Week 13 of Pregnancy (Trimester 1 of Preganancy)

This is the last week of the first trimester. AJ and I went to the General Infirmary for the first hospital ante-natal appointment this week. As well as this being an opportunity to find out way to the hospital (important for later on!), I was to get my all my ‘bloods’ done, and a dating scan.

Complete fiasco which really has me concerned about having my baby there. The set up all seems so disorganized. The staff lost my notes, which resulted in us having to wait for any hour (bearing in mind I had been told to come with a full-bladder!). When I eventually went in to have the ultrasound that would check whether or not the baby’s dates were correct, the radiographer was so rude and bristly towards us that I convinced myself that she had seen something awful and couldn’t bear to tell us. Then we were palmed off onto two student doctors who were both so inexperienced that they couldn’t answer my simple questions and told me to go home and have the blood tests taken at the next midwife surgery. Fortunately we were cornered by a nurse on the way out, who guided us to the pathology labs.

But the good thing was that we got to see the baby on the screen. Small and wriggly is about all I can say. But at least it was there, and there was only one! Based on the measurements the radiographer took, the EDD my GP gave me has been changed, to coincide more closely with my own calculations – it is now 23 May 2004.

The fetus is fully formed, with all its organs, muscles, limbs and bones. Despite this, the vital organs are not yet mature enough to perform the tasks for which they are intended and the baby would not survive if it was born now. The next six months or so are intended to give the fetus time to grow and the organs time to mature so that they are capable of independent life. The baby measures about 7.5cm from head to bottom, and weights about 28grams.

	Web PregnancyAndBirth.org