Pregnancy calendar - week 8

Your baby’s development

Your baby is now around 1.6 cm long and facial features such as eyes, mouth and nose are beginning to be more defined. Eyelids nearly cover the eyes but remain fused until around 27 weeks. Bone cells begin to form and replace cartilage and their tiny joints are developing. Every organ is in place and their unique fingerprints are beginning to form. From this week on your tiny baby is now called a foetus, which is Latin for ‘young one’ or ‘offspring’.

You & your body

If you are feeling sick then you are definitely not alone! Most women have some degree of nausea and or vomiting in early pregnancy. It happens to two out of three pregnant women and usually eases by week 12-14. Your nausea may be more noticeable in the morning but it can occur at any time. The bad news is that it tends to be at its worst around now and for another few weeks.

These symptoms can come and go throughout pregnancy. We know it is not a total comfort, but nausea and morning sickness feelings are almost always associated with a healthy pregnancy.

These tried and tested tips are certainly worth a go:

• Try to nibble on some dry crackers or biscuits before getting out of bed in the morning 
• Try to eat little and often to keep something in your stomach 
• Even if you find you cannot tolerate any food, it’s very important to keep drinking fluids. If you find it difficult to drink anything try sucking on ice cubes, ice lollies, or sips of fruit juice 
• Motion sickness bands can work for morning sickness too. These are worn on your wrist to press on an acupressure point (P6, 3 finger widths up from the wrist joint on the inner side of the arm) and they do help some women
• Try ginger – in some cases this helped reduce nausea. Why not try ginger tea or root ginger grated into boiling water; or even ginger ale or dry ginger biscuits?