Week 9

It is indeed hard to believe but your baby’s embryonic stage is about to end and she would soon be developing into a fetus. How incredible is that? In this 8th week, your baby is now an inch long and weighs just about a fraction of an ounce. While looking more and more human, your baby is developing his or her fine body parts, which are slowly but gradually going to fine tune in the coming months. Your baby’s head has pretty much developed and his or her toes are now visible. His or her heart now has four proper chambers, while now the valves start to form. So do your baby’s tiny teeth. In this week, your fetus is making rapid movements of his or her arms and legs with the miniscule muscles in them continuously developing. But having said that, do note that you wouldn’t be feeling those dancing hands and legs for the next one to two months. Your kid’s embryonic ‘tail’ is totally gone now and his or other muscles, such as nerves, organs and muscles are beginning to come into gear. The external sex organs are also there but won’t be visible as of now, or for that matter for another few weeks. His eyes have been fully formed by this stage, but they are going to be shut for now and will not open until another 27 weeks. Though he or she still has tiny earlobes, nose, nostrils and mouth. As far as placenta is concerned, it is pretty much developed now and will soon be taking on all the responsibilities of building and producing critical hormones. All in all, now that your tiny loves’ little physiology is in place, she would soon be poised for rapid weight and shape gain. By this week, your baby’s skeleton is going to soon harden, accompanied with the hardening to the bones (ossification) on setting the formation of cartilage. His or her nipples and hair follicles are going to form, so are his or her intestinal system parts such as bile ducts, pancreas, anus and gallbladder. Your baby’s heartbeat can now be audible in ultrasound. While developing fast enough, the heart has now grown large to produce audible heartbeats. The ultrasound is going to amplify that lub-dub sound resonating aloud. Hiding or one can safely say tucked away in the corner of your uterus, your baby’s back is facing out. Soon, in a few weeks’ time, you will surely be able to listen to the miraculous sound of your baby’s heartbeat – a pure miraculous pleasure this would feel! **Baby size** Your baby is about the size of a grape which is almost ¾ of an inch.