8 Weeks Pregnant

Baby’s Development

Once the organs are formed, the baby is referred to by medical texts as a foetus. What a terrible name. We won’t be referring to your baby as a foetus. Your baby is a baby!
This week your baby is now weighing around 1.5gm, and his/her tiny heart is beating at about 40-80 beats per minute.
At this stage your baby’s head is quite large compared to the trunk. External ears form elevations on either side of the head. Tiny ear openings are present, but your baby isn’t able to hear anything at this stage. A skeleton made of cartilage (not real bone) has appeared. There is a tail at the end of the spinal cord, and your baby now has little fingers and toes!

What’s Happening For You

• Your placenta is now covering about one third of the uterus lining, and your uterus is increasing in size everyday, so you may be finding you’re feeling a change in your belly, and may be finding your skinny jeans are feeling a little bit tight now. It might be time to get some comfy pants, as wearing clothes that are too tight around your mid section may make you feel uncomfortable.
• You may also begin to feel little tightenings in your belly, which is your uterus starting to practice. Many women don’t feel them until much later in pregnancy, but if you do feel them, it’s nothing to be alarmed about. Remember that if you have any bleeding (although not always a sign that something is wrong), you should see your care provider to get everything checked. That will help you stay in your confident and calm frame of mind, that is incredibly important for you, and for your baby.
• Some women report that they are feeling constipated at this stage, which is caused from the increase of progesterone in your body. This hormone softens muscles in your womb and intestine to accommodate the embryo changing to a baby, so good idea to increase your fibre intake.

You’re more than half way through this first trimester, so well done to you!

Things To Consider

• Positive Mindset – did you know that not only what you put into your body crosses the placenta, but emotions do to? Your mindset will have a profound impact on the development of your baby, and your birth, so it’s time to start getting your head in the right place. It’s normal to feel emotional during pregnancy, but you do want to be focusing on the positive’s rather than the negatives much more often. If you are feeling particularly low, or feel that you need to get some help with how you are feeling, then take the step to see someone about it. A great place to start is focusing on positive affirmations each day. We will be giving you a new affirmation each week, and if you’ve signed up for our weekly emails on your progress, you will be getting a downloadable affirmation each week. You can print them out and put them up on your wall. Affirmations are a great way to move you into a much more positive frame of mind. What we focus on, we get! Affirmations are an important part of the HypnoBirthing program. Read more about how Affirmations can prepare you for a positive pregnancy and birth.
• Relaxation – there are so many benefits of relaxation for pregnancy and for your baby. Have you downloaded the FREE relaxation hypnosis track to get you started on your relaxation practice? Relaxation is going to help you feel more balanced, more rested with much more energy and daily practice will help condition your mind and body to relax down quickly so that you can be calm and relaxed on your birthing day. Relaxation is a big part of our program, and every HypnoBirthing mother listens to our famous ‘Rainbow Relaxation’  daily, which is given to you when you start the course. Learn more about the benefits of relaxation, and have a look at what is included in our 5 week Childbirth Education Program that hundreds of thousands of women around the world are using to prepare for their positive birth.

Click here to find out what’s in the 5 Week HypnoBirthing Course!

Read more about what to expect next week.