Your baby

Your baby measures about 15cm from crown to-rump and about 20cm from head to toe, weighing in at eight ounces.

Now that your baby’s nervous system is more sophisticated, your baby's movements are becoming stronger and more co-ordinated. Already, your baby is beginning to recognise your voice and may move suddenly in response to loud noises or music.

Your baby is now sleeping and waking at regular intervals and has started to exercise his lungs and practice his breathing techniques. When you massage your abdomen, your baby will actually feel your touch, so give your bump a soothing stroke.

Your progress

As you get bigger and gain more weight, you will probably need to start looking for fuller, lighter-weight fabrics to keep you more comfortable as your body temperature increases. As your uterus pushes up against your stomach, you may also find that you get more frequent bouts of heartburn, because the movement of food through your digestive tract has slowed.

It’s possible at this stage that you will start to notice painless contractions surrounding your abdomen, known as Braxton-Hicks. Some women don’t experience these until the third trimester, but others start having light Braxton-Hicks contractions much earlier.

These are basically your body’s way of practising for labour. Your uterus muscles tighten and release, squeezing more blood to the back of the placenta to increase the blood supply to your baby. Unlike real labour contractions - which become progressively more intense and closer together - Braxton Hicks contractions ease off and return again seemingly at random.

What to think about

Now that you are rapidly gaining an obviously pregnant silhouette, you will probably start developing stretchmarks as your skin stretches around your growing bump. Although you can’t prevent them entirely, you can help to minimise stretchmarks by keeping your weight gain steady through a healthy diet and an active lifestyle.

You can also keep your skin supple by massaging a rich oil or cream into your stomach and breasts. Try using wheatgerm oil, cocoa butter or Vitamin E cream. Some essential oil blends may also help to minimise stretchmarks and there are also several branded ‘anti-stretchmark’ creams available to choose from.