9 weeks pregnant: You and your baby at week 9

You may start being a veteran when it comes to morning sickness when you are 9 weeks pregnant. In addition, some of your earlier symptoms can be at their peak. The pregnancy hormone or human chorionic gonadotropin is also nearing or it is in its highest peak.

Feeling extra moody and fatigued? Having more breast tenderness, nausea, heartburn, or constipation? Generally, these signs are common to most pregnant women also.

This article will help you with 9 weeks pregnancy’s do’s and don’ts, your baby’s condition, and gathering information about the 9 weeks pregnant guide.

How big is your baby?

Your baby, or fetus (as the medical terms suggest) is now around 22 to 23 mm long, from head to toe. This can be comparable to the length of a strawberry.

Your baby’s development – 9 weeks pregnant

In this week by week pregnancy guide, you’ll learn that:

• Your little one is no longer an embryo but a fetus–yes, a living, breathing, growing baby in your womb.
• His facial features are forming quickly. He looks less like a tadpole and more like a person. His head and neck more are erect and show up during the scans.
• His heartbeat is detectable through ultrasounds at the gynecologist. Additionally, his heart has finished dividing into four chambers and the valves are beginning to form.
• Other organs such as the liver and spleen are developing.
• His nipples and hair follicles are forming.
• His embryonic tail at the bottom of the spinal cord is completely gone.
• This little one might get caught in action during ultrasounds, too, moving his arms and legs. But it’s still too early to feel movements yet.

9 Weeks pregnant: What does your baby look like

During this period, the fetus’ face becomes more recognizable, with eyelids protecting the eyes. The mouth starts to form little by little, and the tongue with tiny taste buds.

Their hands and feet start to develop, but the buds of fingers and toes are not yet forming.

Furthermore, all the major organs such as the heart, brain, lungs, kidneys, and gut, begin to form and develop. Bones are now starting to build up.

Meanwhile, the genitals of your baby also start to have shape. Yet, you may not still determine if it is a male or a female. You can now determine your baby’s sex during your anomaly scan at around 18 to 21 weeks.

How many weeks is 9 months pregnant?

By the time you have completed the full pregnancy, which is 9 typically months to be normal, you also completed a 36 weeks of pregnancy officially.

You may expect or imagine yourself somewhat differently from being 9 weeks pregnant now to 36 weeks or 9 months pregnant later on.

Pregnancy Symptoms for 9 weeks pregnant

You may not look like pregnant to other people even if you are 9 weeks pregnant. However, different changes are noticeable in your body. Those earlier pregnant symptoms are totally ramping up.

Also, your clothes may feel tighter due to your thickening waistline or bloating, induced by hormones.

You may notice that your breasts continuously grow fuller, while your nipples are getting darker. Veins become more prominent because of the increase in your blood volume. This volume helps carry nutrients to your baby.

• Morning sickness hits you all day long! Whoever termed it as “morning sickness” just didn’t get it right. Some of us sail through the first trimester with nary a sign (Lucky you!). But take heart, there are ways to beat nausea.
• Fatigue, backaches, inability to focus, loss of appetite, or maybe even weight loss (Yes, it’s possible!) may have taken over, as your body adjusts to the new baby developing within.
• Your mood swings are likely to be in full swing at the moment.

9 Weeks pregnant symptoms

The following are the symptoms that you can notice when you are 9 weeks pregnant:

1. extreme tiredness
2. feeling sick and headaches
3. mood swings
4. metallic taste in the mouth
5. sore breasts
6. new cravings and rejections of foods and drinks
7. advanced sense of smell
8. a milky, whitish vaginal pregnancy discharge
9. light spotting (seek a doctor’s help when you are heavily bleeding during pregnancy)
10. cramping, comparable to period pains
11. darkening of the skin on your face or brown patches (chloasma faciei)
12. thicker, shinier hair
13. bloating and the feeling of being bloated

9 Weeks pregnant belly

A baby bump or pregnant belly may not be visible just yet, even if you are 9 weeks pregnant. However, your lower belly can be visibly firmer, almost certainly. In this case, the lower belly becomes firmer because of your uterus expanding, to make space for your growing baby.

Additionally, your pants will become tighter, and you are not alone in this case. This is also because the uterus has typically doubled in size by this time, and you may have some hormonal bleeding.

Having a hard time with your morning sickness may require you to gain some weight, especially if you lose some weight in your earlier pregnancy term. In fact, continuing nausea will also make you lose weight, so make sure that you gain and recover some pounds before gaining any pregnancy weight.

Although the mild loss of weight may not be an issue, you should discuss and consult your weight loss to your doctor or healthcare provider.

Pregnancy care for 9 weeks pregnant

• Your gynecologist might have prescribed some prenatal vitamins such as folate and multivitamins for you to help your body cope with the additional nutrient requirements for your growing baby. So one of the best takeaways in this week by week pregnancy guide is to have smaller frequent healthy meals instead of three large meals, so it is easier on your stomach.
• As bland as it might be, water is key to staying hydrated, especially if you have been throwing up. Down juices if tasteless water makes you nauseated, or go for healthy soups or isotonic drinks to replenish lost electrolytes. Severe nausea should be highlighted to your gynecologist. In cases of dehydration, patients may be put on an IV drip, so let’s stay water-balanced.

9 Weeks pregnant ultrasound

Your first prenatal check-up commonly occurs between week 8 and week 12. By this time, you might have visited your OB-Gyne, and if not yet, you should soon. In that very first appointment, you might observe your baby’s little heartbeat during the ultrasound.

9 weeks pregnant ultrasounds are generally transvaginal. This means that your healthcare unit or the ultrasound technician will have to place a probe in your vagina since your uterus still sits behind your pelvic bone. This may sound hurtful, but it is not.

The inserted probe will emit sound waves, which may allow you to see a projected image of your 9 weeks old fetus on the screen.

Your Checklist

• You may experience some bloating around the abdomen, and that’s completely normal. Consider wearing loose-fitting clothes or dresses if your usual pants are sinking into your waistline.
• You may start thinking about your maternity leave. Look at your company handbook to check out the policy.
•  

Your next week: 10 weeks pregnant

Your previous week: 8 weeks pregnant

Do you have questions on this week by week pregnancy guide? What are your current concerns, mums? Leave us a comment below!

Additional information by Nathanielle Torre

Here at theAsianparent Philippines, it’s important for us to give information that is correct, significant, and timely. But this doesn’t serve as an alternative for medical advise or medical treatment. theAsianparent Philippines is not responsible to those that would choose to drink medicines based on information from our website. If you have any doubts, we recommend to consult your doctor for clearer information.