Third month of pregnancy symptoms

Your baby is growing by leaps and bounds (relatively speaking)

• Your baby’s facial features take shape. The bones are taking their final form, the lips and eyebrows are defined, and the eyes are now covered by eyelids.
• Baby’s hear is finding its regular rhythm. It beats an amazing 110-160 beats per minute – much faster than your own. The heart has divided into four chambers and valves have started to form.
• Nerve cells continue to multiply at exponential speed, which can lead to reflex movements that you don’t yet notice, and synapses are forming the brain. Baby can turn its head and bend its tiny limbs. Some bones will now start to harden and its tiny wrists and fingers will begin to open and close.
• The spine outline is clearly visible through translucent skin and nerves are beginning to streth out from the spinal cord.
• Baby’s face looks unquestionably human – the eyes have moved from the sides to the front of the head and the ears are also in position. The external sex organs have developed but can’t yet be distinguished.
• Baby’s kidneys, intestines, brain and liver are now in place and will start functioning in the coming weeks.
• Baby even develops tiny teeth buds beneath the gums and has its own distinct finger prints already!

Your body during the first trimester

• Sometimes pregnancy symptoms become worse in the third month, especially if you have been experiencing nausea. Good news – most moms-to-be report that there nausea disappears at the end of the first trimester.
• Your breasts will continue to change and the area around your nipple (areola) may grow and darken. If you have been prone to acne, you may experience some outbreaks.
• Some lucky moms may begin to feel the gentle flutter of baby moving!
• You may not gain much or any weight in the first trimester and now is a great time to talk to your healthcare provider about maintaining a healthy weight throughout your pregnancy. Learn more about pregnancy weight gain here.

Tips to help get you and baby to the finish line:

• Do I need to eat for two? Eating for two means eating twice as healthy, not twice as much. Take good care of your self and choose a variety of high quality foods that are rich in important nutrients. What’s good for you is good for baby too!
• Aversions to certain foods and distaste are common in the first trimester. Hormones can cause hypersensitivity in sense of both taste and smell.  Fish is a great source of nutrients and omega-3 fats. If you are turned off by the thought of fish, try cooking it in a different way to “mask” the taste.