or so for that. Bones and cartilage are forming inside your baby and knees, ankles and elbows are present now. In addition, teeth are developing under your child’s gums, although they would not make an appearance until after birth. Guess what else? Your baby is producing urine, digestive juices, white blood cells, hormones and if it is a boy, testosterone.
During the last week of month three, your baby’s body systems are almost completely formed, while your baby is having a grand time growing, you will probably feeling the sleepy effects. The reason is simple, growing a baby is hard work while your metabolism and hormone levels have increased, and your blood sugar and blood pressure have dropped, leaving you feeling like you are on a marathon. In addition, some of pregnancies more awkward side effects are probably starting to show like burping, and passing gas.
The pregnancy hormone progesterone relaxes the muscles in your digestive tract, allowing more time for nutrients to be absorbed. The slow digestion is great for your baby but may leave you feeling bloated and gassy. You may also experience bouts of dizziness also due to progesterone. The hormone increases the blood flow to your baby but slows the return of blood to you. This can lead to that lightheaded feeling. You can often lessen dizziness by sitting with your head lower between your knees while taking deep breaths. Once the feeling passes, have something to eat or drink. While dizziness and gassiness are no fun, you will be happy to hear that the nausea, constant urination and breast tenderness that are with you in the beginning will usually start to a beat by the end of month three. And you may have started to notice a slight rounding of your lower abdomen, after all your uterus has now reached the size of a grape fruit and is rising up from the pelvis into this area.
Congratulations! You have almost completed your first trimester. Your baby is now a fetus and you have 28 more weeks to grow and change together.
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