Week 12 of Pregnancy: What's Going On Inside
Topic Overview
Congratulations, you've made it through your first trimester! You can now hear your baby's heartbeat with a Doppler heart monitor. That can be very exciting.
Inside your uterus, an important organ called the placenta has formed. The placenta's main job is to give your baby oxygen and nutrients through the umbilical cord.
Wondering what your baby looks like now? As you enter the fourth month of pregnancy, your baby is about the size of a plum. Average baby length is 61 mm (2.4 in.).
How your baby is changing
Here are some of the important facts and developments around 12 weeks.
- When you are 10 weeks pregnant, your embryo has nearly all of the body structures that an adult has. The brain is now more complex. After this point, we call this tiny being a fetus.
- This month, the tiny fetus starts moving the head and jaw, grasping, moving the tongue, and stretching. Eyelids are covering the eyes, and fingernails are starting to grow.
- At the end of this month, the fetus starts a big weight gain.
Credits
ByHealthwise Staff
Primary Medical Reviewer Adam Husney, MD - Family Medicine
Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine
Specialist Medical Reviewer William M. Gilbert, MD - Maternal and Fetal Medicine
Current as ofNovember 21, 2017
Current as of:
November 21, 2017