Your baby

Your baby is now nine millimetres, crown to rump - about the size of a 5p piece. Its body is covered in a thin layer of translucent calls and is straightening out from being comma shaped to looking more like a tadpole. Meanwhile, there’s a huge amount of development going on - tiny kidneys and lungs are forming, the eyelids are beginning to form and the tip of the nose is distinct. Your baby's heart now has a right and left chamber.

Although you can’t yet feel it, your baby is beginning to move and those first embryonic movements can be detected by ultrasound.

Your progress

With all the hormonal changes taking place in your body, it’s hardly surprising that you may be feeling completely exhausted at times – especially if you’re running round after little ones, holding down a career, or both.

You may feel faint or dizzy at times and, as your basal metabolic rate (BMR) increases, you may get increasingly hungry or find that nausea is putting you off certain foods altogether. To make matters worse, you may experience constipation and have occasional bouts of indigestion.

You may also find that your skin becomes spotty, thanks to all those helpful hormones. Try to enjoy a healthy diet, take vitamin supplements – and remember your folic acid supplements, which will help protect your baby from abnormalities. If you are concerned about any of your symptoms, it’s always worth discussing them with your doctor.

What to think about

Once your pregnancy has been confirmed, it’s never too early to find out about the type of antenatal care available to you and to decide where you would like to give birth. Your antenatal care options will depend on where you live, as it differs around the country.

Antenatal care options may include:

Shared care: Most women have the option of shared care between their GP and midwife.

Midwife-led care: This can be in GP practices or community clinics / hospitals.

Domino scheme: All your appointments are with a team of community midwives during your pregnancy. One member of the team will care for you in labour and after discharge from hospital, which can be as early as you wish.

Consultant-led care: If your pregnancy is in any way complicated, you will be under the care of a consultant obstetrician. This means you will have your appointments at a hospital clinic and see a midwife and the consultant.

Choosing a hospital

The vast majority of babies in Britain are delivered in hospital. Your midwife will make the necessary arrangements for your hospital birth. Before making your choice of hospital, it’s worth visiting the labour ward at your local maternity unit to ensure that you are satisfied and familiar with the facilities available. You can also find out what services your local hospital offers and what its rate of intervention is by asking your midwife, or looking at the hospital's website.

Different types of hospital care

Consultant-led units are larger maternity hospitals led by consultant obstetricians, while midwife-led units are birthing centres led by midwives who care for women having normal births, without intervention such as epidurals and caesareans. Smaller cottage hospital maternity units may be run by GPs and midwives working in partnership. If you don't want to go to the hospital that's in your catchment area, you can ask to be referred to another hospital and your GP/midwife should arrange this for you.

Home birth

Many research studies have confirmed that planned home birth is as safe as planned hospital birth in normal, low-risk pregnancies. A home birth enables you to give birth in a relaxed, familiar environment, with your family close by and with less chance of medical intervention, such as forceps or ventouse. However, your pain relief options are more limited and if you have problems during labour, you may have to transfer to hospital at a very late stage, which can be uncomfortable and may put you and your baby at risk. If you decide you want a home birth ask your midwife to book it for you – you can still change your mind at any stage.