6 weeks and 6 days pregnant

At this stage of your baby’s development, the heart is a tubular structure, visible in the centre of this image. It is, however, already providing your baby with a very simple circulation.

What will become your baby’s tiny arms and legs are beginning to develop during this seventh week of pregnancy.

It will be some weeks before your baby – still an embryo – becomes recognizable as a human fetus. At the end of this seventh week, however, there are four simple limb buds, each slightly flattened at the end where, over the next two weeks, a hand or foot will form.

With the exception of muscle tone, which comes much later on in the pregnancy, all stages of your baby’s upper limb development precede any developments in his lower limbs.

The eyes are the first recognizable landmarks to form on the face. At this stage, the eyes consist of two simple surface indentations, which then develop a second indentation within the first; the inner one will become the lens and the outer the eyeball. Your baby’s eyes are wide apart and his ears and nose have yet to form.

At this stage of an unborn baby’s development, the circulatory system is at a very primitive stage. The upper dark bulge shown here is the heart, and beneath it lies the liver, where blood cells are starting to be made.

Can exercising increase the risk of miscarriage?

There is no evidence to suggest that, as long as you’re healthy and have been given the all-clear from your doctor, exercise will put you at a greater risk of having a miscarriage. In fact, the benefits of doing regular moderate exercise while you’re pregnant far outweigh the risks to you and your baby.

The most important factors at this stage of your pregnancy are to exercise at the same level you did prior to being pregnant. Do not attempt any new high-impact and strenuous activity or take up a new sport.

Fish is packed with essential nutrients that are good for your baby’s development, so aim to eat at least two portions a week, including a portion of oily fish.

You do, however, need to be careful of consuming high levels of mercury, present in some fish, as it can harm an unborn baby’s nervous system.

• Don’t eat fish that are at the top of the food chain as these are highest in mercury. These include shark, marlin, and swordfish. Eat no more than two fresh tuna steaks a week (weighing about 140g/5oz cooked or 170g/6oz raw) or four medium-size cans of tuna a week (140g/5oz when drained).

• Limit oily fish to no more than two portions a week. Oily fish includes fresh tuna (canned tuna does not count as an oily fish), mackerel, salmon, sardines, and trout.