Week 6 of Your Pregnancy
Baby’s Development
Your embryo is at its most delicate these few weeks! The groundwork for all its major organs is being laid and external factors can play a very big part in how hearty these systems are in the future. It’s been proven that the time between 17 and 56 days is the most vulnerable for your little one and it’s no surprise seeing the massive amount of work your baby is doing.
At six weeks, your little one starts to resemble a tadpole, tail and all! Typically, your embryo will be between 0.08 and 0.16 inches long, which is roughly the size of half a pea. So tiny, but so complex!
The nervous system continues to develop this week. Interestingly enough, studies have shown that your baby actually displays reflexes as a response to touch. Not bad for a human the size of a BB pellet! Arms and legs make an appearance as tiny buds and the ears continue to grow out of the little divots in the side of the embryo’s head.
You will probably have your first ultrasound this week in order to assure the doctors that all is going as planned. Your doctor will be able to see the primitive organs and how they’re developing and may even be able to detect a heartbeat. At this stage in its development, your embryo’s heart beats at a rapid 100-140 bpm. This may seem very high, but you can be assured that it is perfectly normal. Your heart would beat rapidly too, if you were working as hard!
Your Body and Emotions
If you’ve sailed through your first month relatively symptom free you may be a little disappointed when morning sickness starts to catch up with you this week. The sixth week is generally when the unpleasant first trimester symptoms begin as your hormones start to rise dramatically.
Morning sickness can make your entire first trimester miserable. The worst part of this side effect is the fact that it comes at the most vulnerable time in your baby’s development, so you simply can’t reach for some medicine to make it better. When it comes to nausea, you have to be strong and rely on natural remedies. The following is a short list of treatments that may work for you.
Eat before you get out of bed.
Low blood sugar has a huge impact on your nausea. Be sure that you eat something dry and appealing before you even move in the morning. Snack all day as well to make sure that you avoid any unnecessary dips in your blood sugar that can send you running for the bathroom.
Drink ginger tea or chew ginger candy
This warming herb is a natural nausea remedy and has helped many women through their first rocky months. If ginger isn’t to your taste, try peppermint instead.
Consider a ‘sea sickness bracelet’
Available at most drug stores, these bands wrap around your wrists and apply continual light pressure to your wrists. The pressure is carefully placed on acupressure points believed to calm nausea.
Relax
Some studies have shown that women who were more nervous or uncomfortable about their pregnancies experienced more morning sickness. Stress can make anyone feel a little ill, so be sure that you are in constant communication with your support group about how you’re feeling. Talking will help a great deal.
Dad’s Tips
Feeling just a little guilty as you watch your partner heave over the toilet every morning? Worrying about her as she looks pale and sick at every turn and doesn’t seem to be able to keep anything in her stomach? Welcome to morning sickness. Not as benign as you were lead to believe, is it? Luckily, there are a few things you can do to help her through this very rough part of her pregnancy.
1.Get her to eat before getting out of bed.
She may be so used to leaping out and starting her day that she just doesn’t think about stopping to chew on a cracker. Be the official cracker-police and remind her as much as you can.
2.Get yourself out of bed and give the poor woman a glass of water.
You’re half asleep, you don’t have to get up yet but you can hear her gagging away in the bathroom. Go get her some water and a cold cloth. She will love you for it.
3.Make sure she eats
You may have trouble making sure you eat throughout the day, let alone worry about her cracker consumption. However, the more she keeps her blood sugar stable, the better she’ll feel. |
